Just past Xai Xai we knew we were coming up to the bridge under construction, which had caused us a fair amount of delay on the way up, and we dreaded the queues that might have formed. As we approached we saw that the queues on our side of the bridge weren't too bad, but on the other side they were massive. Just our luck though, as we arrived a truck had broken down RIGHT in the middle of the bridge, and there was no way around! Werner went to check it out and we decided to seek an alternative route.
We followed some other cars down a dirt road, which went through a lot of farmland, lush and green. We drove for quite a while down this road with no idea where we would end up as the GPS refused to locate us. The cars were streaming down this track as they all were looking for the alternative route. Eventually we came to a start of a settlement, but there was a narrow part in the road, and another enormous truck was stupidly trying to get through. We all had to move out of the way, and amazingly he made it. Finally we rejoined the main road and the GPS was happy again.
We stopped in the chilli growing region of Inhacoonga to buy some super hot piri piri sauce at one of the many stalls on the side of the road. After another few hours, we turned down the road to Bilene, this one was in excellent condition, but sadly the sellers here were selling wood, charcoal and indigenous plants, frying in the hot sun...
We pulled into the Praia do Sol resort, whose motto is "Warm people, cold beer", and were indeed warmly welcomed by Solly. He, and a group of ladies carried our stuff to our little hut, through a beautiful jungle like path. The accommodation was again basic but very clean and full of character! Made entirely from local materials, the hut had two single beds under a huge mosquito net, with complimentary mosquito coils, and a neat bathroom. There was mesh instead of windows under the roof, and again no curtains, so not too much privacy!
Thee was a shared kitchen hut between 3 units, which was excellently kitted out and in fact very pleasant to sit in, amid the shady trees and birdsong. It had a gas braai, gas stove, two fridges and locked cupboards with everything you could need for cooking! We used what was left of our supplies to make pau jaffles deliciously filled with tuna, sweet corn, baked beans and cheese, washed down with gin and tonics, yummy!
Next we headed down to the beach, right next to the resort. Bilene is located on an estuary, in front of the sea, and all the resorts are on the estuary side. The sand was the whitest we had seen, but a little coarser than other beaches. There were a few families chilling under the umbrellas and playing with their kids. A jetski was parked on the sand and was later used to pull a bunch of kids on a banana.
We had a swim but the water was extremely shallow, too warm and slightly green... We decided to stay standing in the water and challenge ourselves with a bit of beach tennis.
Later we took a walk down the beach, spotting a few more isolated resorts, a dead eel, and some fisherman.
We then retreated to the bar for 2M beers overlooking the lovely view of the beach.
Before dinner we had to draw some mets, since none of the ATMs in Xai Xai seemed to be working... We managed to find the ATM in the Bilene town with no problem and drew enough cash for the last of our trip, since the hotel had no credit card facility. As we drove through the town we saw an interesting mix of Mozambiquans and foreigners in the streets, some enjoying the little restaurants, bars and shebeens in the area. We passed the market and there were even a few stalls still open.
We had our last dinner in Mozam at the Praia do Sol restaurant, and spoiled ourselves to delicious prawns and barracuda, washed down with beer and R&R!
We again woke up early, due to the lack of curtains. The huge, quite attractive mosquito net had been completely useless in the night, as it didn't close properly, but our saving grace was a standing fan which kept the biters at bay. We made a yummy breakfast of baked beans, sweet corn, eggs and pau, the last of our stocks, and contemplated how to spend our last hours in Mozam.
We checked out, packed the car, donned swimming cozzies and grabbed snorkeling gear and packed this into a double canoe we had rented for an hour. The barman had told us we could paddle to the estuary mouth, and thus the sea, in around 25 minutes. This was our plan, since we didn't have a boat of our own, and there was no other way to reach the sea
We set off against a mild current, in the warm shallow estuary, and soon realised there was no way we would make it in 25 minutes! After around an hour of hard paddling, we finally beached the canoe in the soft sand in the estuary mouth, amongst quite a few other boats and jetskis, all of which had reached there with a motor!
We ran into the clean turquoise ocean, the waves breaking erratically towards the mouth, and had a super quick swim before heading back. We had already had the boat longer than we paid for, plus we were supposed to be on the road to Nelspruit by this time!
The paddle back was even more taxing - the current kept pushing us into extremely shallow sand banks, and at times we had to get out and push! Finally we made it back after more than two hours, exhausted but satisfied!
It was only on the road to Nelspruit that we realised the folly of not putting sunscreen on our legs the whole time!
And so ended a fabulous trip, in Werner's words "one of the best holidays ever!"
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Bilene, Mozambique
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