The tales we had heard about Mozambique worried us. We were told the roads were very bad with huge pot holes, many of them sandy, suitable only for 4 x 4′s. The Lonely Planet Guide said you couldn’t bicycle there—bad roads, no shoulders, big trucks, reckless drivers. Where would we stay with few hotels and long distances between towns with hotels? Though violent crime was less, the rogues were said to be very smart and we would need to be careful. In fact, the stories we heard were similar to stories we often hear in the neighboring country before our next country of travel. People are concerned about our safety and want to be sure we are aware of the problems we could encounter. Sometimes there is a bit of superiority communicated with a nod to our oddness “What can we be THINKING about bicycling there?” Though I know this, I still worry at borders and usually approach them with some trepidation.
From almost the moment we entered Mozambique the tales proved not so true, or rather (as is generally the case), the problems proved not to be big problems. Except for one pretty difficult rainy day where the road (under construction) was a muddy mess, the main roads we traveled were very good. Most did have narrow shoulders, but except for around Maputo and a few other smaller cities, there was little traffic. I felt almost like we were traveling on country roads in rural Wisconsin or Minnesota. As to hotels, we always found them within a days ride; and though some were quite basic and one a total dive, they were mostly pleasant and comfortable.
What I loved in our tour of Mozambique was the seemingly endless, flat, quiet, green countryside, where we’d pass tidy thatched roofed villages–numerous in the south near the coast—less as we traveled north and inland. People in these villages or walking along the road, smiled and waved when we waved, replying warmly to our greeting of “Bom dia!” (or “bom tarde” in the afternoon). I wished I knew some Portuguese as I didn’t have many conversations with people other than sharing greetings or asking, “How much?”, when buying bananas, peanuts or whatever on our breaks. I missed the wealth of cultural information we amassed and shared in our conversations in English speaking South Africa and many, many of my questions and observations remained unanswered and unchallenged.
I wondered about the emptiness of the land we traveled, the road lined, generally, with small, green, bushy trees and drier grasses as far as I could see. There were small plots of land around homes and villages where vegetables and corn were grown, but most of the area we traveled was not tilled, nor did there seem to be much industry except for very near the few larger cities. This demonstrated to me the poverty in Mozambique. Recovering from a brutal and long civil war, funded and fueled in part by Cold War politics and South African politics, that ended 15 years ago, the economy is improving slowly, slowly. Much of the economy is dependent on tourism which raised many questions for me. Mozambique has one of the longest coastlines in Africa and it boasts some of the most beautiful, quiet and remote beaches. We spent about 10 days of our travel in this area. Many, many South Africans in SUV’s pulling small trailers, usually traveling in packs of two or three passed us on the road as they made their way to beach front properties the government is selling (or perhaps leasing for 99 years…I’m not exactly sure). On the one hand tourism brings in very needed jobs and money but on the other hand there is a great difference in income levels and in culture between the tourists and their hosts. While one travels in SUV’s, the other works hard to afford cheap Chinese bicycles. Subsistence farms stand next to first world expensive retirement homes or vacation hotels. Are the new neighbors talking with each other? Are they inviting each other into their homes for dinner now and again? Are they sharing a card game or two together over beers? My guess is, not. One young Danish man we met who lived in Swaziland for years, is building a backpackers type hotel on a beautiful lagoon near the Indian Ocean using locally made materials and using local housing designs. He worked with community elders and officials in setting up the business and is involving people in the enterprise through profit sharing. He wants to develop community gardens, and perhaps set up a fisheries project. He, it appeared to me, was talking with his neighbors.
