Mozambique

After saying goodbye to Tal and Michal, we head west towards Mozambique; it’s a long drive to the Indian Ocean, which we’re definitely going to have to do over the next two days.
We’re planning to cross the Zambezi at Tete, one of the easiest crossings in Mozambique, there’s only a few points you can cross this huge river.

By the time we arrived in Tete, it’s already getting late – there’s nowhere south of here to stop for the night, so we find a campsite, which was actually just a bars’ carpark… We celebrated the Jewish New Year (which we’d promised Michal and Tal we’d do) in the traditional way – with fish heads (we didn’t have any apples or honey)

The first night’s camping with Jenny and Keira is quite a warm experience. Tete is known for being the hottest place in Mozambique and tonight is no exception. We’re in for a long, sleepless night, not helped at all by the near constant construction work going on in the carpark.

Thursday September 13th 2007
The drive south to Beira is a gruelling 1000km drive, for the most part on thankfully great roads. Keira and Jenny take the chance to “rest their eyes”, apparently they didn’t actually sleep…

We arrive at Biques Camp just before sunset, in time to enjoy some well earned sundowners on the beach. Biques is right on the coast, the beach is our new home and their bar has not only a pool table but also a huge TV and projector for tomorrows rugby world cup clash between England and South Africa.

We’re introduced to the foulest drink I’ve yet to taste by a very frank middle-aged South African who takes a special liking to Keira… AguaDen (firewater) tastes like battery acid, which is probably a fairly prominent ingredient. I have to drink the girls’ shots for them (after the first one they’ve refused all others) they arrive thick and fast from the mostly older south African regulars, by the time we leave to set up the tent I can hardly stand up... All this booze after such a long day is quite a shock to the system.