Inglis in Africa: September 2011

Praia de Rochas near Tofu, Mozambique

Inglis in France…Out of Africa (Aug 2011)

Fresh baguette, exquisite red from Bordeaux, succulent rich cheeses, mussels dripping in garlic and fresh cream and French! We couldn’t be further from Africa. I feel vaguely like I have just awoken from a long and entertaining dream and wander if it all really happened. Tiger fishing on the Zambezi, lions in Etosha, genocide museum in Rwanda, Masai tribesmen and hyena frenzy at Masai Mara, wet wet wet at Victoria falls, sunrise at Sossiesvlei in Namibia, Sipi falls in Uganda, fierce roads and bearing blues in Tanzania, scorpion sting, mozzies, beans, ugali, chai and chapattis and ex-pats who treated us like family. What an experience! Oh Africa! Why can’t I get enough of you!

We flew from Durban, South Africa with 9x23kg bags, including 2 bikes, and 9 pieces of hand luggage. It was a mammoth undertaking and miraculously we were regurgitated onto the platform in Niort to the welcome smiles of Ilda’s family. We managed to completely obstruct the corridor of the TGV and had some African style negotiation with one conductor and were then asked by the next if we were moving house! Our last week in Africa was epic. We have this slightly masochistic tendency of trying to make our life as frantic and difficult as possible and our last week in Pietermaritzburg was a scorcher. I think if it wasn’t for the amazing hospitality and generosity of Guy and Leigh Henderson at Briar Ghyll we would have frazzled. Despite the simultaneous arrival of their new son Sam they put us up and basically mollycoddled us. On top of that I left our car for Guy to sell! During that last week we triaged and packed nearly 2 years of our belongings, dedusted and sorted our Africa equipment and rehabilitated the car which needed some pretty serious stuff doing to it. We also squeezed in some great socializing with old friends and had some time with my brother and his family who were visiting SA. Then just to top it we entered a 12 hour adventure race 2 days before we flew and were rewarded with a magnificent tour of the Karkloof area near Howick and enjoyed some good mountain biking, hiking, canopy tour and even paintball!

After the Zambezi we bypassed Beira and made for the coast again. We managed to bend a wheel rim on an impressive pothole but amazingly the tyre didn’t burst. I turned down diamonds and gold at the little town of Inchope on the main road to Zimbabwe and we progressed to Inhassoro where we put up our tents at Goody Villas campsite which gave us our first taste of the South African invasion into Mozambique. Suddenly we were being quoted in Rands and Boerewors was on the menu. Despite this we enjoyed beachfront camping and our SA neighbours took us on a beach drive to a magnificent beach resort called BD (Bartholomew Dias) where we enjoyed ice cold beer and made a mental note to come back someday. Our stop at Vilankulo was to get to the Bazaruto Archipelago to do some diving. However, a seedy campsite and exorbitant fees for diving put us off and our time there was salvaged by lunch at a lodge run by a French/Belgian couple where we dined on pizza that was perfect!

We had met Shelly Zeebrugge in Zimbabwe as we cruised on Lake Kariba and again at Mana Pools. We had a good laugh together and got thrashed at Scrabble. She said to give her a call when we were in Mozambique. This we did, expecting to erect our tent on their lawn, only to find ourselves in the most beautiful beach house perched on the dunes, with our balcony virtually lapping the waves. We had a magical couple of days there swimming, running on the beach, exploring rock pools and feasting like royalty. Thanks so much Shelly. From there we drove onwards south and had a brief stop at a pretty spot called Quissico which was memorable for a good dose of Pepper Ticks which kept us scratching all the way to France!

Our last push was via Maputo into Zululand and back to Mseleni. We had expected the worst in Maputo but were rewarded with a police free transit and enjoyed the historical glamour of the city and squeezed the Pathfinder onto a well loaded boat for an easy ferry ride. We decided to have a few nights at Ponto Malengane and were stopped by one last cocky cop who tried his luck accusing Ilda of not having her seatbelt on. She laughed him off with a combo of Spanish and Portuguese and we were on our way. Ponto Malangane was magical. Diving didn’t happen because the sea was rough but we reveled in the tranquility of the place and had fantastically arrived there pre long week-end, so enjoyed relative peace. We swam, ran and relaxed and the girls had fun with kids at the next door campsite. Sadly our chicken Galena demised after a close encounter with a Jack Russel and seemed to have some sort of cardiac arrest!

Our last border crossing into South Africa was hilarious. We had all our fresh fruit and veg confiscated but luckily not the dissected Galena which had been lovingly prepared for a BBQ dinner. Then Margot’s combo of French and expired Aussie passport with SA visa caused confusion, and had me mumbling incoherently, which seemed to prompt the immigration official to stamp it and we were back home. We spent a wonderful few days at our hospital “home” of Mseleni staying with the Viljoen family and the girls were fabulously reunited. Baie dankie Kobus en Gerda! It felt great to be back there and we visited our old haunts and I even braved a doctors’ ward round. From there we drifted into Hluhluwe-Umfolozi game reserve and had a great couple of days with my brother and his family. Spectacularly we watched nearly 50 elephant crossing, and wallowing in, a marshy river only about 25m away. Definitely comparable with the best that Chobe had to offer.

And so back to PMB; reunions with friends and my dad; farewells to friends and Africa. Now to France, for a year we think. Will we be back? I hope so, but I don’t know. Every step of our adventure takes us on a new one. Carpe diem.

Our Mozambican pet chicken, Galina ...soon to become a curry!

Stepping up a coconut tree

Paradise campsite near Quissoro, Mozambique

Maputo ferry, Mozambique

Kids reunited with their Mseleni best friends, Analou, Wentzel, Uju and Lisa

Camping on the side of lake Sibaya near Mseleni, South Africa

Margot's birthday cake. She is 11 years old

50 elephants crossing river at Hluhluwe Game Reserve...one of the best sighting on our whole trip. South Africa remains one of the best game viewing spot in Africa