MOZAMBIQUE

Day 291 : 19 Mar 2005 - Zobue (Mozambique Border) to Tete 115 km
Day 292 : 20 Mar 2005 - Tete to Gorongosa (Camp 76) 323 km
Day 293 : 21 Mar 2005 - Gorongosa (Camp 76) to Beira 277 km
Day 294 : 22 Mar 2005 - Beira to Rio Save 384 km
Day 295 : 23 Mar 2005 - Rio Save to Vilanculos 138 km
Day 296 : 24 Mar 2005 - Vilanculos to Zandamela 398 km
Day 297 : 25 Mar 2005 - Zandamela to Ressano Garcia 388 km

Total nights – 6
Total kilometers – 2 023 km

Currency : Meticais (Mts)
Exchange rate : 1 US$ = 18 000 Mts
Fuel cost per litre : 14 300 Mts
Total cost for country : 515.07 US$
Country cost per day : 85.84 US$
Overall average cost per day : 51.61 US$
Highlight : Visiting the road construction project Gorongosa to Caia
that we were involved with prior to leaving on our overland trip.
Low point : Arriving in Mozambique during the Easter Holidays with virtually all accommodation fully booked.

We lived and worked for the last ten years in Mozambique prior to leaving on our overland trip. During this period we observed this country coming out of a 30 year period of civil war with virtually all infra structure destroyed and/or seriously neglected, and slowly picking itself up assisted by donor organizations from all over the world. We were privileged to have been part of and to have witnessed the re-birth of a country and a nation, especially during the early nineties.

During the time we spent working in Mozambique, we traveled the country several times from north to south over its full width. We however wanted to re-visit the area south of the Zambezi River until past Gorongosa National Park; we spent our last four years as part of a team to construct a road through this beautiful and diverse region. We opted this time to travel to this area via small roads through hunting concession areas consisting of virgin bush and woodlands south of the Zambezi River. We were not disappointed and enjoyed the familiar sights, sounds and smells of the bush.

The people of Mozambique are in general very friendly, although we experienced a noticeable increase in begging from both children and adults since a year ago. We never felt threatened or worried about security, and bush camped on several occasions along the road at night. Fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and seafood are readily available at a fair price along the roads and on the beaches.

We happened to pass through Mozambique during the Easter Holiday period; we observed many tourist vehicles towing boats, jet skis, and all sorts of recreational equipment along and on top of the vehicles. Accommodation and camping were almost fully booked at the many seaside resorts – it was hard to visualize the same country 10 – 12 years ago. Although this tourism is an important part of the economy, a very disturbing fact is however the inability of the local authorities to monitor and to control the impact of the overwhelming number of tourists on the very fragile and sensitive eco-systems. It appears as if tourism have snowballed, whilst the structures have not been put into place to ensure that it remains a viable and sustainable part of the future economy – too many obvious signs of short term vision and greed were noticed.

The roads are generally in a reasonable condition, especially if the almost total lack of maintenance for almost thirty years during the period of civil unrest is kept in mind. However many sections are now disintegrating, the situation probably accelerated by the floods of a few years ago. We crossed several road construction projects along the main north - south road where complete re-building was in progress, and it appears as if a proper management plan are in place to address the transport infra structure.

Mozambique is a country well worth visiting; the many seaside resorts cater for all tastes and budgets, and are amongst the best along the eastern coast of Africa.