A stroll around the markets of Mozambique...and a lot of seafood!

After three weeks of daily braais (barbecue) in Namibia and Botswana, I was more than happy to cross the border over to Mozambique with its tropical coast and all the seafood it had to offer. I promised myself to have fresh seafood everyday throughout my time in Mozambique and the fish markets in Maputo were just the best place to start.

In the early afternoon, I passed by Mercado Central and ran into a few Vietnamese sailors who had just bought a few crayfish and had them cooked right on the spot. With a few bits of English we figured out that I had been to their hometown on my trip to Vietnam, so they invited me to share some crayfish and some beers with them. Good times! And so random!

In the evening, a few people from the hostel and me took a tuktuk ride out of own to have dinner at the local fish market. We got to choose from the catch of the day - prawns, squid and other fish like tuna and then took our bags full of fish over to one of the little restaurant places where they prepared the fish along with fries and salad and we had a simple but excellent meal out there!

I immediately knew I was going to love my time in Mozambique!

Sailing away to paradise - Mozambique

Since we have pouring rain over here in Johannesburg, I thought I´d put up some sunny pictures of my beautiful sailing trip to the Bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique. Crystal clear turquoise water, dolphins playing around, white sandy beaches and colorful sailing boats - like in the Carribean!

Smoking thunder - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Just a quick update, I am so far behind with my blog posts, I´ve been to Zimbabwe about two months ago, but only get around to share the pictures now!

Victoria Falls, or smoking thunder as they are called in the local language, are pretty impressive. Since it was rainy season, they had even more water, so we all got a good shower just from standing at the viewpoints. Luckily, for once, I was not wearing a white shirt :-)

On Safari II: Chobe NP Botswana

Chobe National Park in Botswana stretches out along Chobe River which offers the possibility to watch the roaming wildlife from a boat cruising down the river.

Hence, I found myself on a nice boat, well equipped with beers and snacks, watching a herd of elephants coming down to the river bed to drink. There were a few calves that were only a few months old and they were stumbling around the legs of their mothers, occasionally falling over in the shallow water. 

It was gorgeous to watch and the elephants seemed completely undisturbed by our presence. 

As time passed, the boat cruise rather turned into a booze cruise that culminated in a beautiful sunset over Chobe river. Perfection!

The next morning, I went on an actual game drive through Chobe NP, witnessing the animals come to life with impala bonking on the plains, hippos playing in the water and baboons screaming in the bushes. Vegetation was different to Etosha NP, even richer and thicker, which made spotting the animals even harder...but it was beautiful none the less!

Gliding through the Okavango Delta....

...on a traditional mokoro - pure bliss!

The Okavango river in Botswana spreads into an unique inland delta with an extensive maze of little channels. Only accessible by water, the delta is home to a diverse wildlife. We passed a lot of hippos on our way which was a little scary since they can easily bite the wooden mokoro in half when they get irritated. From a safe distance though, I loved to watch them play in the water. 

The little channels were covered with lilly pads that opened their flowers at sunrise which added even more charm to our morning cruise through this enchanting water world. The clouds reflected in the clear water and we spent hours on end gliding through this serene wonderland.

The water was warm and clear, inviting us for a bath since there are no camping facilities in the delta, the dogma is high cost-low impact tourism, so we planted the tents under some trees and put up a traditional bush camp with a fire place - no showers, no toilets, no electricity - just nature!

This also meant that you had to make sure no predators were around the tent when you had to get out at night - as soon as you saw eyes reflecting when shining out with your headlight - stay in the tent!

Getting on the mokoro was stepping into a different world - everything slowed down while the mokoro gently made its way through the myriad of channels, no rush, no time constraints, just peace and serenity!

On Safari: Etosha NP Namibia

Driving through the endless plains of Etosha National Park....Etosha, the salt pan, becomes really arid in the dry winter months and the remaining waterholes attracts a lot of animals, the perfect spot for game viewing. In rainy season though, when I was passing through Etosha, the bush is lush green, offering good hiding and breeding ground to all the different species. We were lucky though and spotted elephants, giraffes and rhino in the bush, most of them even with there little ones...nothing cuter than a baby elephant! That is definitely one advantage of traveling in rainy season, you get to see a lot of baby animals! On our game drives, we even spotted baby warthogs in the distance! And let´s face it, rainy season meant the bush was a little greener, there wasn´t a drop of rain in the whole two weeks I spent in Namibia! Here in Etosha, the sky was beautiful though, with clouds passing through that built up enormous castles at the horizon...no rain though for us!