After a night of listening to a variety of big game animals making loud noises just over the fence from our campsite, we got up early (yet again) to pack and start making a move for Mozambique.
In order to get to Mozambique we had to drive through rural Swaziland for a while and pass back into South Africa briefly before we got to a useful border crossing. On the way down to South Africa we had a chance to see quite a bit of rural life in the Swaziland countryside. There were lots of school kids making their way to their village schools and lots of locals confusing our van for one of the taxi vans they use for public transportation between villages.
In theory we could have crossed straight into Mozambique from Swaziland, but it was quicker to drive back into South African for a while. Mozambique is a country still recuperating from over 20 years of civil war so much of the infrastructure is very poor and many roads are dirt – requiring 4wd vehicles. Because of this it didn’t make sense to just cross into Mozambique directly from Swaziland, but rather to ride as close to our destination as possible in South Africa, which has better roads.
Of course, this required that we make two border crossings in a single day – one back into South Africa and another into Mozambique. The South African crossing is the most modern and efficient of the three, but I was scrutinised when they found too many stamps in my passport. Sure enough, after flipping through every page, I was asked to present my Yellow Fever immunisation certificate due to my recent swing through South America.
We stopped for lunch in the last town in South Africa before arriving at the Mozambique border. The customs officials were much nicer than in Swaziland and even gave us all a steep ~50% discount for our required visas because we only planned to be here a few nights. US$30 instead of US$60.
The drive into the beach camp we stayed at from the border was very much an adventure in itself! We had to change vehicles at the border and shuffle all our gear over into a 4wd pickup truck with trailer because the road to the camp was little more than a very sandy track. It was a very slippery trip with lots of and swerving and dips and crests. At one point our driver gave up trying to get through a stretch and backed up and turned around to pursue another track in order to find enough momentum to punch through the slippery sand dunes.
The camp is very nice and right along a beautiful beach on the Indian Ocean. The water is a perfect temperature and great for swimming. Our tents were pitched just behind some dunes and under some nice shady trees. There are no lions or gibbons to worry about, but there still are snakes and scorpions to keep an eye out for we were warned.
We all enjoyed a beer down at the local pub, overlooking the beach, just before dinner. Every place we visit has a different selection of local beers to try, which keeps things interesting. We looked into snorkelling and diving options for the next day, but none sounded like very good value.