Tofo, Mozambique

Today we had a slowish start as we repacked ready for the drive 500km north up to the seaside town of Tofo with Carla, Ali and Said. In the end we didn't get away until about 3pm as we were waiting for Ali to knock-off early from work to join us. As we departed there were a few nerves all round about probably not making it to Tofo by daylight given the drive ahead.

Long story short we arrived at 11pm! What a hell ride. It was hot, bumpy, stressful and little Said was screaming for much of the journey. After it got dark everyone was a bit on edge as we raced through town after town hoping we wouldn't having any breakdown or other drama. In the end I ended up driving the last 2 hours (not that I particularly wanted to!) as Carla was exhausted, Said was screaming and Ali can't drive.

To top off such a relaxing day we had the bright idea to heat up some Thai veggie curry which had been unrefrigerated in the car for the whole 8 hour drive and almost immediately we began to feel the ill effects...

So unwell today. Only ate a bread roll and drank a can of coke and some water. In bed the whole day.

Still feeling quite unwell in the morning but managed to eat lunch. In the evening the five of us drove into town (only a few minutes) and had dinner at a restaurant. I was thankful for some plain and familiar spaghetti bolognese! Some of Carla and Ali's friends also joined us for dinner before we returned back the holiday house that Carla had rented for our few days stay.

Today as our strength slowly returned we started to enjoy the beachside location and spent much of the day out on the balcony upstairs reading and taking in the view. Sandra and I also ventured into town on foot to check out the beach and get on the internet to check travel options from Maputo to elsewhere in Africa.

In the evening we had pasta for dinner at the holiday house and Sandra and I enjoyed a few games of cards.

Our last day in Tofo today. Ali left early with friends to get back to Maputo for work Monday (tomorrow) morning. I'm not surprised he was relived to be missing the return trip with his little son, Said, after the ordeal on the way up!

In the afternoon Sandra and I again headed to Tofo and locked in our onward travel plans. Tomorrow morning we will depart Tofo by car back to Maputo, then in the afternoon fly to Johannesburg where we will stay for two nights before heading onto Livingstone which is on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. After we wrapped up at the internet cafe we headed to the beach and hired two surf boards for an hour which was fun, but neither of us are really any good at all and the conditions had us exhausted very quickly.

Back at the holiday house in the evening with Carla and Said we cooked up all the remaining food and created one of the blandest thinkable combinations: mashed potato, mashed pumpkin and steamed carrots! Nonetheless it was still filling and probably good for our still traumatised digestive systems.