Ilha
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2010
1
106
159
Trip End
Nov 29, 2011
Mozambique Island, Mozambique
Saturday, July 2, 2011
On our first night here, we picked up two friends Hanna had met in Swaziland (a country I never made it to). Sophia, from Equador, and Jordi, from Spain, have been travelling down through Africa in a big white transit van that now doubles as their home. We shared drinks round a dying campfire before bed.
The next day Jordi went fishing (didn't catch anything all day) while the two girls and I went to look round the island. This place has been an important part of the whole region’s history for centuries. The Arabs made it an important point in their trading network across East Africa, and the Portuguese used it as their administration centre for their East African empire. Nowadays, it is a charming place to wander round, with fading old forts and crumbling colonial buildings, contrasting with thatched and metal roofs, against a backdrop of huge Jackeranda trees, turquoise seas and big blue skies. Very agreeable. Except for the long (long) bridge, connecting the island to the mainland, that we walked across twice (our camp site was at the other end of this bridge).
On our third day here, I fell ill. I visited the toilet more times in 24 hours than I probably do in a normal month. Not agreeable. The next day I had recovered sufficiently to be driven by Jordi and Sophia to the town of Pemba.
