Mozambique

Mozambique is presented by Wikipedia, here

Maputo

Friday, December 7 with Lonely-Planet in hands I went on a tour of Baixa, old downtown area. The fort, fortaleza, were built by Portuguese in the middle of the 19th century. It is a high wall vis-a-vis the Indian Ocean with some bombard but without building inside except in support of the wall whose rooms are occupied by an exhibit of very interesting photographs. Then while going along the ocean I moved towards the surmounted railway station by an elegant dome. The sides of the station recovering the rails were designed, at the request of the local architect, by Gustave Eiffel which never went to Mozambique. On way I admired some beautiful frontages of buildings of the colonial time. I arrived at the municipal market with its long displays of fruits, vegetables, and seafood. Shops exposed wigs for woman, one of them was let photograph. While continuing my visit under the burning sun, I passed beside many old buildings in a state of advanced ruin. The vast place of independence, Plaza da Independéncia, is bordered with buildings of the Portuguese colonial time whose most outstanding building is the solid mass of neo-classic style city hall preceded by a gigantic statue. The iron house, casa ferro, was designed by Gustave Eiffel as house of the governor. Its metal outside is unsuited to the tropical climate, attesting that Gustave Eiffel never put his foot at Maputo! Some paints are exposed in the rooms. The imposing white cathedral dates from the middle of the 20th century. Inside an interesting high altar and sumptuous stained glasses. A crib was under installation for the nativity of Jesus. Afterwards many questioning I found to buy a postcard but the research of the Post office was also a piece of bravery and obstinacy so much the inhabitants of Maputo were ignorant of its localization; moreover the absence of customer inside attested of its non-utilization. On way I admired a pretty gate of Tunduru Garden. Back to the hotel I pushed further to see the splendid frontage of manuelin of Natural History Museum. My truck was parked in the street in front of the Base Backpackers in 24:00 /24 guarding. Maputo is the most big city of Mozambique. The architecture of the apartment buildings in the peripheral attests political regime after independence and their frontage testifies to the tropical climate. It is typically orthogonal city. The 100 pages of Lonely-Planet devoted to Mozambique are poor. Maputo will not leave me an imperishable memory

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Ponto da Barra, Lighthouse

Sunday, December 9 I traversed +200 km to reach Inhambane where I visited the two sights mentioned by the LP. The cathedral Nossa Senhora de Conceição dating from the end of the 19th century; alas in quasi ruin and inaccessible. I noticed on the high pediment a beautiful image of the Virgin Mary carried out in azulejos coming from Portugal. While continuing on the road of the waterfront I arrived at old the mosque dating back to 1840 when I was accepted by bearded with shaven skull muslim. I discovered the old unused train station whose architecture testifies to the political regime during its construction, as well as an engine of 1897. Finally afternoon I rolled on the sand beach of Ponto da Barra to bivouac on the hill of the headlight in a also campsite in ruin! There I remained two nights under an overcast sky with an intermittent rain and a temperature around 28°C.

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Vilankulo,  Baobab Beach Backpackers

Mozambique extends at a long North-South distance and small a dispatcher. Consequently many kilometers should be traversed. Tuesday, December 11 the distance from BPonta da Barra to Vilanculo is 326 km. Admittedly the roadway has a surface of good quality. On the way two events scattered my attention. First I cross for the nth one + once the Tropic of Capricorn since I went the world, to see Wikipedia here for the countries which it crosses. Then a 4x4 pass me and stopped on the road side after the junction towards Vilanculo, the driver signaled to me to join him I did it; he was presented coming from Portugal established to Vilanculo since +13 years and invited to me to take a cup of coffee with his wife. We exchanged many information and we agreed to see us again,… in another life. I was going to establish my bivouac for one night at the Baobab Beach Backpackers.

Beira

Wednesday, December 12 was a great purple passage to face the 526 km separating Vilancolos de Beira of which the first third is a slalom to approximately 20 km/h between the pot-holes. Consequently I arrived in the end of the afternoon at Beira after 10:00 driving to bivouac on the carpark of Biques Restaurant to enjoy with a fresh beer the sunset under an overcast sky. Of course tiredness got to me a peaceful sleep surrounded by two guards.

Gorongosa NP

Thursday, December 13 I left without regret the carpark of Biques Restaurant to visit Gorongosa NP to approximately 200 km. Alas after the excellent roadway of the EN6 up to Inchope the 70 following km break up into 40 km of pot-holes and 30 km of track inside the park. While arriving at the reception of the park I was informed that there was no game drive idue to rains which had fallen for one week; moreover the manager, of French origin, taught me that the park will be closed from December 15th to the beginning of March 2019. my disappointment was enormous! I decided to spend the night on the spot not to drive again the 40 km of pot-holes in the same day. Whereas I worked with the page layout of my website the receptionist taught me that there will be a game drive at 14:00 because five people had just arrived for an ornithological photo hunting. Obviously I agreed to take part in it. It was an enchantment to circulate in this entirely wooded park where the mammals are hidden by the abundant greenery. Moreover very many ponds are the biotopes by excellence birds. I underwent the comments, in vernacular language, of the five ornithologists. The solitary night in the park was comforting although the multitude of monkey is disturbing.

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Chimoio

Friday, December 14 I left Gorongosa NP very disappointed because it is worth the detour. With courage I faced the pot-holes constantly dug by the heavy trucks which furrow this road EN1. I arrived around midday at Chimoio to bivouacin Pink Papaya Backpackers after having made supply in Shoprite and the full with diesel fuel at the adjacent Total petrol station before entering Zimbabwe. Indeed only the beaches can retain the tourists followers of the sun bathing, when the sky is not covered and that it does not rain. I am not tear of the beaches; I thus curtailed my stay in Mozambique.

Machipanda, Border