We left Caia early in the morning after a not really good nights sleep. As we got up at 6, the disco music still was noticable, the party never stopped during our stay. It was raining, slightly. At other occasions, I would have contemplated in a rather melancholic way, now I was worried.
Worried about the road, it was quite bad for the first 50 kilometres. Worried about the stretch from Inchope to Rio Save, because we did not know the convoy times. Worried about the family, with another day of steady driving ahead.
No worries in the back though, apparently. Just a calm scene of people laying around, playning cards, reading..
We reached a river before Inchope. The customs officer I had taken with told me the water sometimes reaches the deck of the bridge we were on in rainy season. Hard to imagine when looking at this relatively small river. It took us 3,5 hours to get to Inchope.
In Inchope, we picked up a police escort. They had told us they would continue all the way to Muxungue, but then they didn't, they stopped at some plac well before it.
Never mind, it still meant we could go fast, as they were carrying flashing lights and sounds, and we were following suit. We arrivede in Muxungue in no time, just before 12 actually.
Everyone was waiting for the next police escort to leave, and so were we. I saw this pickup coming in from the other direction. Quite a load, even by local Mozambican standards!
A military car whizzed by, carrying soldiers and ligts, so I followed quickly. As it turned out, this was not the escort for the convoy, but a separate group going for some Gorongosa breeding farm along the way.
When we stopped there, some Suoth-Africans pulled over. They said they had talked to people who told them the road was safe to travel on. The soldiers on the truck then repeated that mantra: The road is safe sir, no problems ahead. So we drove together, the South-Africans and us. And nothing happened.
This truck however, had not been so lucky in april this year. A grim reminder of what can happen when people decide that shooting is better than talking. Two people died in this truck that day.
We made the Save Bridge allright. Not carrying any fruits or plants or other contraband, I refused the "Refresco" one of the soldiers was asking for. I had offered him a Fanta, which he turned down. His bad, we drove on.
We actually drove on for quite a while. The stretch from the bridge to Inhassorro, which had been so badly potholed on the way up to Malawi had been repaired! We decided therefor to push on to Maxixe, erroneously assuming there would be a nice campsite/lodge there. It was horrific, so we had to drive on.
We arrived at Fatima's Backpackers in Tofo well after dark. A cabin with four beds at 2400 Mtn, Shared bathrooms, food not great, we slept.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten