Welcome at my second trip report. Some years ago, I reported on my trip with Ethiopian: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=38058
In March 2009, few months after my trip with Ethiopian, my girlfriend and I found a very interisting deal to Johannesburg from Dusseldorf in the month of August (Emirates). After being in doubt for some time about visiting Africa once again, we decided to go for it and discover the southern part of Africa for 3 weeks. Looking for the perfect places to visit, soon we were fascinated by the beauty of Mozambique.
Planes and busses took us to Pretoria - Nelspruyt/Panorama Route - Mbabane - Maputo - Inhambane/Tofo - Vilankulos - Soweto.
Our trip with Emirates was wonderful once again. We were lucky and got upgraded: we flew J class for the first time and enjoyed it very much. However, our flight with LAM (Linhas Aereas de Moçambique) was far more charming in many ways.
In Vilankulos we stayed at 'Na Sombra', a very basic hotel (but with a very nice atmosphere) run by Lieve. Born in Antwerp, she came to Mozambique in '94 and told us some wonderful (both cheerful and sad) stories about her time in Vilankulos. The hotel restaurant is widely known for its amazing food and I fully agree with that!
However, time had come to leave Mozambique and fly back to Joburg.
Vilankulos Airport (VNX) is close to the city. It mainly is a tourist hub to the beautiful (but expensive) Archipelago de Bazaruto. The building itself is very small.
When I entered the building with my backpack, I was looking for the check-in desks. Soon I discovered there simply were none. There were 20 other people in the hall, and it already felt quite full.
A man behind a little desk, sitting in a corner of the hall (both for entrance and arrival, obviously), waived at us and soon he helped us checking in old school style. It is a shame I have no pictures of this!
He took our bags and put them on a massive analog weighing scale at the other side of the hall. Another man asked us to open our bags and 'scanned' the luggage with his hands. The first man went back to its desk and suddenly he gave us our elektronically printed boarding passes. After the check in I was expecting some handwritten passes.
The security check was almost non-existing. The same person who checked our backpacks took a look at our carry on luggage. However, the airport is so small you can walk in and out easily. Immigration was at the other side of the building and went smooth. The entire process felt unprofessional by European standards, but charming in another way.
Soon, we went upstairs to a bar with a perfect view on the tarmac.
Being a (helicopter) pilot in Mozambique looks fine, isn't it?
Half an hour before scheduled departure time, our plane arrived at the airport:
Gorongosa( name of the bird, reg C9-AUL) is a DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 and was build in 2000.
There was no need to rush as there are no gates at the airport, only 1 door from the hall to the tarmac.
After disembarkment of the incomming passengers, we saw our luggage being transported to the plane.
You can see our backpacks on top:
Our pilote doing some checks:
Time had come to leave the bar and get in line for the "boarding procedure". Very soon I was entering the plane:
The cabin looked spacious and relatively well maintained. As I am quite tall, I was very happy to see leg room was generous. I think there were about 10 cms between my knees and the seet in front of me. My girlfriend, on my left hand side, definetely could stretch her legs.
Cabin crew consisted of two female Mozambican ladies. One of them was really friendly, the purser must have lost her smile on one of Mozambicans beautiful beaches. Even before the captain gave the pre-departure 'fasten your seatbelt and shut down all electronic devices' signal, she unpolitely told me no pictures were aloud inside the aircraft. Therefore I only have few pictures.
The friendly flight attendant in a fancy red dress:
After take off we enjoyed some breath taking views of Mozambiques coast line.
Some 25 minutes later we started a rather bumpy approach to Inhambane, an old town with some beautiful Portuguese colonial buildings.
At Inhambane other passengers boarded the plane. However at first, we all had to disembark and received a transit pass:
Security was minimal once again, and when I went to the restroom I realised I was only few meters away from the (unsecured) airport exit. Therefore I still do not see why they use those transit passes.
Soon we boarded Gorongosa once again, and being almost full by now (most of them South Africans, probably after a visit to Tofo near Inhambane) the bird took off, straight to Johannesburg.
The flight itself was uneventful. There was a beverage run and spicy crisps were handed out. We had some nice views, but tropical elements got fiewer and fiewer. As it was August, it was winter season in Johannesburg and especially the nights were freezingly cold.
Arrival at OR Tambo Intl Airport was on time. We went through immigration in no time but had to wait quite some time before our luggage appeared on the belt.
Before getting back to Europe we spent 3 more days in Soweto. It was a wonderfull experience. We used local busses by ourselves , discovered the township by bycicles with a local and never felt unsafe. I do not want to make any political statements in this post-apartheid era, but I do think Soweto's (safety) situation has improved significantly (cfr World Cup in Soweto).
1 funny remark however:
At the hostel in Soweto, we were sitting around a fire at (the freezingly cold winter) night.
If you look well, you can see some chickens sitting in the tree above the fire. There were 4 white chickens above the fire. 2 meters away from the fire, sitting unprotected in Johannesburgs cold, there was 1 black chicken.. When we noticed this "pseudo apartheid" situation, everyone had a good laugh.
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. Please feel free to make any comments!
Greets,
Maho Bay
Some more pictures of our trip in Mozambique:
Maputo, Mzoambiques capital, has some beautiful buildings. "Een kus van de juf en een bank vooruit" for the first one who recognises in what movie the train station was used (as a hotel).
On our way up from Maputo to Vilankulos we used several busses. Ever since, my definition of 'jampacked' has changed.
In combination with road conditions and the aged busses no-one can be surprised our bus got to stop several times for reparation. One leg, suposed to take about 6 hours, took more then 12 hours. An old lady getting off the bus with her personal belongings.
Sunset in Tofo:
Colonial house in Inhambane:
