A week in Mozambique

Early mornings, lots of lobster, and endless dusty roads. My week in Mozambique was dedicated to diving but filled with other delights and two looong bus rides.

We landed in Maputo as a travel stopover and didn’t get much of a chance to explore. Instead, we gorged on Indian food while watching foreign language soap operas. Then, we headed to bed early in anticipation of our early morning departure.

Way before the crack of dawn, we woke up to catch the 8-12 hour shuttle to the coastal town of Tofo. A four hour window of uncertainty? You may think that’s a generous margin, but we were traveling on African time. Lo and behold, we drew the short straw and didn’t arrive at our accommodation in Tofo until 6pm bringing us to a 13 hour journey. Along the way, I lost feeling in the lower half of my body a few times but can confirm I did not develop deep vein thrombosis.

Arriving in Tofo was a breath of fresh air. We spent the week diving and eating. I miss the open air and all the food - lobster rolls, succulent calamari rings, fresh coconut water.

Alas, we had to leave on another long bus ride back to Maputo. Luckily, our journey lasted just under 8 hours and was much more entertaining. We shared snacks with the couple sitting next to us and drove past a local political rally. Then we gorged on Indian food again and went to bed early in anticipation of another early travel day.

Photography by Cybil Zhang