Walkabout - The long way home

Northern Mozambique: The relative luxury ends here. This after all “one of the continent’s last wild frontiers – rugged and challenging for travel” (Lonely Planet). On Likoma Island I met a Belgian chap who was also heading over to Mozambique in a dhow. Neither of us speaks any Portuguese! So off we set, starting early-ish from Mango Drift in their battered old Land Rover into the ‘town’. From there we were officially stamped out of Malawi, we changed some money then boarded a dhow bound for Cobue 7km away. When we had paddled out into the wind they dropped the sails which, much to our amusement (and yet slightly worrying), were made of a bed sheet (main sail) and a couple of sacks sown together (front sail). After a bit of joking about the unseaworthyness of the craft the wind really picked up and suddenly we were flying along at an impressive pace. Though the wind was so strong that we were at such an angle that the right hand side of the vessel (Port? Starboard? Does anyone real...

I just thought I'd write a quick post to say I'm off in a couple of hours! Barely got any sleep last night I was so excited! Btw I decided (after careful consideration) to let my brother sheer my winter coat - more practical: Maybe I should have left it with just the sides shaved? Heheh It was the biggest size on the clippers :S  Anyway, better get to packing. Will write again from Nairobi!

        "Hmmm... Seven months backpacking in Africa. That sounds a bit dangerous." says the guy at the travel agent as I put my proposal to him. I shrugged... "how bad can it be?". He quickly checks the Swedish foreign affairs recommendation and it looks pretty bad. Not only will I be robbed, stabbed, kidnapped, robbed again and blown up by a terrorist, I will also be fortunate enough to contract: Yellow fever, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B (and possibly C), something they call "tourist diarrhoea", Rabbies, Cholera, Malaria, Typhoid, Meningitis, AIDS... And that's just in Nairobi! "Bugger", I thought, they want more money from me to get vaccinations against these things. Oh well...at least now when I get blown up by the terrorists, I won't have the runs! Anyway I went to check out the vaccination office which of course was overrun by unending (yet very orderly) queues of Swedes desperate to get their hands on a dose or two of the swine flu v...