3 Days On the Road

Vilanculos to Chimoio to Tete to Monkey Bay

I was not looking forward to these three days on the road. Packing and setting up camp each day after 400km and 8 hours on the road is just exhausting to think about let alone do. To my surprise, between the changing scenery and roadside stops the time just slipped on by.  We left sandy beaches for rolling hills, palm trees for sugarcane fields, and humidity for dryness.  In 3 days we completed roughly 1200km and crossed one border. We had the very welcome company of 3 traveling companions riding on BMW motorbike. They were on the same course with us until we crossed into Malawi. It was fun to debrief the day over a meal and wine in the evening with them.

I will let the pictures tell most of the story…

Bikes chilling with the landy at a coffee stop

For some reason I just love goats. This fact has nothing to do with my love for goat cheese. Fortunately for me they are all over Africa. I have been wondering for some time what the Africans do with them. I have never seen them offered on a menu or heard of anyone drinking their milk here. Merv finally asked a man who was trying to sell him something what the story was. The man explained that the goats are fairly self-sufficient. They do not need to be fed because they graze off the grass and the moisture from the grass provides them with enough hydration to last them a week. They also breed quite frequently. When the goats are old enough they either sell them or slaughter them for meat. I’m still waiting for the opportunity to try some. I have heard the meat is quite good.

Never underestimate the load capacity of your vehicle.

We camped on the lawn of a hotel just outside of Chimoio. A lot of places that do not specialize in camping will charge you a nominal fee to camp on their property. It’s quite a good set up and a bit of a win win since it cost them nothing  and is cheap for us. We made spaghetti bolognaise on the fire for our new friends and grilled some pineapple we had bought along the drive for dessert.

This rock mountain and the river below were part of the gorgeous scenery we were treated to.

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The young ladies are holding fruit from the baobab tree. We were curious to what it tasted like so we bought one. The girls were hanging around our campsite so we asked them to show us how to eat it. You crack in open by smashing it on a rock or the like. The inside is filled with white irregular cubes. Very hard to describe the taste, best I can say was that it was tangy and a bit chalky. They liked it more then us so we exchanged the rest of the fruit for a picture.

Camping on the Zambezi river in Tete.

Our honey salesman obliging us with a picture. Delicious, if you can get over the fact that they are selling the honey in recycled water bottles that I’m almost positive were not sanitized. My favorite line is that I’m building my immune system one germ at a time.

When you point your camera lens at the locals you can expect a variety of responses; one running away, two asking for money in exchange for the photo, or three posing. Posing is usually reserved to the ones under 10.

The baobab tree in all it’s glory. These trees were dotted across the landscape for over 100km. Each one was more stunning then the last.

The main water source for most communities, a boar hole with a hand pump. It is rare to find running water in the local huts. Most of the people share a common well and use large plastic bins to collect water for the day. The water comes straight from the ground so it is safe to drink. I visited one to fill a water bottle unsure of the reaction I would get and was pleasantly surprised by the warm response. A kid who couldn’t have been more then four pumped while I filled my bottle.