Bom Dia all – greetings from the beaches of sunny Mozambique -Vilankulos to be specific.

Our last week has been fun to say the least, with 3 rest days in Tofu  - only 300km of cycling and now chilling on the beach again in Vilankulos; life could be worse!

There is not much to blog about as we have literally done nothing but relax on the beach..
In Tofu Jiten and I went for a sea safari.  It was a fantastic experience for me as I have never snorkelled before, Firstly I had to get my breathing right and stop lifting my head and gulping sea water, then brave the current of the open ocean.  We were lucky to get to swim with multiple schools of dolphins, but unfortunately did not see any whale sharks or manta rays!

After a longer than planned rest in Tofu we reluctantly  got back into the saddle and headed for Vilankulos – First stop Inhambane where we stayed at Pankaj's house again (thank you) then an early morning start and dhow trip across to Maxixe, indulging in raw casava while on the boat.  Getting a dhow was a learning curve as the first guy we paid wanted to rest our loaded bikes on the canvas roof of his dhow, but we refused so he just left with our money!!

We managed to get into the Mozambique national papers and news so lots of locals and passing traffic have heard about us, making life easier at times

On route to Massinga we crossed the Tropic Of Capricorn, where we stopped for some photos and broke tangerines with the locals.




 




11 June – Today something strange occurred – I sent my Ma a message and she replied “Who's number is this” All 3 of our Mozambique mobile numbers have for some strange reason spontaneously changed!

From Massinga to Vilankulos we clocked just over 152km – making this the furthest distance we have cycled in a day.
Stopping over for lunch on the roadside I was happily eating my bread and simba chips, when a local lady probably felt sorry for me and gave me a cold Fanta and 4 tangerines. The generosity of the locals, even though poor themselves is amazing.
Overnight at a roadside Mosque / Prayer room before Vilankulos we tucked into our sachets of paneer curry given to us by Sujith in Lesotho (good times), this togeather with baked beans and rice – winning combo

On arrival in Vilankulos, we visited the mayor then settled into Baobab Backpackers – engage holiday mood again....
Betty from the local market place has been cooking for us for cheap – Fish, rice and salad for 50mets. (1 Rand : 4.2Mets) We splashed out on Wednesday and got Betty to prepare Crab, Prawns, Calamari and Gropa (delicious fish)

14 June – Day dhow trip planned to Magaruque Island using the motor there and sailing back to mainland.  Snorkelling at the coral reef there was stunning – its a whole new world down there – felt like I was swimming in an overcrowded aquarium tank .  Early night in bed as we had a tough day On a Boat :)






15 June – Morning jog watching the sunrise and fishing boats come to shore.  When the tide goes down you can walk almost 300 meters before reaching water.  Tried my luck at fishing again but that proved unsuccessful.  From here we cut inland and only hit the coast again at Zanzibar so we making the best of it here!

Chat again in Malawi – keep it real.

IS