getting to mozambique...

Well the border was more of an interesting experience than what we've previously had in our African travels in the past.  We did anticipate it to be a bit of a hassle, and prepared the kids well in advance, but we didn't expect it to be a 4 hour procedure!  As you can see from the photo, the queue of cars up the road to the border post took us 3 hours.  Luckily we found our 'guy' to help us through easily when we eventually got there.  It was pretty crazy in there, so once we stuck our heads in and saw the queue that we had to stand in, he took us to another smaller room with VIP above the door...... mmmmm...... we knew this was going to cost us, but went along anyway.  With only one other guy standing in there waiting for his passport to be stamped we realised that this was going to be a whole lot quicker.  While the kids and I waited on the plush leather couches next to the fresh flower display, Alex sorted out our passports with the friendly Mozambiquan official behind the desk.  It took a whole 5 minutes.  Nice!  Only after it was all stamped and done, did we realise as we walked out the door, that we were expected to pay the guard outside a little something for his trouble.  We gave our guy R50 to give to the guard, and felt a bit uneasy and tricked into contributing to a bit of bribery & corruption.  Unfortunately/fortunately that's just the way things work.

Now our real African Adventure begins! We headed towards Maputo with excitement.  We were so proud of the kids for handling the drive so well so far.  They really are great kids, ready for any adventure!  We got stopped at a road block and the traffic cop looked at all 4 of us in the front and said that it's not right for them to be in the front, but we showed him their seatbelts, and with a big smile he waved us on our way again.  Shew!

We hit major traffic passing through Maputo.  We weren't sure what the problem was but had to go with the flow.  We got to see a lot through the outskirts of the town as the major EN1 highway passes through some interesting areas.  We were going very slowly, and after about 2 hours we travelled about 30km.  Then we saw that it was a fender bender that had caused the traffic, and once we passed it we were on our way again.

We decided to head to a campsite called Laguna Camp, near Bilene.  It's 40km off the highway, with the last 7km being lovely sand track, which Alex of course loved!  Unfortunately we realised that one of the major downfalls of this amazing truck is the height.  We had to dodge a lot of low branches, wincing a few times thinking that our sunset picture is going to be scratched to pieces.  We got here, and booked 2 nights so we could recover from the hectic day.

It's been a great day today!  The campsite is on a hill, with a short walk down to a stunning Lagoon.  We spent the morning down on the lagoon beach, then back to the swimming pool in the campsite, followed by a lunchtime DVD & reading rest time, then back to the pool for a long swim..... aaaah very chilled out.  Holiday has begun!

We're heading further north tomorrow, about 400km if we can.  Looking forward to the drive and the adventure that awaits us.

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