Coconut Bay Inhambane

... been in the classroom and the swimming pool busy learning, Kat has been out diving with a whale, manta ray, whale shark, turtles, lion fish to name but a few!!

It's not been all hard work for me as I have done 4 open water dives during my course and got to see turtles, electric rays, moray eels, lion fish, scorpion fish, puffer fish, unicorn fish... Absolutely amazing and I'm now totally ...

... Game Reserve, where we spent some of our most memorable nights. We had to bring lots of extra petrol, wood, water and food, as it is a very isolated park. There are no facilities and no fences, so you basically sleep with the animals. Key thing here is to make a fire ('bush t.v.’), eat and get into your tent before it gets dark, because that is when the lions start hunting. There was a pride of about 8 roaming around our campsite, plus a single male. To hear the lion ...

... comes with a morning cleaner, good value at R650 a night for the house

everyday we popped by the market (no shops) to buy supplies, and the might 2M (local beer), accepted both Rands and Meticais

beers 30 metis (R10, £0.80)

everyday the fishermen come to the house and offer you their catch, prawns, crayfish, crab, langoustines, fish, prices are negotiable so depends how good you are at that to deicde what you pay, test their scales with a 1kg pack of food from the ...

... up the route! I can give them to you, that would be fantastic. Wow, what a cool car? Coffee? Yes I would LOVE some coffee, wow milk! Have not had milk in a while! Sugar? Yes, please...how much? Lots! Great! Man, it is so super that you are here'

Tobi, as you can tell is a highly enthusiastic individual with unsurpassable endorphin levels. He has travelled the east coast of Africa all alone on his motorbike and is currently trying to find a car to drive ...

... this beautiful place. The sea life here is abundant both underwater as on our braai grid. The first night was ushered in with 1kgs of prawns, the second with two huge crayfish (lobster) and we have just spoken to one of the local fishermen here to see if he can't organise some barracuda for tomorrow's dinner. All for the price of a Vida Caffe back home. We have consulted with the dive master here to find out what fish are not endangered and thus try to harm the ...

... no major hotels around (yet), also the town is very safe. We stayed at a place called Fatima's Nest which was nice enough. It was right on the beach and the bar had live Mozambican drums and dancers for the two nights we were there, as well as "Free Zambuca for jah ladies". There was also a small market not far from our hotel where you could find lots of very nice wood bowls and carvings, sarongs, and pants made of sarong material, as well as a ...

... Again after a small disagreement over price we were on our way. The buses have two seats on the right side and 1 seat on the left side of aisle and in the middle there are smaller collapsible seats. The only two seats available was the smaller seat and one seat right over the rear wheel, which meant no leg room at all. It took us about 7 hours to get to Tofo, but it felt a lot longer... Tofo is a small beach village with a beautiful beach, great snorkling possibilities ...

... bags were taken out of the undercarriage and left on the ground for staff to carry one by one into a tiny room where we were all queued to get through "immigration". There was a guy sat at an old desk with a rubber stamp. I think the same room was used for arrivals as you had to walk through a metal detector gate on the way out, although it wasn't turned on. Adriana picked us up from the airport. She's the marine biologist looking after the project in ...

... bed (beats the twins up to now!), own bathroom (luxury), own kitchen and sundowner terrace (more luxury). Has also procured a bottle of champagne which is mouth wateringly good. We cook up huge freshly caught prawns. The bubbly is the perfect partner. A couple of days mooching round inhambane. A very laid back portuguese style town with colonial buildings, wide boulevards and a great 'people watching' cafe. All in all a much needed spot of relaxation.

... surface currents) and big currents. It felt adventurous. Megs and I left Tofo and made the short trip to Barra where Annie, Zach and Emily (other volunteers and visitors) met us to start their open water certification. I spent an amazing week deep diving with monstrous pelagic fish, sharks, rays and eels. They got a hookup for doing our training during the low season so we all were able to stay for free in the lodge. What a way to spend a week at the beach!