Spring Break, Part Four

Day Six: Kruger, South Africa - Tofo, Mozambique

After enjoying a few days of safari, it was time to relax at the beach. How long until we get there? An hour? Two? After stopping at a gas station (which had ridiculous prices being in Mozam), we asked the attendent how long it would take. Six...from Maputo. What time is it? Four? Oh dear...

In what was probably the most traumatic experience of all of our lives, we drove to our humble destination in Tofo. Potholes were everywhere. It was a long, slow drive with sudden frights every ten minutes because trucks would swerve into our "lane" to avoid the potholes. After losing about ten years of our lives, we finally arrived at Tofo. Of course, our hostel was not clearly marked, we got stuck in the sand and resorted to teams of two searching for anyone who could help.

Day Seven: The Beach

The next day, it was soooo relaxing. There was a beach, a beautiful beach, and that is all we cared about. We did absolutely nothing. It was great. We read, we swam, we ignored the brown water out of the faucets and we drank our lovely water bottles from South Africa. It was great. It was a place where you could just ignore the rest of the world. I feel like one could live there for twenty years and never be updated on anything outside your little beach.

Oh, speaking of nothing - that is what Mozambique is. There is absolutely nothing for miles and miles. You'll have small villages of about 100 people scattered here and there but outside that - the bush and the ocean. That's it. There was a decently sized community in Tofo and Maputo is a pretty big city but the landscape is just so barren and so empty that you can feel lost.

Day Eight: Tofo - Maputo

We left the beach a day too early, according to everyone's opinion, but we had to get back to Pietermaritzburg the next day...

We arrived in Maputo to a downpour. It was getting late since we had been pulled over twice in an hour because the police saw our nice rental cars and South African plates. We gave them bribes to leave us alone and we went on our merry way.

Day Nine: Maputo, Mozambique - Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

The end to our road trip was filled with driving, driving, driving. It took 12 hours to get back. By the time we arrived in PMB, we had enough of driving. But we did enjoy our time on the road and in new places, experiencing Southern Africa to the fullest. New people, animals, and landscapes had filled our senses to the brim with great memories.