Mozambique...

09/08/10

Another busy few days where plans have changed too many times to count. First we were leaving the car in Durban and catching the bus to Sodwana via Nature's Way for a week, this we changed to Hluhluwe instead, then we changed back to going to Sodwana as well, then we added in a stop in St Lucia before heading north to Kosi Bay, just south of the Mozambican border. On the way to Kosi Bay we changed our minds again and went straight across the border 3 days early. We have edited and discarded plans written on scraps of paper and in the back of books all over the place.

Our last minute addition of St Lucia into the plan was a rewarding bonus. St Lucia is a protected wetland area on the east coast and is described as 'the place where hippos roam the streets at night and 90% of S.A's crocodiles live', many of them at the bottoms of people's gardens. Expecting a strip of true African wilderness, I was shocked by what a quaint little town it was. It is like an English seaside town only warmer and without the rain. After the last few dust bowl towns we've stayed in it was heaven. Nice restaurants, shops, cafés and quiet bungalow lined manicured streets. Having had the absolute basics of accommodation at the campsite for the previous week we had decided to treat ourselves to a bed in a dorm. Yet again we got lucky and were given a private room in an apartment with a lounge, kitchen and a movie channel. St Lucia is a lovely place to slow down, chill out, and enjoy some peace and quiet.

From St Lucia, with a 200 km detour to drop of the car, we were driven to the Mozambican border by a local guy who arranges twice weekly shuttles to link up with a backpackers just across the border in Ponta D óro. It was while talking to him that our plans changed landing us across the border 2 days early. The journey was pretty tame for what I have come to expect from Africa. Apparently the week before he'd been driving along with six guests when the car lurched and made a load noise and he glanced out his window to see his rear tire spinning of past him down the centre of the road. He said it was like watching something in a cartoon.

Once across the border the 20 minute drive to Ponta was more typical of what we have come to expect. We were picked up by a very friendly and very colourful local. Over the next few days whenever we saw him he was sporting a variety of day glow outfits with matching socks, hats, shoes and even watches. He drove us along tracks in deep sand up and over sand dunes at racing speed. In a country that was damaged by a terrible civil war in recent history, and still has many undiscovered land mines, people seem to drive wherever they want, and new tracks are being made all the time.