After another early 12h00a.m. start, we had
a very long driving day, arriving in Tofu at 14h00.
We left Hlane in Swaziland at 12h00 a.m.
and with a rather nervous Lauren opening and closing the game gates and
disconnecting and reconnecting the electrified gates as we passed through. I
kept thinking a Rhino was going to charge me at any moment. We got to the main
gate where the guard let us out and we were on our merry way.
The exit out of Swaziland went relatively
smoothly and the entry into Mozambique a little more complicated with some
serious road tax. The officials were out in full force today and Grant was stopped
9 times. Generally they would wait for us to stop and pull over and then wave
us on. Other times they wanted to see all the documents we had. Aimee was in
front with us, buckled up at the one stop but they said that the, “baby” must
not sit in the front. She was most indignant as, “she is 7 you know.”
Our original plan had been to go back to
Bilene and to stay at Complexo Palmeiras for a day or two. We had stayed here
before and it was great as there are huge salt inland lakes that we were hoping
to paddleboard and use the paddle boat. This was not to be as when we arrived
we realized that we were not going to fit in the entrance gate as the thatched
entry roof was too low for the, “Bushwakka truck on steroids.”
We then decided to head to Xai-Xai and camp
there for the night. We arrived at the campsite and soon after decided not to
stay. It is quite run down and neglected as well as we were the only people in
the area and it just seemed that security would be a problem. We went and
parked on the main road and the kids had a swim in the most awesome natural
tidal pool known as Wenela. This is
right in front of the old hotel that is now a ruin, it must have been an
amazing setting in its time
Long rive to Bamboozi
Long
drive to Tofu
Leaving Xai-Xai we pushed through to
Bamboozi in Tofu and were all very
pleased to arrive, almost a feeling of coming home. The kids were excited to
see all the familiar sights and after a quick setup of camp, in our same
position we went for a swim in the sea. Awesome!!! Warm water. It is great to
have electricity for certain times of the day and they have been putting a lot
of work into upgrading the bathrooms. They are busy building a new ablution
block where the one open air communal kitchen was and have built another open
air kitchen on the other side behind office.
The only disappointment for the kids is
that the swimming pool is devoid of water as with the cyclones that hit the
area earlier this year have damaged the pool. The launch route for the dive
centre here has also become unusable and the beach has changed slightly. We are
hoping to get an early night after a long day of driving.
Wednesday
9th & Thursday 10th May
We went for a walk to the market and had an
awesome sea swim. The kids surfed in the afternoon and had a nice chilled out
day.
Today more of the same, will be heading up
the road later to try and find a wi-fi spot to post blog.
29 degree sea temp
Pizza @ Dino'sInverter blew last night. had plenty generator & electricity problems, so think it was tired, probably a surge. Took scooter off today so could meet a lady heading to SA. Need a new one. no helmets needed around here.
