Lunch trip to Maputo

  Maputo, Mozambique
Monday, March 19, 2007

The prawns alone are worth the trip!

Well we were conveniently alligned to make a brief excursion into Mozambique, so we had to do it. Standard, we didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted, so we had to settle for lunch. The same toll route that goes from Joburg to Nelspruit continues on to Maputo so the driving conditions were quite good. The only real hassle was getting through the border. First you have to purchase supplemental insurance to take your vehicle. Then the whole visa process takes about 30-45 minutes. Their are quite a few mozambiquans willing to help you through the red tape for a helper fee. Probably more of a nuisance than anything else, but possibly worthwile if the border post is very busy as they will take your passports to the front of the line and know the immigration officials. Once we made into the country, it was smooth sailing. It took a while to find a restaurant in Maputo as the one we were originally looking for was closed, but we eventually found a pretty nice place. Some street kids were eager to watch our car for us for change not unlike in other places in Africa. The city was quite busy and bustling with traffic. I noted quite a few people taking driving lessons so it will be even more crowded on the roads there soon.