Bribed by the cops in a World Heritage Site

  Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique
Wednesday, March 29, 2006

7 hours in a bus and then 1 hour in the back of a pick-up to get us to Ilha de Mozambique - Recently the whole island was turned into a UNESCO World Heritage site. We picked up plenty of food on our bus ride from street vendors. Guava was 20c for 30 and bananas 40c for 12! Even cheaper than Market Basket or Kwik Save! The landscape was mainly woody scrub but was dotted with these rocky pinnacles that looked great for climbers and someone mentioned they were used by base jumpers. The tallest looked 300 to 400 ft high.

The pick-up was packed to the rafters with people having to hang over the side. When we arrived at the thin bridge that goes over to Ilha we were stopped by the police demanding passports. This caused a bit of a problem for Steve as he had a new one that was been sent over from Saudi that was meant to be sent to our next destination, Nampula. He had sent his full old passport to Saudi a few days earlier as they will not give you the new one till they have the old one!

After about a 30 minute standoff the police took Steve across the bridge separately where they demanded 1,000,000 Meticals or $40. This is the first time I've seen a bribe against a tourist in my whole time in Africa.

We finally ditched Roberto, or Pedro as we now affectionately called him, at the hotel we were going to stay at. The final straw came when there were two good rooms and a dorm available. He jumped in the good room with 2 singles and wouldn't swap to the good room with the double or share a single bed in his room. Walking on to the far end of the island we were both very happy and relieved to get rid of him.

That evening we met an American and Aussie couple and a South African and enjoyed a couple of sunset beers followed by rice and fish at a real locals restaurant.

Govenors residence church

Statue of Vasco de Gama

Statue on Ilha De Mozambique

The old govenor's residence

Inside church

Next day and the island looks great, old colonial buildings but not as dilapidated as Ibo! It used to be the Mozambique capital up until the 1900s. We had a relaxing day and went to visit the old Portuguese governor's residence in the afternoon. It was very pleasant and interesting to see how the other half lived 100+ years ago.

This place is so laid back. In the morning the only place that sold coffee didn't open until 10am! I also got my hair and beard cut. The beard trim felt more like going 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. First the shaver, they guy just kept going over the same area over and over again until it was red raw. Next the clean off with the towel where I felt more like a punch bag. Finally mentholated spirits all over the head and face. You can imagine how that felt. I particularly disliked it on my lips and in my mouth.

I think I was lucky to escape with my life!

Drinks and dinner following the same routine as the previous day, although the fish was not up to the standard of the previous night. Around sundown some local kids showed me what they called a 'Lula' in the water. It looked like it had a seahorse type head and a fish body. It didn't take long for them to start throwing stones at it.

Nice crusty building on Ilha De Mozambique

Clouds over the chuch - Ilha De Mozambique

Nice Sky of Ilha De Mozambique

One of the many churches on Ilha De Mozambique

Beach on Ilha De Mozambique

Up nice and early at 6am. Steve and I had an early morning wander to pick up bread, eggs and salt to make breakfast with. We also picked up some tasty sweet flapjack type food from one of the local street vendors. It was really humid and I was dripping with sweat by the time we got home. Relinquis was finally opening by 10am and we went for a coffee followed by a trip to the fort. We ended up stopping at some tidal pools and spending a whole bunch of time exploring those before a powerful thunderstorm blew in off the sea and we hurried off back to our hotel. Our house got hit by lightning and Steve and I looked at each other in amazement as a bolt of lightning shot out of the solid wall about 2 feet from my leg making a deafening bang.

Dhow boat off Ilha Mozambique

Fort on Ilha De Mozambique

Boat sailing by the fort, Ilha Mozambique

Boat sailing towards Ilha de Mozambique fort

Canon on the fort

Canons on the Fort

Once the rain blew over we headed back to the fort. It was very large and dilapidated and I didn't enjoy it half as much as the one in Ibo. The other thing that was disappointing was there was no information on what was what.

This fort also contained the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere that was still standing. A church built in 1522!

Steve was still having passport issues and it turns out the Saudi Irish embassy had still not sent his passport. He was going to spend a few more nights in Ilha.

Early evening beers again with Richard from the dive shop and Avery and Barnaby from Portland, Oregon. This bar had a beer called Manica that is slightly better than 2M. Laurentina, Castle and Amstel were the other beers available here.

We went to the more expensive Relenquis restaurant that evening for dinner and had some fantastic squid. I found out the Portuguese name for it was Lula - the creature I'd seen the other night and though looked like a seahorse!

Richard sneaked in a full bottle of brandy to the restaurant that evening that we managed to polish off and later on we decided to go to the local disco. I bowed out around 2am and headed home.

Mike my friend from England had told me Ilha de Mozambique was one of his favourite things in Africa and I had to go there. I was very glad I'd come out of my way to this northern corner of Mozambique.