Baobab musings

Tofo divers

Our time at Zawahake in Tofo passed quickly. We had some good dives, several lovely dinners on fresh seafood, and some nice relaxation.

Paulinho helped me disassemble the freewheel hub, and diagnosed that “the spring is not in a good place. ”We did find that the spring was not hooked up, but no amount of coaxing could get it to do its job. So Nelson had to come and help. He disassembled, reassembled, and shook his head. Soon an old rusty unit from a Cruiser that lives on the beach was brought, and we could see: the spring was tightly coiled, allowing the locking mechanism to be withdrawn fully. A quick substitution, and by the time we had reassembled and tested my car Nelson had bent the bad spring into a good shape, and I am sure the donor Cruiser is functioning as it should.

Prawn curry in the making

Then we started packing up, and hit the road to Vilanculos, stopping off to buy the Piri-piri sauce indicated on the map.

Vilankulos beach

Baobab backpackers

Vilanculos is a dusty town, teeming with people of all sizes, and a fascinating beach life. Fishing dhows return on the evening land breeze, women congregate to bargain for the catch, rinse it in the sea, and carry it home in triumph, stray dogs following hopefully. A place where one could live, provided that you have an internet connection! Or keep a boat.

We took a trip across the vast, but shallow lagoon to Bazaruto island, and had a lovely snorkel session at a pristine reef, like the ones you see on post cards. Madame decided to go diving, despite the high prices and the attitude of the nearby dive center, while we will charge everything that we have to charge, and catch up on this blog.

Dinner at the Baobab!

We also met fellow travelers: Two girls from Greenland and, no, they were not green! Nice people, and a pair of Aussies making their way around in a bakkie they rented in Durban: he moonlights as a chiropractor and acupuncturist, she writes. A German couple who bought a Nissan Patrol on the Internet, and are now at the end of a six month 20 000 km voyage around Southern Africa and suffering from re-entry anxiety. He has a job as oil geologist to go back to, she has to find a space in the UN system again.

Bazaruto beach girl

Food has been an interesting part of our voyage so far. At Xai-xai we had fried calamari, but I had my doubts afterwards about the integrity of the oil. At Zona Braza we enjoyed crayfish, oysters and red fish, all fresh from the ea. At Zawahake we had prawns, Bully beef stew, and pasta! And in Vilanculos we had barracuda grilled, prawns and chips, chicken in tomato stew, and goat stew. A recipe book is under consideration.

Prawns and chips anyone?