After wonderful days of holiday within holiday we started to have an itchy feet :) and decided to move on. Drove again through the swamp (instead of taking beach road which you need permit for). We put some more air in the tires and soon we were on N1 again...
We crossed river Save which starts in Zimbabwe, it divides Mozambique politically: South of Save is considered FRELIMO stronghold and North of Save is more supportive of RENAMO. We noticed that the road got significantly worse as we got closer towards Beira. As FRELIMO is the leading political party in Mozambique but opposition party RENAMO is popular in Beira therefore this region doesn't get enough funding for infrastructure etc.
The bridge over Save river:
We crossed few more rivers, all bridges were in good condition. In January 2015 there were devastating floods in the Northern Mozambique and couple of bridges were swept away, many people stranded for weeks.
We got to Inchope which is a busy junction, because two major roads intersect here: N6 that connects Zimbabwe and goes to Beira which is port city and N1 - main road in Mozambique. Here you can find markets, food stalls, restaurants with cheap and fresh food.
And some poor animals stacked on the roofs of the car:
Getting closer to Beira there were lots of heavy trucks on the roads and many potholes:
And then zig-zagging started:
And lots of Chinese in Africa, here you can see him supervising locals at work:
They were building new bridge:
As we got in Beira, loads and loads of markets in the outskirts:
Goats surfing minibuses:
Lots of action everywhere:
Getting closer to the centre of Beira, much construction in happening and many new complexes have been built:
Hotel Dom Carlos lies in ruins and full of squatters:
We were hosted by James from South Africa through Couchsurfing. He lives in Beira for few years and he built cement factory there. We met with his family and friends - most of them South Africans working in Mozambique - for dinner and exchanged great stories. We had our own room with air conditioner... mmm we were happy for that:) So we stayed for few days in Beira.
Travel Map
We crossed river Save which starts in Zimbabwe, it divides Mozambique politically: South of Save is considered FRELIMO stronghold and North of Save is more supportive of RENAMO. We noticed that the road got significantly worse as we got closer towards Beira. As FRELIMO is the leading political party in Mozambique but opposition party RENAMO is popular in Beira therefore this region doesn't get enough funding for infrastructure etc.
The bridge over Save river:
We crossed few more rivers, all bridges were in good condition. In January 2015 there were devastating floods in the Northern Mozambique and couple of bridges were swept away, many people stranded for weeks.
We got to Inchope which is a busy junction, because two major roads intersect here: N6 that connects Zimbabwe and goes to Beira which is port city and N1 - main road in Mozambique. Here you can find markets, food stalls, restaurants with cheap and fresh food.
And some poor animals stacked on the roofs of the car:
Getting closer to Beira there were lots of heavy trucks on the roads and many potholes:
And then zig-zagging started:
And lots of Chinese in Africa, here you can see him supervising locals at work:
They were building new bridge:
As we got in Beira, loads and loads of markets in the outskirts:
Lots of action everywhere:
Outskirts of Beira:
Mozambique is third largest charcoal producer in Africa (after Nigeria and Ethiopia). Due to urban expansion there has been rapid growth of charcoal consumption: 80% of mozambicans use charcoal for their daily cooking. That also is the main reason for deforestation, which we saw everywhere we travelled in the country: sadly the forests were chopped and burned down. We could see long line of men carrying charcoal on their bicycles all around Mozambique:
Hotel Dom Carlos lies in ruins and full of squatters:
We were hosted by James from South Africa through Couchsurfing. He lives in Beira for few years and he built cement factory there. We met with his family and friends - most of them South Africans working in Mozambique - for dinner and exchanged great stories. We had our own room with air conditioner... mmm we were happy for that:) So we stayed for few days in Beira.
Travel Map
