Lounging in Pringles Bay, Cape area

South Africa continues to amaze me, everytime! I have been to Cape Town twice already and I was under the impression that I had experienced and explored all there was to do there. But my third trip to the Cape turned out to be completely different from all my earlier ones, telling me that I still have a lot to see there still. We spent a weekend in and around the Pringles Bay area near the town of Cape Town and it has been one of my most active as well as relaxed weekends in SA. We went cage shark diving, saw penguins, some amazing sceneries and visited a few vineyards - all in the space of two days…

Drive to Pringles Bay, during sunset

We flew to Cape Town from Joburg on Friday evening and drove from there to Pringles Bay on Friday night itself. The drive was quite short, about an hour or so. It is apparently beautiful during the day - driving all along the sea, with bare hills in the background and the blue sea in front - but we missed all this beauty as we drove through it at night.

Belle Mer B&B

We were staying at Belle Mer Guest House, a small B&B in the village of Pringles Bay. It was right at the end of the village road, just next to the sea. It felt a little scary driving in at night, as there was no one around that late. And the road to the B&B was an unpaved one. But once there, it felt amazing and relaxed.

I had a room on the first floor, with a balcony from where I could hear the waves lashing on the rocks. I could not see the water, but only the clear sky and the stars twinkling up above. And the light house at Cape of Good Hope periodically beaming its light from miles away. I slept very peacefully that night but couldn’t wait for the morning given how beautiful I could already perceived the place to be.

Morning with a view, Belle Mer

And it did not disappoint! The morning brought to light what we couldn’t see the last night - we were staying right on the beach, and could see the foamy water lashing out at the reddish rocks in front. On Saturday, we did not spend much time in the village though. After a scenic and sumptuous breakfast, we left early enough for Kleinbaai - our first stop of the day and the location for cage shark diving!

Somewhere on the way

It was about a 2 hour drive till there and one of the most scenic drives of South Africa (I wonder why I did not know about this route when driving across the Garden Route). We drove through towns like Gansbaai and Hermanus, past townships and beaches, all along the coastal area dotted with holiday homes, lagoons and vineyards. It was green and sunny everywhere and made for a pleasant drive, the day enchanting us with beautiful vistas at every turn of the road. We did pass by some townships in between but overall, most of the area was full of luxury holiday houses. Beaches and hills; sea and the sun; greenery dotted with white houses and so on… What better view can one ask for on a weekend off?

Kleinbaai

Kleinbaai is a coastal village and the popular launch spot for cage shark diving. There are multiple operators there, all of them offering the same experience. We reached there around 10 am and spent almost an hour having breakfast, as well as being briefed on what to do and not to do when near the sharks.

Apparently the whole coast is full of sharks, but the shark diving for tourists is allowing only at one spot in the national park, slightly away from the residential areas. There are more than 60 species of sharks inhabiting this area, but only the Great White sharks comes to the surface and can be spotted on these trips. The most commonly spotted sharks are still teenagers, about 3 metres long. The adults are much huge, and can go up to 6 metres long. If you are lucky to spot an adult, they can be seen swimming below the boat and visible on both sides. But given that near land it is too shallow for them, they are spotted rarely, not more than 2-3 times in a year.

We left the coast in a speedboat to go towards one of the bays where the boat would be anchored and the sharks would come. The sea was very very choppy and the waves were huge. It felt quite unsafe and scary at times as the boat went up and down quite violently! Once at the spot on the bay, the guides threw a barrel of tuna oil into the water, and then we started waiting for the sharks to turn up. Apparently, there is a 95% probability to see a shark on any of these trips! There were 4-5 other boats also in the bay at the same time and looks like all of us saw the sharks that day.

Once the sharks started appearing, they started circling the boat and the guides used empty tuna heads to lure them closer to the boat. I had always imagined that we would go down underwater in a cage to see the sharks in the water. This was however going to be different. There was a cage tied next to the boat, with space for people to stand, Groups of 4 people would enter the cage at a time, wearing wetsuits (the water was 13 degrees!) and then wait for the sharks to come close. When the guides saw them close, they would shout ‘down’ and we would put our heads into the water to see the shark come close to our cage.

I went in the cage twice, and it was nice to see the Great Whites up so close in the water. It was scary to see their eyes and open teeth, as they would open their mouths trying to catch the tuna head and then skillfully swim away when they realised that the cage was in the way. But it was honestly more fun to see them from the boat - a top view of seeing them slyly circle the boat lazily and then make a move for the tuna head. They did seem menacing sometimes, when their mouths were open for the tuna (they were able to bite them off a couple of times), but mostly they seemed like huge harmless fishes swimming lazily on a sunny day.

(Shark video, may not show in some browsers)

We spent about 2-3 hours on the boat, admiring these majestic animals. In total we saw 4 different sharks circle our boat at least 50 or so times. Twice it was quite scary, as once the shark’s tail hit the cage, and the second time, a shark came very close to the boat while the cage was still open on the top! But overall, I loved the experience and wish I could have stayed there longer and seen them up closer 😜. It was the first time I had seen such huge sharks, and realised they are not as scary as they are made out to be.

Robert Stanford estate

Once back from the shark watching, we lazily made our way driving back to Pringles Bay. It was the same beautiful drive and this time we stopped at two vineyards on the way - Sir Robert Stanford estate and Benguela Cove. Both of them were landscaped beautifully. The Robert Stanford estate is an old vineyard with a history. It was set up in the 1800s as a farm by Sir Robert, an Englishman who founded the nearby town of Stanford too. At that time, he used to take his boat to Cape Town to sell his farm goods and later started selling wines. It was a beautiful estate, with a few ponds and an enchanting lake in front of the restaurant with blue lotus growing in it.

Robert Stanford view from restaurant

Benguela Cove vineyard

Benguela Cove vineyard was different, it was next to a lagoon and beautifully landscaped. Both the vineyards had a lavish lunch food menu and offered a place to stay for the night too.

African Penguins at Bettys Bay

While coming back, we stopped at Bettys Bay - a better spot for observing African penguins than Simon Town near Cape Town where I have been twice. There were a few thousand of these penguins just sitting around the rocks, barely moving, just aimlessly looking towards the sun with their eyes closed, as if tanning in the sun after a hard day of work. It was a beautiful and free sight, with no people around. I spent about an hour there, just observing these funny creatures in black and white…

Also known as jackass penguins

And then we drove past Pringles Bay for a drive next to the sea, the same way we had driven by last night. And we turned up at one of the most stunning views I have seen. We stopped at a couple of stops on the road, all with mesmerising views. We were surrounded by yellow hills behind us, with clouds crowning them and in front of us was yellow sand beaches dotted with some light green vegetation and then the blue sea beyond.

Sunset drive

It was all so picturesque that every turn of the road was worth a stop. We spent a lot of time there during sunset, walked to the beach, saw a baboon sitting atop a shark spotting room and just enjoyed the setting sun in a majestic colourful view. It was all so calm and beautiful, totally relaxing…

Sunset at Pringles Bay

After catching this view, we drove back to Pringles Bay and caught some more sunset colours on the local mountains and beach, before calling it a day. I did not have dinner that day but apparently, there were many nice little restaurants offering an amazing fare, even in a village with barely 1600 people. The day had been amazing, spotting sharks to relaxing with penguins, watching the setting sun to visiting a few vineyards. No wonder people love the Cape life 😊.

The next day was a relatively relaxed one. I woke up late and took a walk around the village. The village is nestled between bare mountains on one side, the sea on the other and lot of cape kind of vegetation all around. I took a round walk along the beach and the holiday homes and saw some different architectured houses - one was white and shaped like an igloo, one had no windows, one was built in brown as if made of sand and so on. It was interesting to see that people were experimenting with their houses, and that too in a village in the middle of nowhere!

It felt like a very small village with barely 100 or so houses, most of which were empty. I did note that none of the houses here had fences, unlike the ones in Joburg. It clearly felt a lot safer than other places in South Africa that I have been too. People were walking outside all the time without any major worries.

After exploring the village, we started driving back, with a lunch stop planned at Stellenbosch. This is the wine area of South Africa, famous for its mountains and breathtaking views. The drive till there was full of picturesque vistas, passing through many small beach towns. We passed through the Strand which had a beach (and reddish sea water) but very few people on the beach as the water was too cold to go in. The bay looked pretty from afar. We also had to drive through a township called Sir Lowrys Pass Village, which felt a bit scary but not for long.

Guardian Peak lunch

We drove through Somerset West to reach Stellenbosch and stopped at two wineries close to each other - Hidden Valley and Guardian Peak. They both had a panoramic view of the vineyards below. It was a very very hot day, so we decided to take a break and had a nice lazy lunch at the Guardian Peak restaurant. It was so amazing and relaxed, I really did not want to visit any other place or even go back to Joburg. It was so easy to just sit and read a book in such a relaxed place.

Anyways, after lunch, we drove back towards Cape Town along a long beach (Badel Powells Drive) right next to the townships of Khatelitsa, Mitchells Plain and then Philippi. The beach was many kilometers of pure white sand contrasting with the deep blue of the water. But there were limited number of tourists on the beach given the proximity to the townships. The townships were huge and unending, and looked like they was better managed than a lot of other ones, they had regulated electricity and water supply plus dishtv on every house.

Our last stop of the day was the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, which was just full of people out picnicking as it was a sunny day. And then the day ended. Just like that. This trip to Cape Town was my best ever to the city. I realised that people love this area not because of the city, but what lies outside the city, in the countryside. A place of green and sun; activities and relaxation; hills and wildlife, all rolled into one. A life here would be so awesome, isn’t it? This was one of my best weekend trips in the Cape area and I have a feeling I am coming back to the place again 😇.


Accommodation

Reflection of the sea

Belle Mer is a nice little guest house located at the end of the road in Pringles Bay. The hostess was very very friendly and talkative. She got something for me to eat both the days as we had got in very late. The views from the breakfast table and the balcony are amazing. And sleeping to the sounds of the waves is one of the best offering of this place. I would say its a definite recommend.

Map of drive

Swati country

Swaziland is a small landlocked country surrounded by South Africa on all sides. It is not really known to most travellers as a tourist destination. I got interested in visiting it as one of my colleagues is from there and she offered to take me there to explore her country. This was on a long weekend in December, except we figured out later that I need a visa to go even to Swaziland!

To be honest, my colleague was laughing when I told her that. She thought that her country wouldn’t even have computers to grant me a visa 😂. Anyways it turned out to be true and so I finally was able to make the trip once I got my Swaziland visa in March.

Even getting the visa was interesting. I had applied for a single entry visa, but they refused to give me anything other than a multiple entry visa! And so I had to pay extra later to get it. Anyways, the trip was finally happening, so I was happy about it.

We planned to drive from Joburg to Swaziland on a Saturday morning and come back Sunday night, it was about 4-5 hours each way. Transport was the easy part; finding accommodation turned out to be a problem though. We first tried booking airbnbs but they all turned out to be full already. So we ended up booking the Mantenga lodge in Ezulwini as that was the only one available.

Our drive towards Swaziland was relatively event free. We left early at 5 am and drove most of the way on the same highway route as I had taken earlier to Kruger and Drakensberg. We saw the sunrise on the way which was a pretty sight. Right after the Alzu service station (a highway service station which also has a game park), we turned right on a single lane road towards the Oshoek entry gates to Swaziland.

After that, it was all a one way road through green and wild areas. There is a myth on this part of the road that a woman had lost her life once when she did not get a lift from any of the drivers. And that her ghost is seen sometimes asking for a lift. And if you don’t stop, she appears on your rear seat! We did not come across her but were certainly looking for her as we drove 😐.

And midway, the weather turned foggy. We had to slow our driving there, and to me it felt like all the drives we used to go on in my childhood days. It was green and picturesque all the way, with lakes, forests, fields and valleys giving us company. Given the time of the year, there were also white and pink flowers everywhere on the sides. It was quite a magical drive and a good introduction to what was soon to come.

At the border gate, you have to stop at both the South African (called the Oshoek gate) and Swazi immigration centres (Ngwenye gate). And surprisingly, the Swazi side was cleaner and better maintained than the SA one. There are multiple entries to Swaziland but looks like all the gates open only at 8am, and that is why we could not drive there Friday night. We got through in a breeze through the gates this time thanks to my multiple entry Swazi visa  😜.

Views of Ezulwini valley

And then there we were, in Swaziland. Even though we had just crossed a gate, it felt like a different world together. A world of lush green hills dotted with small houses, and a feeling of paradise, very similar in my mind to the North-Eastern part of India (the states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and so on). It was a very cloudy and rainy weekend, so even though it spoilt a lot of our other plans, the whole country felt a lot more heavenly than usual. And I fell in love with it the moment we entered through the gates...

I had heard that Swaziland is a very poor country. To be very honest, I did not feel so at least in the areas we drove. Its main cities are Mbabane, Manzini and Ezulwini. We drove through all three as they are all close to each other. Ezulwini is a tourist area where most of the big hotels as well as other touristy options are located. We spent almost all our time in this area and it felt suitably rich. As did most of the other places we crossed. But am sure, the real Swaziland is different.

Our hotel had a late check-in, so we stopped at a couple of places on the way there. First, as petrol is cheaper in Swaziland than SA, we bought petrol for the car for our weekend. Our next stop was the Ngwenye glass factory where they use recycled glass to create new pieces with it. The shop had some exquisite pieces which were worth buying but a tad expensive. We also stopped at some more shops nearby, all of which were selling local handicrafts though at a higher price. And last, we saw the workers making some of the glass items in the factory. It as quite mesmerising watching them take on such a risky and skillful job with so much ease.

View from Mantenga Lodge

Our next stop was our hotel, the Mantenga Lodge which was a sweet little place perched on top of a hill. It has quite a panoramic view of the valley below. It was so foggy all the time, the view may have looked prettier if sunny. The lodge had multiple types of accommodation options, I stayed in a wooden hut right in the middle of wild vegetation. I loved sitting outside my hut, listening to the voice of birds. We had lunch at the hotel balcony and then left for our excursions of the day.

There are loads of things to do in Ezulwini depending on your taste - game parks, horse riding, quad biking, trekking (especially up Execution Hill), white water rafting, water falls visits, cultural visits and so all. Given the weather though, we were limited in our options and spent the evening visiting a nearby crafts market and a local Swazi village.

Local crafts market

The crafts market was located in a scenic location - with a hill view in front. And the stuff they were selling was amazing, good quality with a lot of variety. I bought so many things from there - African print clothes, bead necklaces, garden rock decoration, table mats with animal prints, straw baskets and so on. I loved shopping there and observing all the different handicrafts. The sellers don’t hustle you much either, they just politely request you to come in for a view. Most of the sellers were out though when we went, they were all attending a wedding nearby and their neighbours were tending their shops for them.

Swazi dance

The Swazi village trip started with a typical Swazi dance performance by a group of about 20 men, women and children. The dance was very active and happy, and included stamping your foot on the ground like the Zulu dance. And the crowd is supposed to cheer throughout with a loud "oo" sound (I realised that much later). The dance was interesting, though I did not understand a lot of what they were singing about and the context. After the Swazi dance, the group sang a few Christian gospel songs in Swati - it highlighted for me how deep Christianity is rooted in the area.

After the songs and dances, a guide took us on a tour of how Swazi villages and families used to live earlier. Each village is made up of one family, headed by the father and husband to all who live there. A village is made up of separate huts within an enclosure. The important people in the family - the mother, the head, his wives, the medicine person, the eldest son and the youngest son - have an individual hut. The youngest and eldest sons are the heir of the mother and father’s property, hence important. And the younger sons and daughters share rooms with each other. The cattle also have their own separate area (which is the same as the ancestors’s area).

There were lot of rules for everyone on how to live in this family village. The best part of the meat was always cooked by and for the man and the sons. The women could never eat the head (as they should not have more brains than the men) or the legs of the cows (so that women cannot run away). Men also regularly smoked weedat home (the Swazi weed is still exported and in demand for its good quality!)

Typical Swazi village

The men could have multiple wives. To get married, the girl's family had to be given cows. And a new marriage would start with the woman first visiting the cattle area as that was an important place for the family (also the place where ancestors resided). Each wife had 3 huts - for cooking, sleeping and one for brewing beer 😆. The grandmother always had the biggest hut, and her own brewery too. The daughters of the family could cook only in the grandmother’s kitchen, not their mothers’. The grandmother was very important to the family and her hut was known as the House of peace as she would broker peace between different wives if needed. Grandmothers lived to a long age too, as typically the men would die first (men used to marry at 30, women at 18).

The reed huts in the village all had small doors as a safety measure. And had very good air-conditioning. A lot of these traditions are not followed anymore though. Now everyone has mud and brick houses. And the wives nowadays stay separately in different villages, not so close to each other 😜. The guide who told us these stories had a good sense of humour and made it all very interesting for us. (I did not agree with some of the traditions as they were partial towards men, but it is what it was).

We then had a quick stop at a nearby waterfall which was quite average. Our next step was the Gables shopping mall nearby to take out cash (the mall apparently was a popular spot to hangout when it first opened). Everyone accepts South Africa Rands in Swaziland and even the ATMs dispense Rands, so that was convenient. After getting some cash, we went for dinner at a famous French restaurant, Calabash which though expensive was only about average. Our French colleague gave it a thumbs down, as it was not good French food as per him 😊.

We had planned for a game drive the next morning but had to cancel it given the rains. So we first drove deeper into Swaziland towards Manzini to visit my colleagues’ aunt. The drive was so picturesque, its tough to share what all I saw and felt. It was like driving through paradise. Green hills under the umbrella of fog. Small cute looking houses adding to the view. And a serenity and calmness everywhere. It is this serenity and calmness which was the most memorable part of Swaziland for me.

Quad biking through the countryside

After the trip to Manzini, we came back to the Royal Swazi hotel and went for Quad biking. It was a two hour drive and we drove on dirt tracks, through townships and playgrounds; hills and forests; villages and huge palatious houses; valleys and lakes, past cows and horses and so on, exploring the countryside around. Most of the people around were just chilling and giving us high fives as we crossed them 😊. It was 2 hours of bliss, of the cool breeze on your face and the adrenaline of racing ahead on paths difficult to tread otherwise. Quad biking here is a definite recommend from me for anyone visiting Swaziland.

View from Royal Swazi

And then we topped it all up with spa time at the Royal Swazi hotel. It was one of the better massages I have had and totally worth it. After a quick lunch at the restaurant (again with a beautiful view), we were off on the journey back. And already missing the serenity we were leaving behind 😞.

I found the trip very interesting in more ways that one. Swaziland has maintained a lot of its traditions unlike the neighbouring country of South Africa. It was under the British rule for some time but never properly colonised. The Swazi shield is given a lot of credit for this, for fending off everyone:). If you want to buy a local memorabilia, the Swazi shield is definitely one for keeps.

Swaziland is still an absolute monarchy, and the King’s photos are visible everywhere. The current king, King Mswati III has 16 wives. And if you research him a bit, you can read about a number of royal scandals, especially of two of his wives running away from the country! The previous king had 70 wives and 210 children!! Apparently, their surname is Dlamini and is the most common surname in Swaziland (given the number of children the kings have, am not surprised by it at all)!

The most famous aspect of Swaziland is its popular reed dance, where 1000s of young women dance for the Queen Mother and the King. And the King can pick his next wife from this group. There are also very strict traditional rules on who becomes the next King - he should be the only son of his mother and she has to be the youngest Queen of the King. Also once he becomes King, his mother becomes the Queen Mother and is as important as the king. Very important dynamics and politics, eh?

Swaziland ranks low in many social and health indices. Even though the roads we travelled on were of very good quality, it is still quite afflicted with poverty. And apparently there is lot of corruption everywhere too, like any developing country.

During our trip, we got no data signal the entire weekend. And the radio channels were all playing gospel music. And a random fact - Swaziland supported the South African struggle a lot (as did a lot of the African countries) but there is a feeling now that South Africa doesn’t care anymore and wants to keep people from the other countries out. I also noted, there were no whites or Indians anywhere in Swaziland, quite unlike SA.

On the whole, I loved my stay in Swaziland. It was two days of relaxation and being in a country I would never have thought I would ever get to visit. There is a lot I don’t know about the country. But what I know, I liked 😊.

Lazing in Algarve, Portugal

Last year, I spent a long weekend in the Algarve region of Portugal. It was a work offsite in a beautiful resort called the Pine Cliffs, right next to the city of Faro. We all spent most of the 4 days in the resort itself, enjoying all the different activities planned for our stay. I did not do much touristy stuff around and realised that chilling on the beach in a resort (when the sun gods were happy 😁) can also be fun!

The trip started out as a nightmare for a lot of people though. We were flying out on 23rd June from UK and two things happened that day. One was the Brexit vote (but that did not affect us much initially, as we were all expecting a remaIN win). And second was heavy rains because of which all airport trains stopped working, flights got cancelled and there was mayhem! There were colleagues who took 24 hours to reach Faro! I thankfully was just an hour late which worked out fine 😊. I was in the evening flight which landed at Faro at 10 pm and we got to the resort by midnight. My first view of Faro area was from the bus ride to the resort - it looked like an expanse of white houses all next to the beaches along green areas all around.

The hotel building in
Moorish design

The resort was a huge property spread across multiple acres, with its own beach and different types of accommodation (hotel suites, apartments, luxury residences, villas and so on). It took at least 15-20 mins to get from one end of the resort to the other. I was staying in the hotel, which though plain was very convenient in getting to all the places very quickly. The hotel building was constructed in a white Moorish design, dotted with lots of mosaics and tiles and inspired by the Moorish history of the area.

The Pine Cliffs

The resort was located on the beach right on top of white cliffs. To get to the beach, you had to walk to the cliffs and then take the lift down to the water. The weather was perfect for such a vacation, there was a lot of sun and heat all around. And we spent most of the time in and around the water 😊. It still felt a bit cold at first but was a lot better when you got in to swim. The sea was quite calm and there was a huge difference in water levels between high tide and low tide. During high tide, the water was right next to the sunbeds making it easier to swim.

The Pine Cliffs beach

We walked a bit on the beach and it continued forever, so we came back soon enough. We also did a bit of water sports and went out in the sea in a cookie boat. I must say it was one of the scariest experiences I have had when you feel you are going to be violently thrown into the water anytime now!

Most of the days, we had dinner in the resort’s garden on the cliffs and the views were amazing. The setting sun, the sound of waves and a view of the sea just below. I must say that the staff in the hotel were very very inefficient though in getting things done. But maybe that's one of the characteristics of beach areas - lazy, inefficient and taking their time for everything 😊.

The Silves castle

The last evening we had the final gala fiesta in a castle in the village of Silves. It was a 40 minute ride from the resort and an amazing location perched on top of a hill. The drive gave me a view of what to expect from the region - the area was quite green, dotted with houses in a light colour (mostly white). And a lot of them had orange flat roofs and very squarish (baroque?) architecture. Also there were loads of orange plantations in this region. The Silves castle had a lot of indoor space and we were all treated to cuisines and dances from across the world, ending the evening with huge fireworks. It was quite a fitting end to the long weekend.

Faro's walled city

I had heard from some of my colleagues that the cities and villages nearcy are quite picturesque. Some of them had taken boat rides around, some went bike riding in the towns, some went dolphin watching, jeep riding and so on, to see what Algarve had to offer. As I had spent most of the time in the resort, I decided to spend an afternoon in Faro.

Faro's old city

Faro is the capital of the Algarve region. Its a nice port town with a walled city centre of cobbled streets but not really very touristy. It has a relaxed vibe about it and it wasn’t as expensive as I had expected it to be. I took a walk through the old city, which has the typical Portuguese baroque architecture around.

The Faro cathedral

To visit, there was a small cathedral and a museum. And loads of orange trees! There were very few people around and everything had a very laid back feel to it. I walked around a bit and saw some of the areas around. But it was too hot, so I went to the Faro hotel and had a lazy lunch on the top floor, enjoying the view of the town below. And then saw a World Cup football match in the open in the Central Park 😉 right next to the hotel.

Watching football match in Faro

There are many islands nearby where you can take a ferry from Faro. Also the Faro beach is slightly away from the city and worth going to. All for a later time! I found Faro to be a bit disappointing though, as in more about a 'enjoy the relaxed ambience' kind of place rather than with things to do and see. People around were all tanned and relaxed. Though they didn’t seem too friendly to outsiders. Thankfully, most of them knew English.

And then it was time to leave, The airport was 5 mins from Faro, which is a luxury I rarely have 😁. It was a nice lazy weekend spent at the resort. And plans to be back to explore the countryside around which I didn’t get a chance to do this time.

Relaxation Mozambiqan style, in Maputo

My trip to Mozambique started out quite tentative. I booked the flight and hotel to Maputo earlier, but wasn’t sure till the last minute if I will be able to go or not. In fact I hadn’t even researched much on what I would do there, since I was waiting for my visa till the last minute. I finally got my visa only a day before I had to leave and that too a single entry. So my future trips to Mozambique couldn’t really happen. But at least Maputo could?

Maputo beach, sans thunderstorm 😜

And then a couple of my colleagues told me the evening I was flying that there was a huge thunderstorm that had hit Maputo on the weekend and was causing havoc. But given I had already spent the money, I thought might as well. And hopefully it didn’t turn out to be a bad decision. Of course by the end of the weekend, I knew it was definitely the right decision as the thunderstorm had affected the weather in Joburg more and it had rained the entire weekend!

So finally I took off with all the doubts in my mind. I flew there Friday night. It was a short flight, barely 40 mins or so. In fact, most people from SA drive to Maputo rather than fly. Maybe that's why the flight was almost empty - not even 10% of the seats were full! Or maybe it was the news of the thunderstorm?

Anyways when I landed, the airport felt very small. And empty. Which turned out good for me. It barely took 15 minutes to get out of the airport (though the immigration people talked for 5 mins within themselves about my passport and visa!). And 40 minutes to get to the hotel - it was so efficient. The tourism guy at the airport was surprised though that I had not booked a transfer and so came out of the airport to put me in a "safe" taxi 😝.

The first feeling I got when out of the airport was of Goa. A relaxed humid vibe of being next to the sea. The cab ride was about 15 mins and I got sight of why on wiki, the country is portrayed as very poor. Broken roads and slums lined the way to the hotel. But the taxi guy was driving with his windows open! So I am guessing it was safer than Joburg 😆.

I was staying at the Southern Sun hotel which was located on the seaside area; as different as possible from the areas I drove through. This was the tourist hub with the best location in the city - a row of high-end hotels on an isolated beach side.

Southern Sun, at night

I checked in to the hotel, which at first felt very average and unimpressive, given the quality of its rooms. But then I came out and my perspective changed drastically 😇. The hotel building was an expansive yellow coloured colonial building with towers and all!! Just outside, there was a pool lined with palm trees, and after that was the sea with the sound of waves. And it was so warm! I was already enjoying the moment, it felt like paradise already.. So I sat outside, listening to the waves under the stars and the palm trees, imagining what the sights and sounds from the day will bring!

I was in Maputo for a day and a half. It would have been better if I had booked a diving/sightseeing trip to the nearby islands beforehand. But since I did not, I spent most of my time in the city itself. Because my room did not have a sea view, I spent a lot of my time sitting in the outside areas of the hotel. Plus the AC was always so cold, it felt as terrible inside as it was warm and fuzzy outside! So I had all my meals sitting out in the sun and get all the Vitamin D I don't get in London 😜.

The outside area of the hotel was amazing even during the day. It was right next to the beach, with an inviting infinity pool overlooking the waves. And the weather was just perfect, hot enough to want to sit outside and go into the water. And the water in the sea was warm! I have never seen sea water so warm, ever… It was a pleasure to go in and swim and lose yourself, even though I did not stay in the sea for very long.

In the morning, I took a quick and short walk along the beach. All of it felt so much like Portugal - reminded me of my Faro trip from last year. The beautiful white houses on the hills next to the beach with magnificent views of the sea. And loads of cafes and restaurants on the beach for a lazy day out. But then there was a side here which would be missing in Portugal. There were parts of the beach which were dirty. And as I walked out, I saw lot of poor people sitting around. There were lot of people trying to sell their wares (beautiful African handicrafts) on the beach. And my hotel had a guard to keep the hawkers away from the residents. The ATM I was walking to wasn’t working either. And most of the people coming there were white. Its the same stereotypical views as I had seen in other places in Africa. Never a comfortable sight 😟.

Maputo local crafts market

Anyways, I did two touristy things on my first day - took a local city tour and then spent some time in the local fish market. The city tour was about 3-4 hours, in a red tuktuk, with the driver being the guide and driving to some of the local popular spots. While driving through the city, it felt quite open, rich and green. Our first stop was the local crafts market which had lot of African wooden wares, paintings and the likes to buy. And then there was a tree under which hung hundreds of straw and cloth bags - they all made for a very pretty picture.

Just nearby, I visited the Polana Serena hotel which is amongst one of the prestigious old hotels in Maputo. It felt rich as usual, plus had quite a panoramic view of the beaches below and the downtown on one end. The next stop was the Cathedral - a neat building in white, built by the Italians. There was a wedding going on inside the church which I spent some time observing.

Samora Machel and City Hall

Next to it was the statue of the first President of Mozambique - Samora Machel. My guide told me lots of stories about him, he was clearly a fan. Apparently Samora had helped Nelson Mandela a lot during his apartheid struggle. And he had been mysteriously killed when visiting South Africa, apparently by the SA regime because of his support for Mandela. So after Mandela became free, he married Samora’s wife and also helped his son with money as Samora had been honest and hence poor all his life. Apparently, the Mozambican Presidents of today don’t have these problems of honesty and poverty, according to my guide 😇.

Just behind Samora's statue was a City Hall which looked quite rundown to me. Then we went to the Jardim Tunduru botanical gardens. Apparently it has plants from many different places from the world. But what I saw were loads of married couples getting their photo shoots done there. When I spoke to my guide, he said that a lot of Mozambicans were given up their own traditions and aping the Western traditions. The photo shoot in white wedding dress was one of them 😜. My next stop was the French Cultural Centre nearby where there was an exhibition of metal works using wasted products.

Governor house, by Eiffel

We also passed by an (ugly) steel house which had been built by Eiffel for the governor of the city. Really, was that a thing to see? To be honest, by this time I thought my tuktuk guide was taking me to places which are not really touristy, but coming back I realised, they are all on the trip advisor list of places to visit! (I couldn’t have checked it all when on the tour as there were no 3G/4G data services there!).

Maputo railway station

The next stop was an old Portuguese fort located right next to the harbour which has an important place in the history of the city but I did not go in. There is a museum inside plus some old weapons and canons from old times. We then drove past the Maputo station building which presented a nice juxtaposition of the colonial past with the present. And the next stop was the local municipal market, where I saw loads of Indians. I bought a couple of small handicrafts from there. I had got bored by then, and the weather being extremely hot at 30+ degrees did not help 😅. So finally we drove back towards my hotel along a coastal road, which felt greener and cooler then the rest of the city. And had high rises next to it (The unsafe place my hotel had warned me about I think). In hindsight, I would think the city tour was missable. A trip to one of the islands nearby would be better. Also one of the other walking tours offered by the tour operators may not be bad.

Local fish market

After the tour, the guide dropped me at the fish market (mercado de peixe) near my hotel, which was a covered market where the locals sell fresh fish. The mussels there were so fresh that they were spurting water in their tubs! The fish market was a quick stop but right next to it were many stalls where loads of tourists were sitting and eating their lunch. And I loved this market! There was something so lazy about this place, I sat there for long, eating lunch, reading and observing everyone around. The hawkers did disturb a bit though, I clearly looked like a tourist😜. The lunch was tasty too, though it was expensive - almost 20 GBP for just two fish based dishes. But totally worth it!

The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent lounging in the hotel and swimming in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Initially I had felt a bit that there weren't many fun things to do in Maputo. Maybe I should have booked the island trips to the beaches nearby. They all left early in the morning though which meant I had missed them already. But then that view totally changed after the next 1 day of total lounging at the hotel 😊.

The hotel during the day, paradise!

The hotel was awesome, with a great location and ambience around it. It had two restaurants next to each other, with outside seating and serving yummy food. The pool was great, but the sea even better. The water was actually warm, it might have even been 25-30 degrees! It was amazing. And it was shallow, you could walk for a long distance. It was clean too, though the red mud made it look not so clear. I don’t know how the rest of the two days flew by. All I remember is the sun and the waves...

5 flights of the day 😊

The hotel suggested that I leave the hotel 3 hours in advance for an airport 15 mins away! And for an airport with barely 5 flights 😆. Thankfully I did not listen to them and left only 2 hours earlier. Still it was too early I think. I was done with immigration in 10 mins. And a tip, they don’t care about any liquids in the check-in bag.

While going to the airport, I took an open red tuktuk. I was slowly feeling brave 😝. I wish I hadn’t been scared by all the tourist websites I had read before, and explored the city fully. There was a carnival near my hotel on Saturday night which I did not go to given all I had read earlier. Maybe, I should have gone there. The city did not feel scary at all. It felt so chilled and relaxed, even the drive to the airport.

Beach in Maputo

The city felt so Portuguese everywhere (by the way have you noticed how different English and Portuguese colonies are? The English gave their colonies conservatism and discipline while the Portuguese settled more fun and relaxed colonies). They really love their sea, right? They chose their places based on the sea and made them all so much more chilled and fun. I saw glimpses of Brazil and Goa and Faro in Maputo - all ex-Portuguese colonies.

The water in Maputo was quite clean but the red mud made it look not so much. Hence a lot of the beaches slightly away are more popular. They accept ZAR and USD in the country though you still may be better off taking out some local currency as the exchange rate used is not too favourable. Also there is no mobile data when there. Maybe they do have data, but my phone did not pick up any signal. I can’t tell you how weird that felt even though it was just for two days. Also, English is not spoken much there. Portuguese is the national language of the country even though its everyone's second language. Turns out that because there were too many tribal languages, this was the only way to get everyone to speak the same language 😲.

The poverty is there to see too though. Hawkers pester tourists a bit, trying to sell their wares. They so often stand at the boundary of the hotel showing their stuff to the hotel guests. And the guards keep them off. When you take off is when you realise that maybe the tourist websites are right - the old town and the beach resorts are just 1% of Maputo. Its where the rich live. The rest is a sea of humanity and maybe not as safe.

Staying at a resort keeps you insulated from this real country. This is not my kind of travel, but maybe its fine for a place not known to be very safe. All in all, I think Maputo could be given a miss given its a city but then the beach and the hotel was good, so maybe its do-able.

I though had an amazing time there. The mythical thunderstorm which was all over in the news was not to be seen at all. It was hot and sunny the entire weekend! So much so, that I did not want to leave. At all. There was something about the air that had got to me. Never have I ever relaxed so much, so soon. I am definitely coming back to Mozambique, maybe to their fabled beaches. Or the diving everyone keeps raving about. Or to explore the local culture which I could not do this time. And there's a ready-made itinerary for the next time 😊.