It was smooth sailing heading from Vilanculos south to Maputo and back to South Africa.
I stayed in Tofo for 4 days and just relaxed on the beach before going to Maputo. I had an amazing time at Fatima’s Backpackers and had to go back with friends.
The past December holiday (2008) I went back as we did another “Via the Backroads” trip and Mozambique as included as one of the many destinations. (news on Via will soon be posted).
The Backpackers in Tofo has a shuttle service that takes travelers and passengers back to Maputo. This is a convenient service as the Chapa leaves at 4am and takes you to your backpackers in Maputo arriving at lunch time.
I was in Maputo for only one day. It was a Sunday and the streets were empty. I walked around the city for hours looking for an internet café and eventually found internet access at a hotel. My experience of Maputo was that this is a run down city though the presence of investment and money was visible. A distributor of paint will become a millionaire over night if the council of Maputo decides to give the city a facelift. My stay was short as I boarded a bus the next morning for Johannesburg.
I would often buy food from street vendors and at the komatipoort border post I had my last street meal. I walked through the street vendors and bought Nshima and a ¼ Chicken. It did not look great, but I was just too hungry. The girl that sat next to me on the bus refused to buy the same meal and said she would rather wait. I was still in Africa mode and did not know when we would stop again and had to fill my stomach.
It was not 15 min after I finished my meal that the bus stopped outside a shopping centre. I walked in and bought a fruit juice, I was back in South Africa and it felt great.
