We turned and drove back the "right way" and when we got back to the traffic cop, his policeman friend asked if he could have a lift. We figured it was the least we could do, and took the polite guy to a petrol station some way down the road towards Inhambane.
Back in Inhambane, we drew some more mets and stopped to fill up. The language again got a bit confusing and for a moment we worried whether we had filled with diesel or not. We checked the guidebook and confirmed with relief that "gasoleo" is in fact diesel, while "gasolina" is petrol.
We drove back down the bay, and then around towards the town of Maxixe, directly opposite Inhambane across the water, but fairly far by car. Maxixe lacks any of the charms of Inhambane, and is laid out in a grid like pattern, with a few petrol stations and little else of note.
After another hour or so we reached the town of Massinga, and 10km further we turned off towards Pomene. The road was dirt, more like mud, and at this point we found out that we had 54km of this to get through! It was still drizzling intermittently, and Werner had to drive very cautiously through the mud tracks. We passed through some villages, where the children cried "sweeeets" as we passed... We eventually reached the entrance to the nature conservation area of Pomene, where we parted with 600mets.
From here onward, the road was more like sand, and actually a little easier in the wet conditions. After a number of kms, we reached a sign announcing "Welcome to Pomene city" and entered a large local village area, complete with some curio shops, many huts, even a caravan and boat, all amongst swaying palm trees. The cries of the children changed to one of "chocolaaaaate" as we drove past and waved, wishing we still had more stationery to hand out rather than sugar.
The road took us past mangroves of amazing trees growing right in the salt water, and at one point we started having to swerve to avoid crabs. They were beautiful - small and black with one huge red and yellow claw. And they were crawling around the mangroves in their thousands! We stopped to take photos as the sand grew thicker... After over an hour of driving like this, and barely seeing another car, we started wondering why we were going to this place, and imagining that we could easily be the only ones there...
As the sand got thicker and thicker, we started seeing signs of Pomene lodge, and eventually pulled in, shocked to see many many campers and their 4x4s - almost more people than we had seen in Tofo! We parked up beside reception and checked in, marveling at the filthy state of our car. After this we experienced our first "almost stuck in the sand moment" as we tried to pull off. Letting air out of the tires did the trick, and we headed off to our beautiful water chalet...
The chalet was one of ten, built on stilts right over the sublime estuary with views to die for. It consisted of a large bedroom with a huge king bed, lovely patio with chairs for chilling and a neat bathroom with all we needed. We celebrated our arrival with ice cold Savannahs on our patio, watching as the tide went out. We spotted a huge flock of beautiful pink flamingoes in the estuary and watched as they ate, faces underwater. We were asked to place our dinner order before 16:00, so we walked over and chatted to Ian, the head chef. He recommended the crab curry, which I couldn't resist, and Werner decided on fresh king mackerel.
We had a few hours to kill before dinner, so we started with a quick walk on the beach. Quite different from the other beaches we had visited, this beach had no dunes, and quite a lot of plants growing in the sand near the fringes. The sand was the same white silky soft texture, and the sea deep blue and wonderfully warm. A large number of pine trees added to the palms, and we wondered whether these were indigenous to this area. They dropped spiky seed balls on the sand which was the only downside to the shade and shelter they provided.
Next we drove to the "old hotel" - a once beautiful Portugese style hotel which has been abandoned and fallen into ruin. We drove through the "Pomene city" village to get there, and drove up some very sandy tracks before parking. The location of the hotel is awesome, situated in a spit of land that juts out into the sea, with fabulous views over the beaches on both sides.
We walked around the old crumbling buildings, red tiles smashed on the floors and graffiti on the walls... The place had a kind of eerie post apocalyptic feel, and we were the only ones wondering around the ruins. We saw beautiful beaugainevilleas and mosaics and tried to imagine what the place would have been like. We walked to the edge of the spit and spotted some fishermen trying their luck off the end.
We returned to the lodge in time for a shower, a rest and then dinner. The "Cowrie Cove" restaurant had been beautifully laid out with five tables outside overlooking the pool and estuary. The crab curry was delicious, served whole and almost hugging the rice. I had to work hard with the provided board and hammer like tool to get the meaty flesh from inside the crab and claws. Werner also really enjoyed his fish. This was followed by the second best creme brûlée I have ever had (no one beats my sister's). We finished with a cup of tea before retiring to our super soft extra large bed.
The next morning we woke up early, something we were getting used to on this trip as the sun rises before 5:00 and most places had inadequate curtains... We didn't mind as it gave us a great opportunity to go exploring. The weather was still cool and cloudy, quite pleasant after the heat of Tofo. We walked along the estuary all the way to the mouth, spotting shells, hermit crabs and even a sad dead puffer fish along the way. The flamingoes were chilling near the sea, and we debated whether we could wade across to them but it was a bit too deep. So walked along the deserted beach instead, feeling the wind pick up as we left the shelter of the estuary.
After the walk, we were feeling a strong desire for coffee as none was provided in our room, so we showed up to breakfast a little early and they let us sip our coffee by the pool while they finished getting ready. Breakfast was excellent - continental of fresh fruit and the yummiest warm home baked muffins, plus a choice of an English breakfast or omlette.
After breakfast we explored further up the estuary, and found the dive centre and horse stables. We played some beach tennis and frisbee on the soft sand, struggling a little with the wind. We self catered our lunch and then chilled with gin and tonics on the deck until the time came to go snorkeling.
The lodge had created a false reef near their dive centre, in the estuary, by sinking a truck and quad bike, and a whole bunch of tires. We swam out to the boat which marked the spot, and struggled against the current to try and reach the reef. It was really hard work, but really rewarding, as we saw a huge puffer fish and it's baby, trigger fishes, butterfly fishes and many other beautiful reef fish.
For dinner that night we had both ordered the Portugese chicken with chips/wedges, and really enjoyed it with its piri piri sauce. We also had our first try of the most famous Mozambiquan holiday drink, the R&R - made with Moz Tipo Tinto Rum and Rasberry soda, so delicious and didn't even taste like it had alcohol in it...
The next morning woke us with brilliant sunshine as the cloudy weather had passed, and we again started our day with a lovely walk. We enjoyed our breakfast, sad that we would have to leave soon. We decided on a swim in the sea, and were followed by Polly, the lodge's adorable little dog. She loved running with us on the beach, and while Werner was catching waves, I laughed as she had cleverly cornered a crab, and was barking at it wildly while it tried to nip her with its claws.
As we left, the roads, if you can call them that, were quite different from the way in, as it was quite a bit drier. The sand was a lot softer, and the mud at least set into a harder dirt road. We stopped back at the old hotel on our way out, checking out the rock pools we had not seen on the last trip. We discovered another lodge on this side of the sea, and some families sunbathing and swimming with their kids.
At the conservation gate we stopped to reinflate our tires, and again picked up a hitchhiker - this time a park worker on his way back to his family in Massia. Once we said farewell to him, we continued our adventure, this time heading back down south to Guinjata bay.
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Location:Pomene, Mozambique
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