Day 11 Tofo - Nhanabwe

In the We went to Barra, another tourist destination. You can meet many South Africans with their boats and jet skis and quad bikes cruising around. We took sandy road towards the coast:

There are lots of boats in the water with locals that do their everyday fishing in the sea. We saw fisherman offering to buy crayfish and some fish.

We went to see Flamingo Lodge which was seriously destroyed by huge fire last year. This is how the lodge looked like before:

Photo: http://www.siyabona.com

And huge fire that destroyed all but two chalets:

Photo: http://traveller24.news24.com/

This is how it looked when we were there: Swimming pool and restaurant:

Wooden boardwalk that we took to remaining chalets:

Nice tropical atmosphere and lots of trees and flowers:

After sand driving we stopped on the side of the road to get some more air in the tyres:

There was abandoned building on the side of the road which looks like it has been a restaurant and bar some time ago:

Must have been a beautiful fountain, now full of floating rubbish...

Inside of the building is deserted:

The truck:

Then we drove through Inhambane town. It is a sleepy historic town known for its rusting colonial architecture. It is also one of the oldest settlements on Mozambique's eastern coast. This is how it looks today:

Then we were on N1 Road again till Vilanculos which is another famous tourist place. There you won't have any hard time finding a place to stay. There is abundance of lodges, hotels, campings and backpackers:

Beautiful coastal drive near the coast:

Vilanculos town beach:

We went for a beer in a bar close to the water:

And then we took a road North towards Inhassoro. We saw many new apartment buildings and complexes being built North of Vilanculos. Then the good road was finished and we drove through bushes and sandy tracks. The road was very overgrown and not on the map:

Eventually we got onto the gravel road:

After Inhassoro we drove to Nhamabwe. There are two ways to get there: Beach road which you need to buy permit for. You can inquire in Johnsons Bar in Inhassoro. And other option is to take swamp road. We took the swamp which was not too bad, in few places we slid a bit:)

Arrived to Nhamabwe... This was our paradise for few days. There is a camping spot run by Alex and Christina, 300 Meticais per night. Just a minute walk from the beach at the very end of peninsula. This was our sunset for tonight:

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Day 10 Zongone - Tofo

We left Zongone Beach and headed North to Xai-Xai on N1 road. Old and unoccupied buildings from Portuguese still stay untouched.

There are plastic bags hanging off the trees on the sides of the road - you can by freshly roasted cashew nuts there. Mozambique once was the world’s leading producer of cashew nuts, but after the civil war the industry was destroyed. Now there are still 32 million cashew trees left in the country from colonial times though not many new have been planted for the next generations…

Driving more North there are nice lagoons and scenic views as the road goes just right next to the beach:

There is always much happening on the roads - overloaded trucks, animals, people. This one would have a soft landing :)

We turned off N1 on sandy road near Ravene town, it was nice to be on an empty road again and get away from many police checks that are all over N1.

As we got closer towards the sea we drove through loads of coconut plantations. The road got smaller and smaller and we drove through villages and sometimes it felt like we driving all over someones garden :)

We went to Tartaruga Beach, pretty steep and sandy hill and you can choose which route to take: Safe or Brave :) So we deflated tyres and went off:

On top of the hill very beautiful scenery comes into view:

Tartaruga beach Restaurant/Bar/Hotel:

After a beer and a chat with the owner we headed to Praia do Tofo. Very popular place amongst tourists and lots of backpackers here. We camped at Fatimas Restcamp and walked to town for a great dinner: we had amazing barracuda with rice and salad in local restaurant just off the market square for 100 Meticais each! (1.8€). We always try to find local bars and restaurants and try to avoid tourist places, you are less hassled and get value for money and this one was worth it :)
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