Get On The Bus
Trip Start
Apr 22, 2008
1
25
26
Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Xai-Xai,
Mozambique
Monday, July 14, 2008
Any day of travel generally requires a combination of all types of transit. Our journey from Chicambane to Tofu was a perfect example. We began on foot and walked to the main road from Megan's house. We flagged down a chapa on the side of the road and took it ~10 mins into Xai Xai, the provincial capital of Gaza. From Xai Xai we took a second chapa another 10 mins up the road to a gas station. At the gas station we were hoping for one of two things: boleo or a bus. 90 minutes later we had not found either, and since travel after dark is dangerous our time was running out. Luck was on our side and a young British man alone in a huge pickup truck was looking for company and heading in our direction. Woohoo! He was a geologist doing early stage field work to evaluate mining opportunities in Mozambique. He also didn't tell us that he was going to make a stop at one of his field camps en route. About one hour into the drive he simply turned off the paved road onto a narrow dirt track that went straight into uninhabited bush. Megan cautiously asked "Oh, is this a short cut?" as the two of us ran through the myriad of psycho thrillers with opening scenes eerily similar to our present reality: two young Americans in Africa accepting a ride from a stereotypical Brit. We approached the camp, which was in a small valley with a lake abutting the property. In my head I had already written the escape scene: Megan and I swimming across the lake and climbing the hill on the eastern shore that descended to beach on the Indian Ocean while our British sociopath gave pursuit under the veil of darkness...while wearing night vision goggles of course.
Needless o say that did not happen and we backtracked to the main road after he gathered supplies. Our route continued north to Inhambane. Our paths eventually diverged and he dropped us on the side of the road about 50 miles from Tofo, our final destination. We flagged down another chapa into Inhambane. This chapa, which should seat 14 people, had approximately 23 people squeezed into it. I sat with the driver and two other people in the front seat with my bag on the ground, knees around my ears (thank you years of yoga), feet on the dash board and backpack tucked in wherever I could fit it. Disembarking in Inhambane there was a small scuffle with the driver who wanted us to pay more money and was not going to let us out. Thankfully Megan talked our way through it...again. A second kudos to knowing the local language.
We grabbed a bus where the chapa dropped us and it took another hour of travel and frequent stops to make it to our final destination. From the Tofo bus stop it was another 10 min walk and nearly 8 hours after our departure we had made it the 300km/180mi to our destination. A few huge lessons came from this adventure:
1. When traveling any appreciable distance plan for it to take all day
2. Take whatever form of transportation becomes available.
3. If you can't speak Portuguese you may want to rent a car
4. Although fairly unreliable, the public transportation is safe...and cheap.
