Adventure Travel in Africa

Off to Mozambique

January 4, 2010 By Jillian

Wanted: Rest and relaxation for two weary travelers starting their travels in Africa.

Found: Tofo Bay, Mozambique.

Back in September we met a wonderful group of South African’s in Bolivia. Upon hearing our arrival date in Johannesburg they quickly informed us that well, the entire country is on holiday from mid-December to mid-January. Translation: transportation, accommodation and activities would be completely booked or ridiculously crowded and overpriced. Ouch.So our plan, at their suggestion was to hang out on the beach in Mozambique for a week or so and let the crowds have their fun and go back to work.

That was the plan. What we found when we arrived in Mozambique was an ideal little vacation spot on the Indian Ocean. We popped our tent up and headed to the beach. While the town of Tofo is developed its not overly touristy and so its got the right mix of enough to do that you’re not bored, but enough space so you’re not overrun. The vibe was very lassaiz-faire. Do as much or as little as you want the town seemed to say. So we jumped right in. We learned the hard way to put sunscreen on the back of your knees when surfing and to put your flip flops on before actually walking up the beach after jumping off the dive boat. Surfing it seems, is a lot harder than it looks. After a two hour lesson, which really amounted to paddling out against the waves, catching one, trying to stand up and falling, we were beat and burned. Success was fleeting, but just so its on the record, we both successfully “surfed”.

One of the most popular activities in Tofo is diving. According to other divers, Tofo has some of the best diving in Africa. Since we missed the whale sharks in Honduras and Belize, we figured we might as well go ahead and dive here in the hopes of seeing something neat. Admittedly we are new to diving, so when we saw our first octopus we were excited. And then there were schools of trigger fish and natal knifejaws, lionfish and some spotted rays to keep our eyes busy. Enthralled, we went for two more dives gaining our advanced deep water dive certification. No whale sharks, but we saw tons of honeycomb moray eels and a dragon moray, which is apparently very rare. Also saw some huge barramundi cod, which frankly I didn’t want coming anywhere near me. Diving is fun, but expensive. If we come home early, diving might just be the cause!

We spent the rest of our days eating fish and chicken meals, lounging by a pool and watched the stars come out at night. It was peaceful, relaxed and hot. Ridiculous “we’re barely in the tropics right now” hot. Its a hot sun in Mozambique, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

During the day we could find relief in the shade or in the ocean, but at night we melted away like butter on a frying pan. Someone told us that the temperature was above 35C and you know what I believed it. A week lying by the Indian Ocean was about all the rest and relaxation we could take. Any more time in the water and we would have grown gills. As luck would have it we found some rather exciting news online and we were off to South Africa.

Foodie Friday: The Fish of Mozambique

January 1, 2010 By Danny

We were sitting on the beach, around 10am, waiting for our surf lesson to begin. In front of us went one, then another, and finally a third before our lesson started. The first two fishermen were carrying barracuda, apparently safe to eat here, the third was carrying something else equally large that we could not identify.

Over the cosrse of our days in Tofo we were able to literally follow the entire process beginning with what I just described on the beach. The fishermen would return from the morning with their catch, we even passed them as we set off on our SCUBA trip. Then they’d walk the fish up the beach to the main market and parking area and sell the fish. Sometimes it would be placed on a combi, alongside a big bucket of the freshest jumbo prawns you’ve ever seen, and sent into town and other times the fisherman would just stand there with it on a table and slice of big steaks as people would walk up…it never sat there for long.

Other times it would just go into the neighboring restaurant….that’s where we ate it. The first time I had barracuda, the second it was a sailfish….at least I think that’s what the woman said. We sat down to a table at the only “local” establishment in the area which could best be described as Hell’s Kitchen on account of the stifling heat. We ordered, a couple of slightly cool cokes as well, and were joined by several “locals” enjoying their lunch as well.

The biggest disappointment to the sea’s bounty in Tofo was that it wasn’t accompanied by the other bounties that grow here…notably cashew nuts and pineapple. But given that my fresh fish and rice only put us back $2 each we could afford to pay an additional $1 for a pound of fresh cashews to snack on as we walked back to our campsite.

Apartheid

December 30, 2009 By Jillian

To say apartheid was segregation is an understatement. A state-sponsored policy until 1994, apartheid impacted the lives of every South African, black, white or colored. Yes, I said colored. What is a derogatory word, and unpleasant reminder of our past in the United States, is actually a socially accepted means of categorizing people of mixed racial background in South Africa.

Standing in the Apartheid museum in Johannesburg reflecting on the differences between our separate but equal policies and the policies of apartheid I was struck with how significant the impact of apartheid is today in South Africa versus my impressions of segregation’s ongoing impact in the United States. Segregation in America had been over for over 15 years when I was born and in my experience race and racism are not openly discussed in American society today. Perhaps its because we like to pretend it doesn’t exist or that we weren’t a part of it. It’s certainly something we all know goes on, but I can’t think of an example where its socially appropriate to discuss racism outside of an academic context. To be honest, as an American, it makes me uncomfortable to discuss race and racism. It feels wrong and it feels dirty. In South Africa however, 15 years after the end of Apartheid, its rather openly discussed. Thankfully those we’ve met have been very patient with our questions and haven’t taken offense to our naiveté or ignorance. In turn they’ve asked many questions themselves on the perpetuation of racism in America. Our discussions have been frank, mostly focused on the future not the past. Walking through the Apartheid Museum I was struck by the breadth of information that was contained within the museum, but immediately recognized the breadth of what was not contained within the museum. Perhaps thats the issue in any museum, it can’t contain everything, so choosing itself becomes a political process.

So the question is, how does a society make amends and move on after state sponsored segregation and discrimination? Albeit our situation in America was drastically different (we imported slaves, they were dealing with an indigenous population) than South Africa’s, both nations are coping with its consequences today.

The day after the Apartheid museum Danny and I witnessed a young inter-racial couple walking hand and hand in a shopping center. So little attention was paid to them by other shoppers that it surprised ignorant me. Although 2015 will be 50 years since the end of segregation in America, mixed race couples still deal with a few nasty glances in today’s America. Perhaps they do as well in South Africa and I just didn’t notice. Making amends and moving on doesn’t happen easily. Each country has tried to find its way towards healing. Some ways are more successful than others, but neither country will be able to but its discriminatory past completely behind them until we stop seeing people as a race and start seeing them as people.

Race figures prominently in both countries whether we talk about it or not. Obviously generalizing a country on a few days experience isn’t fair, and perhaps even after a few weeks isn’t enough, but we’ll see how things gof. For now all I can say is that we’re going to be exploring some of our uncomfortable boundaries over the next few weeks.

Cricket Part II, ties suck.

December 28, 2009 By Danny

Missed Cricket Part I? Click Here.

And that is the information we knew upon entering the final day of a five day test match against England. On day 4 South Africa ran up a large lead in runs which they assumed (correctly in this case) that England would not be able to catch up to the rather large lead with only a single day of play remaining. Toward the end of day four, with more wickets (outs) remaining in their 2nd inning, South Africa “declared” they were finished and started the Brits on their second inning of batting. Remember each team has to COMPLETE two innings, and the sooner SA started England on their second inning, the sooner South Africa could call themselves champions. Therefore we started day 5 with South Africa looking to get a quick 9 wickets (they got the first wicket at the end of the day 4 when England started their second inning) to win the game. England was only looking to hold out for the day in order to force the draw.

The brother of our CS host was only too happy to oblige us with a visit to the cricket test. As he pointed out, he’d just be watching it at home anyhow so might as well come to the stadium instead. There was a relatively small seating area and the rest of the fans, us included, in general admission sprawled out on the grass with blankets, lawn chairs, and enjoyed the day barefoot in the grass. There was a Braai pit for those who brought their own meat to Braai but as we’d not gone in that fancy I settled for an almost as as good Boerewors instead. Most amazing of all, the ticket to enter cost us about $4 each.

Before they set foot in the stadium that day, England had almost no chance of winning. They could have tried to score enough runs to get into the lead but with only one day it was unlikely at best. For us Americans watching I felt as if I was watching the Yankees play a game 7 in their 2003 World Series against the Florida Marlins, when the Yankees had already lost the series in game 6. OK, that’s not a perfect analogy but who doesn’t enjoy knocking the Yankees from time to time? We decided that this, with the slow slow speed of the game, is why cricket (at least the 5 day test-match) probably won’t ever make it in the states.

The game started and before long South Africa scored their 2nd and then their 3rd wicket. Only 7 more to go until they could call themselves winners, but thats when the wickets stopped. The pair of batsmen that were up (called a partnership) scored well over 100 runs between them and remember, they weren’t trying to score runs, they were just trying to stay there all day long. Finally their star batsman made a critical mistake (he ran for a run after hitting a short ball when he should have stayed put) and the South African who had bowled that ball picked it up and ran it into the wickets to get the out.

After that the wickets just kept falling. South Africa with about 4 overs remaining (I can’t remember exactly, it was a long day in the sun…over 80 had already been pitched) scored the 9th of their 10 wickets. This would be the equivalent of being down all game and suddenly scoring your tieing run and having the winning run on third base in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately for England, they didn’t exactly have their best batsmen out on the pitch (those guys had gotten out long ago) but unfortunately for South Africa, those two fellas did the job and protected the wickets for the final overs. After 5 days in blistering heat, England had one mere wicket remaining on its 2nd inning, and that was enough to keep us and all the South Africans around us, from celebrating a victory. Ties suck.

Foodie Friday: Braai & Boerewors

December 25, 2009 By Danny

One of the things we missed out on while we were in Argentina was taking part in an asado. This is the Argentine version of our Bar-B-Q and although we’d had enough meat we would have liked to enjoy one first-hand during our 6 weeks in the country. Imagine our surprise then when on day number 3 in South Africa we found ourselves enjoying the South African version of the BBQ.

The word braai comes from the Afrikaans word for grill, and grill they did. Of the group that we were invited to join everyone took a turn grilling except for the host. We probably spent about two hours cooking because there was just so much for the 10 of us and there wasn’t a morsel of hamburger to be found. As for last week’s Foodie Friday there were no exotic meats to try although there were a few suggestions. Instead, we had chicken breast, chicken wings, steak, and probably 6 different varieties of sausage.

Most, if not all, of that sausage was boerewors, which is is basically South African sausage. Generally strongly seasoned with about a million of varieties from spicy, cheese, and even garlic. The most amazing part was that for all the varieties, it was all beef.

Missing from the braai though, which our hosts soon remedied was our first taste of biltong. Pronounced with their accents such that I thought they were talking about “bull tongue” it is basically sun-dried beef, something akin to jerky, but spiced and a good bit more flavorful as well. This specialty though can actually be found, or so I’m told, in ostrich, kudu, and impala varieties as well.

There are braai pits nearly every where we go, including inside the cricket stadium. Its one thing for the grocery store to have a specialty braai foods section but the gas station does as well. As the weather here is always wonderful it really isn’t much a surprise that a weekend here wouldn’t be complete without a braai.

Off to Mozambique

Foodie Friday: The Fish of Mozambique

Apartheid

Cricket Part II, ties suck.

Foodie Friday: Braai & Boerewors

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