The land of sand and sunshine: Day 32 - 34

The rocks at Xai Xai.

After making triple sure we had all the necessary requirements to get into Mozambique relatively hassle free – the reflector vests, third party insurance (which even if you already have, you need to buy again at the border), red triangles and blue triangle stickers on the front and back of the car – we paid a small bribe to avoid having to unpack all our gear for customs to search and headed into Mozambique. We took some advice from SA 4X4 magazine and turned onto a gravel road short cut that bypassed Maputo and got us closer to Xai Xai, while giving us a real feel for Mozambique life as we wound our way through little local villages.

We got to Xai Xai after dark, went straight to the campsite and cracked open a 2M (the local beer, pronounced “doish-em”) after a long day driving. 
At the bar we met some people who knew some people (a common phenomenon in Africa) who had a place literally 500m away with chalets that opened up onto the beach, and so we rambled on a bit further and finally collapsed into bed at Shadrak’s Chalets, too tired to fight the mozzies.

We woke up early to a beautiful clear morning, opening the door onto the sea. We enjoyed a stroll and a swim as the only people on the beach before repacking and getting ready for the road again. We paid Shadrak for our stay (who then sneakily disappeared and pretended to be sleeping so he didn’t have to give us our change!) and got on our way. Contrary to what we had been told, and much to our gratitude, the EN1, which is the main highway that stretches the entire length of the country, has been recently tarred and is in perfect nick. Our general plan for Mozambique was to get going early, arrive at a place around midday, and then explore and enjoy it for the afternoon. After driving for a few hours, we were hot and hungry and saw a sign for the beach at a place called Chidenguele. We decided to take a lunch and swim break, finding ourselves curious to check it out.

Chidenguele, just before we got stuck...

Now, because we are driving a trusty Land Rover, the boys were eager to follow the dune road down to the beach and go exploring. We passed through a place called Sunset Lodge and got three quarters of the way down when the boys decided to abort the driving on the beach idea. But it was one dune too late – we were stuck in the sand with a massive dune behind us we needed to climb! After spending 40 minutes deflating the tyres in the midday heat and laying branches on the sand to give the car enough traction to get up the sand dune again, we decided Sunset Beach was the place to be for the night.

Sunset Beach Lodge has really fantastic camping facilities, with a neat little house containing a bathroom and kitchen next to each camp site. The restaurant and bar open up onto a huge deck overlooking the sea, making you feel on top of the world.