Mozambique – Travelgal Nicole Travel Blog

Mozambique beaches Mozambique has one of the longest and most beautiful coastlines in Africa. Getting to Mozambique beaches can be a bit of a pain but they are so worth it. After a quick nights stay in Maputo we were up early to take a minibus to Tofo. Why on earth do all the buses in Mozambique leave at 4 am in the morning?!? And did I mention that the buses don't leave until they're full. And not western full I'm talking African full. Every square inch is used. And as you sit on the bus waiting for it to fill up the locals come by selling various things for your trip such as bread, apples or even toilet paper. We were lucky that the mini bus we took was organised by Fatima's Backpackers and went direct from the Maputo site to Fatima's Nest in Tofo. Although there were lots and lots of stops. We made one bathroom stop about 4 and a half hours in to our drive. We left Fatima's at 5am, left the bus depot once we were full at 6am and then arrived at Fatima's Nest at 1pm. That's 9 hours in a mini bus. The cost at Fatima's is 700 metcals for the bus to Tofo which includes your bag and direct as you get in Africa. In my experience the mini bus organised by Fatima's is good for those who want to be shuttled door to door. Our problem is that we were behind the game when it came to organising what we were going to do in Mozambique. We couldn't decide what beaches to go to Tofo or Vilanculos. Even though we went to both I think we would have been better off going straight from Maputo to Vilanculos direct on one of the coaches (not to be confused with mini buses) and then gone to Tofo. We went to Tofo and then had to take a bus, then a ferry, then a minibus to Vilanculos and the same on the way back to Tofo. Much better to take a go direct to Vilanculos. We enjoyed our time in Mozambique but found it to be an expensive country. Don't get me wrong if you eat street food and bread and go to the supermarket it is not that bad but compared to other countries eating out was expensive. I am a soda water addict and I found that they were about twice the price I was paying in other countries. Obviously I can order something else but most of the cold drinks were the same price. They got you there when you need a cold drink after a day at the beach. I would definitely revisit Mozambique in a few years out of curiousity as to how the country has changed. Next time though I would fly from Joberg to Vilanculos direct as the Bazaruto archipelagos is stunning. I didn't get to go out diving as the weather and visibility was not good while I was there and I would have liked to have gone but alas it was not meant to be.