When we last updated our blog (internet is rather hard to find, especially if you are not looking) we were in Monkey Bay on the shores of Lake Malawi. After having a restful sleep in dorms (yes, we gladly traded in our tents for beds), we hit the road for what was to be a long day. The first strech of driving was quite relaxed. We did get stopped at a road block where we were asked for our third party insurance. After trying to convince the officer that our car insurance covered third party, he let us go, with us promising to buy insurance in the next town. However, that was short lived. Within about 10 km we were pulled over again and issued a spot fine(for the record, Karselle was driving, but it wasn't because of her bad driving that the fine was issued). Since we had no more kwacha left- we had to pay in dollars- $ 20 down and we were away. We headed to the border with Mozambique, where the first thing we did was get hold of third party insurance. The roads were terrible once we got to the Mozambican side. Luckily, Rally driver Robyn had the wheel and she navigated us to Tete like a pro. Once we got to Tete, we decided to spend the night there due to the fading light and the road conditions. The mission to find somewhere to stay thus started. Lonely Planet and Tom Tom's were whipped out. Our first port of call turned out to be a piece of land on the shores of the Zambezi with a shower faucet. The second port of call turned out to not exist. We ended up at a restaurant opting for food and drink instead with The Fog and Flags and Disco Taxi boys. A South African at the bar offered us a place to stay on his property, which we thought was nice considering there were 13 of us. Once we got there, we actually figured out that he lived next to a portable toilet treatment farm and that his company were responsible for the removal of porta- potty waste. Needless to say, the stench was terrible...
Waking up at 5 am the next day, we were on the road by 6-10. This was a Hooligan first as we have never left any place before 8 am. We were just eager to get as much distance between us and Tete. Today was just a day of driving as we were aiming for Vilankulous. We stopped to buy some lunch at a little restaurant on the side of the road. We thought we were getting cheese rolls, only to find out that cheese means processed cheese. Once again we ended up eating a slight deviation of our trusted chips rolls. We filled up petrol and realised that our petrol gauge had stopped working. At first we thought that we had been ripped off, but it turned out that the tank was full. We then drove, many kilometers. The drive was punctuated by a stop on the side of the road to dance to our 6000 km wearing our reflective vests. The roads slowly started to deteriorate and we only managed to get to Vilankulous at 8 pm. However, it was all worth it when we saw the slice of heaven that awaited us. With the moon out and the white sands of Mozambique in front of us, we treated ourselves to some R and R's (a first for some) and a restaurant cooked meal. The night turned into quite a late one with us catching up with many of the other teams we hadn't seen for a while.
Today was the last official day of the Putfoot Rally. Though the trip was coming to end, there was still one more party and a few 100 km's to cover. The day started off with an English breakfast (in Mozambique, yes), before dashing off to the local market for some Tipo Tinto and some shweshwe for the party that night. We stopped at a petrol station to top up our tank, only to find that our petrol gauge was working again. It seemed to be that every time something minor was wrong with Volvy (our car has a name) and we went over bumps, the fault was rectified. Cheers to that. The drive to Inhambane was quite uneventful, though we did have to get there before 3pm because the tide would roll in and make the campsite inaccessible, especially with our low station wagon. Once we arrived at the dirt road which would take us to the campsite, we got stuck in the sand. Thank goodness for a security guard nearby who helped us reverse push the car out, something we didn't even consider. We also managed to get lost on the mangrove swamp on the way to camp, but we made it in the end. We did have to get a bit of a push over the finish line, but the Hooligans had made it! After many pats on the back and cheering, we headed to the beach for a sunset swim. The swim seemed to give everyone the much needed second wind for the party that night, and animal print was back in again for the African Olympic themed party. R and R's flowing, as well as stories of the past weeks everyone enjoyed what was to be our last night together under the Mozambican sky.
The morning wake up was not as great as we expected. Everyone seemed to be covered in red stained clothes (from the R and R's) and the slow task of having to head home was looming over us all. We awoke to what was a mini market in our campsite with people selling items from dresses to bananas and bread. The bananas and the morning swim that followed were winners to start us off for the day. The goodbyes started too early and eventually we had to leave. We headed about 300 meters down the road to Neptunes and decided to stop for lunch where we sat for about 2 hours. The beaches of Mozambique are just too lovely. Eventually, at 2 pm we decided to drive the 500 km to Maputo. Needless to say, we only arrived there at about 10 pm. After driving around Maputo for what felt like 2 hours we spotted the HerbieFours at Mirimar restaurant, where we finally managed to have some Mozambican prawns. We then missioned to Fatima's backpackers to try and get somewhere to sleep. 1 am and all we needed was a bed...
The next day was an early start- home was calling. We did another mini tour of Maputo trying to find a bank that would let us draw money. When travelling in Africa, choose Visa. We then headed to the crafts market for some present shopping before hitting the road. The border between Mozambique and South Africa is probably the busiest one we encountered this trip. Once we crossed into South Africa we began to fully appreciate our roads. With double lanes most of the way and no chance of hitting a cow or a donkey, we drove into the setting sun. 7608 kilometers later, we reached our final destination in one piece. Volvy made the trip, we were all still talking to each other and we had had the trip of a lifetime.
Thanks to everyone for reading our blog and for your support during this trip. It really was everything we thought it would be and much more. We will be posting pictures and other information when we can. As they say at the Putfoot Headquarters- The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
Peace
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