Home » Mozambique » Day 8. Sun 24th April Ilha de Mozambique to Mocuba

We are up at 4:30 and on the road by 5. African bureaucracy is in force when we reach the causeway - Ken is asked for the receipt for the fee he paid on entering the island. He points out to the guy that a) no one had told him he must keep it, and b) just how exactly does the guy imagine that he got 5 people and Discovery onto the island unless he paid to come over the bridge? The guy reluctantly concedes the point and lets us pass - it is interesting to wonder how many visitors are so stupid as to be persuaded to pay again by this scam. It is just as well that there is not too much traffic to and from the island, as the bridge is a single lane with occasional passing places. One has to wonder just how much making it two-way would have put on the total bill.

Day 8. Sun 24th April Ilha de Mozambique to Mocuba

DaveMidgley
2005-10-22 18:36:17

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We are up at 4:30 and on the road by 5. African bureaucracy is in force when we reach the causeway - Ken is asked for the receipt for the fee he paid on entering the island. He points out to the guy that a) no one had told him he must keep it, and b) just how exactly does the guy imagine that he got 5 people and Discovery onto the island unless he paid to come over the bridge? The guy reluctantly concedes the point and lets us pass - it is interesting to wonder how many visitors are so stupid as to be persuaded to pay again by this scam. It is just as well that there is not too much traffic to and from the island, as the bridge is a single lane with occasional passing places. One has to wonder just how much making it two-way would have put on the total bill.

At Alto Mólocuè we hit dirt road again. The scenery is magnificent, and all around us granite inselbergs rise out of the otherwise flat plain.

Then at 11 o'clock we get a flat tyre. We have two jacks with us, but the smaller one will barely lift high enough to get the wheel off the ground, and anyway appears to have a leak. The larger one is a great powerful beast, but the only place to put it is under the tow bar at the back, which means that both rear wheels are lifted and the vehicle is so unstable, balanced on the tow bar in the middle, that it just falls off. There is some habitation close by, so Mark and Ken go to the villages to seek assistance. We get some blocks of wood to put the jack on, but it still will not lift. By this time we have an audience, so we mime digging and, sure enough, a couple of guys nip home and bring back one of the hoes that they use for digging and set to to dig out around the wheel. In total it takes an hour, but we finally get the wheel changed and are on our way again.
We have had no breakfast (except a fruesli bar - packing a few emergency fruesli bars was a tip Nathan gave me on the Odyssey and I've done it ever since, thanks Nathe), but we are now behind schedule again and decide to skip lunch too. We buy dried fruit and cashew nuts at the side of the road and keep driving. We will not make it to the Zambesi today, but should make Mocuba by nightfall, where there is, allegedly, accommodation.
As we drive into Mocuba it is beginning to rain. The guide book recommends the Ositio restaurant, and, after asking a few locals, we eventually find it. It is an unprepossessing looking place from the outside, but although there is no running water the rooms are air conditioned. In true African fashion the rooms are not prepared for guests until the guests actually arrive, so loo paper is delivered just after I've been to the loo. As there is no water or towels I decide to refresh myself by the simple expedient of stripping of my T-shirt and standing outside in the rain for a while. However, the rain turns out to be a lucky break, as the staff are busy filling large buckets from the guttering, and these are shortly delivered to our rooms so that we can have a wash. I am just stepping out of the bathroom when a knock at the door heralds the arrival of towels - the lad is very amused when I answer the door with nothing but a wonder towel to hide my embarrassment.
They do serve food, but we are not too sure about the quality of the meat, so Ken digs some mince out of the cold box and proceeds to chat up the girl in the kitchen who produces a delicious meal of mince with herbs and potatoes and rice cooked in coconut milk.
Mark wants to head into town and suss out the night life, but, although tempted, I am just too tired, so we sit in the bar and chat to a Zimbabwean road consultant who is currently engaged in upgrading the dirt roads we have just driven on, so future travelers may have a better run.