Mozambique: Tete to Vilanculos

I left Malawi just before lunch and made my way to the border of Mozambique. From the border I took a Chapa to Tete and arrived after dark yet again. I had no idea where I was and no one could speak proper English. Luckily the driver was from Zimbabwe and understood me. He took me to a hotel and upon arrival I knew that this place was not for me. I asked around for a cheaper option and ended up at a rest house next to the highway. This was the first time I paid for a bed, but had little option as it was dark.

The next morning I woke up early to be at the bus stop at 6am. When I arrived at the bus stop there were no more busses left and I was told that the busses leave at 4am and should wait another day. So I walked towards the end of town and waited for a pick up truck going to Chimoio.

At 8am the first pick up truck arrived and I took the lift to Chimoio. I sat on the back of the truck for a complete day driving through the hottest province of Mozambique, the Tete province. This was a very long day and just before sunset we arrived in Chimoio. I had to find accommodation fast as I sat on the back of a truck for 10 hours covering 400km and it would be dark soon.

I jumped of next to the road and started walking towards the town centre. Chimoio was a lot bigger than what I thought it would be. I asked around for a place to stay but no one could speak English. Eventually I met a guy and he said he would give me a lift to Pink Papaya Backpackers. I knew about this place thanks to my Lonely Planet Guide.

The next morning I was at the bus station at 4am looking to take a bus to Vilanculos. All the busses passed Vilanculos, but you had to pay the full fair to go to Maputo. I decided I would take a Chapa to Inchope and wait for a pick up or a bus to Vialnculos.

I met a Zimbabwean on the Chapa also going to Vilanculos. We arrived in Inchope and climbed of at the intersection waiting for a lift. Adriano (my Zimbabean friend) said we should try taking a truck as they always took passengers for extra money.

We walked up to a parked truck and asked a lift. I had this feeling that the trip was going to be hell as we started of with an argument about how much we should pay for the journey. With no alternative transport we boarded the truck. We were the first two on board and I thought to myself it could be comfortable. Then we stopped at a pick up point and they just started loading the cabin full of people.

I noticed that the truck was transporting another truck that had broken down, so after the first stop I told the driver who was by that time already drunk that I was going to go sit in the back with Adriano.

We would stop at every town and the drivers would buy goods like goats and chickens to sell at a later stage on the trip. At all the pit stops they would use our money to buy beer and food and chat to the ladies. These guys were there to exploit us and I knew we would not arrive in Vilanculos anytime before dark.

My initiative to go and sit on the truck on the back gave the drunk drivers the idea to add more people and before long the back truck was also filled. Luckily the back truck had a CD player and we listened to Dire Straits and Peter Tosh all the way.

Then matters got worse as we arrived at the Save River police check point and one of the passengers Dina was in the country illegally. He left Zimbabwe with no paperwork and was heading to South Africa. This meant that we had to hide for almost 20min as they inspected the cargo load. This did not bother the drivers or Dina as they would pay a bribe if we got caught and head on.

It started getting dark and even the passengers became annoyed. We were stopping all the time as the drunk drivers changed places driving at no more that 50km/h.

The truck stopped at the turn off for Vilanculos and we were informed that this would be how far they would take us. We were forced to get of and find alternative transport as we lost yet another argument. Adriano, Dina and I caught a lift on the back of truck and arrived in Vilanculos at about 10pm.

Adriano offered me accommodation at his place for the night and the next morning I booked in at the backpackers.

This was truly the longest 3 days of traveling I have experienced and I was glad to know that further south more people would speak English, more transport options available and shorter distances to cover.