Mumbo Island-Cape MacLear -28-30 June

Mumbo Island-Cape MacLear - 28th - 30th June
Kayak Africa
We were collected from Fat Monkeys campsite and taken to the Kayak Africa reception. From here we were transferred to Mumbo Island by boat. The trip to the island was about one hour and from the moment we arrived there we felt like we were in Paradise with a capital,"P". We were staying in the family tent which is tucked away on the island under beautiful shady trees with wooden decking walkways joining it to the rest of the island.

Family tent

They provide you with 3 meals a day and tea, coffee, juice and homemade biscuits included in your price. The food was amazing and the staff were so friendly.

Tented camps on island

Our days were spent snorkelling, paddling around the island and taking walks on the island to all different look out points.

Paddling around Mumbo Island

Mitch,"the bay" playing in the hammock

We went on a sunset cruise the one night and saw the most beautiful sunset, the kids had great fun jumping off the boat in the middle of the lake.

We were returned via another boat called," Feersum Enjun" on the way back to Kayak Africa and are spending another night at Fat Monkeys before heading on to Senga Bay tomorrow.





Malawi-22nd June

Malawi – Nkopola Lodge (Friday 22^nd June)

Camping under trees at Nkopola

Sunrise from campsite

We have reached destination. Yeah!! This feels like heaven, hot water showers, flushing toilets and electricity all day. Yes, you heard right, the kids can’t believe it. We are camped under the trees on grass and are right next to the waters edge. The water is colder than in Mozambique but is still warmer than Durban. We are the only ones here and the staff has been so helpful. George the caretaker has made us a new step for the motorhome at a small cost of R60 (2000 kwacha). For R30 (R1000 kwacha), two of the maintenance staff gave the outside of the motorhome a much needed  clean of all the sand and branches we had gathered on the way. They all work with such happy hearts and are a real pleasure to meet.  We have left Portuguese behind us and are now trying to learn the basics of Chichewe. Our bundle at the moment is, “zinkomo kwambiri,” which means thank you. I am astounded by how many of the locals can speak English or attempt to try. Aimee calls it kwach language.

We walked along the shore to the lodge this morning to the lodge and spent the morning at the pool, catching up on e-mails and swimming in the lake. We have decided to adopt the attitude of swim now  and take the common bilharzia tablet after

Waterpolo in Lake

Locals on a Saturday near campsite

We had lunch at the lodge while planning our proposed route and the kids played on the beach.

Netball Aimee style

Planning our route

In the afternoon we stayed at the campsite, pottering around and being entertained by the locals on the beach in front as their music got louder and their spirits got higher.

Sunday 24th June

This morning we went for a guided tour with Robert through the local village. We went to see some of the carving workshops and baobab forest. They are trying to cultivate their own ebony trees which will hopefully be ready for harvesting in 15 years. We then headed to the pool at the lodge to have a swim and this is where we are updating the blog, e-mailing and making payments. On to Cape MacLear tomorrow so hopefully will have wi-fi connection there.

Malawi – Fat Monkey’s (Monday 25^th June & Tuesday 26^th June)

We arrived at Fat Monkey’s in Cape MacLear on Monday morning after a very easy drive from Nkopola Lodge. We are parked in the parking lot as there are low hanging trees in the camping area. It is really beautiful here, we walked along the beach to Kayak Africa to confirm our trip over to Mumbo Island on Thursday and Friday. You are very much part of the village here as on either side of the campsite are locals and anywhere you walk to the left or right, you will be greeted by very friendly children. We had a supper at the restaurant here last night and had a lovely meal with spectacular views.

Sunset from Fat Monkey’s

We met up with Harry, a local tour guide and have organized to go to Thumbe Island, the closest to Fat Monkey’s on Wednesday morning for some snorkelling and fish eagle watching.
Tuesday 26^th June

This morning the kids had some fun, “negotioating,” with the locals for some gifts and after that we headed over to Chembe Eagles Nest, which is about 2km away from Fat Monkey’s, to look at the other camping on offer here. Bryce & Mitch paddleboarded over and Grant, Aimee  & I paddled in the orange boat.

Bryce's new chess board

Negotiating with locals

Bryce & Mitch paddleboarding

Kids playing in Lake in front of Chembe Eagles Nest

Bryce & Mitch wrestling in Lake

We had some lunch & coldrinks on that side & explored a bit before heading back to Fat Monkey’s.

Lauren & Aimee paddleboarding

Bryce paddling back to Fat Monkey’s

We have all been having a very peaceful, relaxing time here. The staff is friendly and the kids are enjoying the trampoline, swings and very big swimming pool i.e.The Lake.

The kids have all just headed off for a paddle and to do some of their own fishing and snorkelling. We are watching from the sundowner spot.

Wednesday 27th June

Today we went with Harry and Blessings on a boat trip over to Thumbi Island. The boat is in the background. Harry had brought some fish with him to feed the fish eagles. This was an amazing experience, you watch as they call the fish eagle, they circle overhead and next thing they have grabbed the fish from just in front of you.

Once we got to our snorkelling spot, "Three anchor Bay," you climb out onto this huge flat rock where you can snorkel to your hearts content. The colours of these little fish have to be seen to be believed.

We took some stale bread with us and you hold it in your hand and the fish nibble at it. Amazing! On the way back to Fat Monkeys Mitch and Aimee got a chance to steer the boat .

We are all very excited for our Kayak Africa trip to Mumbo Island tomorrow. We will be leaving the truck in the carpark at Fat Monkeys and will be on the island for Thursday & Friday night. I will try and post some photos on Saturday evening.

Kayak Africa reception

Pemba 7th -21st June 2012

Pemba - Thursday 7th June 2012
When arriving in Pemba, we headed straight for Pemba Dive & Bushcamp. This is a beautiful spot right on the beach in the huge big Pemba Bay, with lovely shady trees in the campsite and a baracca for shade. They offer all sorts of free activities: Kayaking,nature walks,archery,trampoline,mud baths and a huge bonfire at night with drumming.

View from campsite

Archery

Bryce & Aimee

We set up camp and went for a swim in the Bay. After work my friend Karen(From Varsity days), her husband Guy and daughter Drew came down to visit. It was so awesome to see her again and to meet her family.

On Friday morning Grant took the scooter into town to get some basics and the kids did some archery and paddling. Drew finished school early and Karen came to fetch us and took us on a tour of Pemba. We went down to a couple of places on Wimbi Beach and the kids played and swam in the beautiful flat warm sea and then back to her house for supper. A couple of beers, a fire and meat on the braai - Grant was in his element.

Wimbi Beach

On Saturday we went with Drew and Karen to her Sports Day. Aimee was at the campsite with Grant as she had been up all night with a nasty tummy bug.

The sports day started a bit later than intended, so the run was postponedto later in the day when it would be cooler. The boys enjoyed the other fun events - hurdles, ball toss, frisby throwing and sand castle building

Bryce & Drew sandcastle building

Hurdles

Karens husband Guy went to check up on Grant and Aimee and fell through our makeshift plastic steps. He had a huge gash in his leg as wide as your thumb and long as palm of one hand. It needed to have around 14 stitches done by an oil company medic. Seriously EINA!

Guys cut to the bone

Baobab at Londo

On Sunday we went with a group of Karen & Guys friends to Londo Bay on their mate Peter's large dhow. We had lunch at Stefans house. What a beautiful spot. Clear blue seas, huge baobab trees

We were spoilt to an awesome goat potjie and the kids had a blast exploring the Bay. They found jellyfish, mussels, clams, shells, explored caves & swung in Baobabs

Drew & Aimee - mussel peaks

jelly fish

Swinging on Baobab

Cave at Londo

Later in the afternoon we headed back to Pemba Dive & Bush Camp and Bryce got a turn to steer the dhow back

Bryce steering dhow

Monday 18th June 2012

Boys surf spot when there are waves

We have had a wonderful week in Pemba. Karen & Guy generously lent us their combi and we have been able to get around and see some beautiful places. On Monday last week Guy took us down to a lovely beach on the sea side as the wind had picked up a bit and the boys were able to surf as they are light enough to get up on the foamies.
Drew & Aimee had great fun swimming and collecting shells.

 After the beach we went to," Pieters Place", where they have the most amazing Baobab tree with a ladder up to the top and some chairs where you can sit and hide away. This tree is also home to the most beautiful bushbabies, which are also resident at our campsite but we have not been able to spot them, you can just hear their distinctive cry at night. 

Baobab at Pieters Place

On Tuesday we had a nice day at the campsite and in the afternoon Drew came to join us for a nature walk at Pemba Dive & Bushcamp. We did a lovely walk around the mangroves and learned a lot about the local flora and fauna.

On Wednesday morning we were all very excited because this is the day that Grant and Michelle would be arriving. In the morning Aimee, Mitch & I met Karen in town so that she could show us some of shops and we stocked up on our supplies. Grant & Bryce took the scooter for a ride to get some Pao. After we had picked up Grant & Michelle from the airport, we all met back at the camp.

On Thursday morning, we all went down to Wimbi Beach and had a swim, we then popped in at Russels Place for lunch and back to the campsite later.

Grant & Michell at Wilson's Wharf

On Friday afternoon we went up to Guy & Karen and the kids had a blast playing,"indoor" hockey on this cement slab that they have at their house. The game extended to jay-boarding and roller blading hockey. We went out for pizzas & really yummy chicken liver peri-peri in the evening

On Saturday morning the children had been invited with Drew to a friends house and Karen & I went for a shopping trip into the local market. We picked up the two Grants, Michelle and Guy and went to two beautiful spots on the sea side of Pemba where they do most of their kite-surfing.

Having drinks at Italian's kite surfing spot

The second spot we visited has been done out so beautifully with such creative flair using all the local wood, shells, driftwood and have these stilted chalets that they rent out.

French couples spot on beach

Sunday was father's Day and we went to Peponi Beach to have lunch and swim. We had a lovey day with awesome food & company.

Peponi Beach

Horses swimming at Peponi Beach

On Monday we spent the day around the camp, catching up on some work, while Grant Brown went on a scuba dive off one of the reefs. In the afternoon the two Grants, Michelle,  Bryce & Mitch went to try and find some surfing waves but with no luck. Grant Brown organised a skipper and a boat for us to go snorkelling on Wednesday morning. We left from Wimbi Beach & headed out to a small reef just off the shore. We saw some beautiful fish, starfish, huge shells and  beautiful coral. The kids snorkel was a bit short lived as there is a type of plankton in the sea that stings you and kept zapping them. We moved on from this spot to another one, where a sunken ship is surrounded  by the most beautiful  fish, coral and a lot of sea anenomes. 

Mozambique (Pemba) - Malawi (Nkopola)  20^th  June – 22^nd June

After dropping Grant & Michelle at the airport on Wednesday, we headed back to Pemba Dive & Bushcamp to start packing up camp & load the scooter back on. It was so lovely to have Grant & Michelle here and we really enjoyed their visit, very special. We decided to go up to Guy & Karen’s house to spend the night in their yard as we were going to leave early in the morning. Karen had left on the same flight as Grant & Michelle that day. She was heading to Cape Town for her well deserved holiday. It had been really great catching up with her after not seeing her for 11 years and really fantastic to meet her family & friends.

Guy & Drew

We left at 1h30 in the morning and began the really long trip towards Malawi. After a very hectic day of driving on horrendous roads, we arrived in Cuamba at 17h30 in the afternoon. The only place to camp was inaccessible to us, as you have to drive through the local village and they have low hanging electricity wires which we would have connected. So the reversing started until we could find a spot to turn & go out forwards. We went to the old Hotel 2000 and asked if we could pay to sleep in their,”carpark.”  The staff were so friendly and helpful, we had a really good, affordable meal and the hairdresser in the back room let us plug the electricity into her, “salon” once she had closed up for the night.  Fortunately we were all so exhausted that we crashed early. We slept to the sounds of puppies crying outside our window, followed by dogs howling outside and eventually after a huge dog fight at about 1h30, we left at 2h00 heading for Malawi. We arrived at a petrol station near the border and slept for an hour waiting for it to open. At 6h00 we changed some metacai into kwacha,( with the help of Grant Brown’s up to date exchange rate information via sms), filled up with diesel and went on our merry way. Got to border post at about 6h30 and all went relatively smoothly. We left border at about 9h00 and we got onto a much better road in Malawi. We stopped to buy some bread and a Malawi sim card, as the charges for roaming here are very high. We arrived at Nkopola Lodge which is one of the Sunbird group. When we arrived at the campsite, Grant & I realized that we had stayed here on our last visit to Malawi with Ryan & Kevin. The staff here and the locals are amazingly friendly and helpful. Very similar to our previous experience in Malawi, where I remember the people being so friendly. This is clearly why they call Malawi,”Africa for beginners.”

Alto Molocue & Ilha da Mozambique

After leaving Gorongosa at 6am, as soon as the gates opened, our aim was to get to Macuba and to try find somewhere ther to stay. This was a hard days drive around Mount Gorongosa, but beautiful scenery.The mountain reaches 1862m above sea level (Gogogo peak) The new bridge over the Zambezi river at Caia is fantastic

Bridge over Zambezi

The scenery is totally diferent to the south. Plenty of granite and dolomite inselbergs (stand alone mountains) and baobabs. Every now and then we pass an imposing cathedral, in the middle of nowhere

When we got to Mocuba, tghe place we earmarked to stay was closed, with no other place that seemed safe to stay. We decided to push on to Alto Molocue. The road between Mocuba and Alto Molocue is quite shocking, as you head onto a detour road with lots of broken down trucks at the side of the road (not an encouraging sign). Once in Alto Molocue we found the one place to stay suggested by the guide books. In my limited Potugese and the owners limited English, we gathered that it was not going to be safe to stay there. We were blessed to meet and Americal Aid worker at the pensioen who was there doing some emailing. Gabriel offered for us to stay at their compound.He is a masters student in public health and was working in Quelimane and surrounds testing water in wells and trying to educate locals on hygiene. The locals have developed a system to promote washing hands and general cleanliness after using ablutions.

Locals hand cleaning,"sink"

photo of compound

Wednesday 8 June 2012
We woke up and ready to leave by 6.30am, destination Ilha da Mozabmique bridge camp. We arrived at the campsite (Casvaria camping) at 1.30pm. It is on the mainland situated on the beach next to the bridge to the island and is very basic. No running water but has electricity and a guard to watch the truck. We decided to quickly head over to the island by chappa from just before the bridge. The bridge is a single, narrow lane with a few short wider sections to wait and pass at.

The island is old and run down and seriously overpopulated.(14000 people on and island that is 2500m long and 600m at its widest point.)

Kids outside fort on Ilha da Mozambique

Ilha da Mozambique is the ancient capital and slave trading centre of Mozambique. There are all the influences evident here of the Arabs, Persians, Portuguese and Indians. We visited Fortaleza Sao Sebastio, which was ingeniously designed to catch rainfall and channel the water into a huge cistern dug into the central courtyard, so that when under siege they did not need to leave the fort.
We visited the museum which is under construction and has been declared a World Heritage Site. Some of the sections were not open for visitors. We looked at the nautical museum where they have selvedged and restored all sorts of interesting items, pottery, porcelain, coins, sword,cannons.

Outside Palaciode Sao Paulo

We also visited the church museu where all different artifacts fro churches found around the island are displayed..

Church pulpit

We walked around the island and passed two schools in close proximity to each other. Watched a bit of their soccer game and then headed into Stone Town.

Soccer game

Walking into Stone Town

We headed back to the mainland on a very crowded chappa(5Mets) at about 18h00 and spent the night at Casuarina campsites. The ablutions really leave a lot to be desired so we were very glad to leave and not have to spend another night. We left for Pemba at 4h00 in the morning.