shannon's ventures: south africa: Mozambique, Part 1 of 3: From the Air

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One of the coolest parts of my trip to Mozambique with Johannes was that we got to fly up in a private Caravan jet from Pretoria. This meant we flew much closer to the ground and were able to take, for the most part, unobstructed photographs.

The whole premise of our trip to Mozambique was for Johannes to do work there. Originally, Johannes met his Belgian bosses, Hans & Cherry, at their private Mozambiquan "Pebane Fishing Lodge" where he crafted all of their furnishings in 2008/2009. Cherry & Hans, who own the game farm we live on now, usually visit their private lodge/estate in Pebane a couple times a year. Pebane is far north in Mozambique, about level with the southern tip of Malawi, along the Moz coast. Bob & Mike, the farm managers, drive up in their Land Cruisers, taking fishing equipment, freezers full of food and extra supplies for the month-long stay. Meanwhile, Hans & Cherry usually go via private jet as it is an enormously long drive (2000 km/1250 mi) on roads in battered conditions, taking about 3 days in a Land Cruiser. Also, flying by plane means they can afford to take the nicest, freshest cheeses, produce and food stocks without the food spoiling. There is little fresh to buy up north, other than fish, prawns, coconuts, rice and Portuguese rolls.

The fact that Johannes and I got to fly up was simply a perk, because the plane was going north anyway to collect Hans & Cherry. Bob Potter & his wife Alet, also flew back to SA with the big guys, leaving the Land Cruiser behind for Johannes to complete his work & for us to jointly drive the 3 days back to SA. Luckily, however, they were gracious enough to leave a refrigerator stocked with fancy goats, parmesan, ricotta, feta and blue cheeses (unavailable even in Pongola!). In addition, they gave us several days to drive back so we didn't have to rush -- altogether we took 5.5 days to come back.

The trip by air was spectacular. You can see some of this from the photos, large masses of subsistance farms, age-old Portuguese palm tree/coconut farms, the crowded feel of the city of Beira, and the massive sand bars running along the coast. My 2 final photos in this blog are of our welcoming committee; one you can see above, 2 truck tops and a de-shelled building - the airport!, the other is of the locals who came to gawk at the bird from the air that landed on their airstrip (what I take to be as a very rare occasion.)

I have broken my Mozambique stay into three sections: 1) from the air, 2) the lodge & Pebane, and 3) the road trip home. Unfortunately, my camera battery went flat only 2 days into our road trip, so I don't have any photos to share of the idyllic places we stayed on the way home. However, our road trip home also coincided with our "breaking up" and I wouldn't have been very inspired to take photos, I must admit. Pictures of the sparkling blue ocean and frothy waves would only give the trip a glitsy visage, as opposed to the darkened one I was feeling the whole way home.