Road Trip: We Take on Maputo, Mozambique!

I did promise that I was going to share our Maputo, Mozambique road trip experience with y’all. This was my first time driving to Maputo. Besides the cruise, I have flown there a few times to visit, I was always surrounded by Mozambicans who had my back so I wasn’t aware of a lot of things that a ‘tourist’ should know. This trip opened my eyes and I learned a lot.

We left at 5am in the morning because we didn’t want to be caught in Jozi traffic or arrive in Maputo late. We were using an automatic Ford Ranger that I spoke about HERE so the drive was a breeze! What was annoying were the road works, at some point we were forced to stop for almost 30mins and that made our trip longer than it should have been. Unfortunately this happened to and fro. Sigh!

We stopped in Nelspruit to stretch a bit and have breakfast. It was such a breath of fresh air. There is just something about road trips, especially with good company. My travel buddies made it all worth it.

 

Passing through Lebombo border was easy too. However, there are a lot of scammers who will try and sell you everything under the sun including things you don’t even need but they will sell it to you in such a way that without it, you’ll end up in jail. Lol! I guess they have to otherwise bazolamba. That’s our fellow Africans for you. Alive with possibilities. Hehehehe

We arrived in Maputo around 1pm. It was a long drive because of the long stops we made but we didn’t even feel it. We were having fun. We stopped at a gas station to locate our hotel and I was so mad that I paid R150 for 3 ice creams and a packet of lays chips. Yeah, I got robbed. LMAO!

Touch down at our hotel and boy oh boy!! We were booked at Southern Sun Maputo which happens to be a few steps from the beach. We were welcomed with smiles by the Southern Sun staff. I loved it there. The ocean breeze, the atmosphere, the environment, it was all to die for. We felt very safe, even the parking was secure.

We immediately freshened up, and rocked our bikinis. I mean, we were right by the beach mos?

We were having the time of our lives. Long drive where, tired for who??

Our tiny Thato Malau showing off how tiny she is.

Neo Mohlatlole taking a stroll….do you see Thato at the back? Lol!

We continued to explore and got back to the hotel in time for dinner which was very yum! Then we retired to our beds.

The next day after breakfast we explored again. We first drove to see Samora Machel’s statue. We parked our Ford Ranger about 100m from the statue. There was a female car guard we greeted when we arrived there. Stay tuned, I will get back to her later on….hehehe

Neo had a moment

So did Thato…..

We chilled by the statue for sometime, took pics and then took a walk to the train station. We posed every chance we got.

Issa train

Posers….Fun was had trust me. We couldn’t stop posing for pictures. Hehehehe

We unlocked even the taxi ranks…Lol

On our way back to the car, Neo decided to play. Sasafricans!!

Anyway, we got back to the car, to find the side mirror gone. Lol, I am laughing now because it’s in the past but when it happened I was taken to another world. The car wasn’t mine, what was I going to say to Ford? I was destroyed and my day got messed up. We asked the female car guard who by the way ‘saw nothing’.  You see this pic of Neo, right behind (middle) is where we had parked. How do you not see anything in an open space like that with only a few cars? Yhuuuuu!

Luckily Neo made things happen and spoke to the hotel people who told us that the stealing of side mirrors is very common there that is why their mirrors have the car registration numbers on them. Anyway, the hotel assigned someone to go with us to the cop station to open a case and then also go with us to a place where we could buy a mirror. Till today, I believe we bought the same mirror that was stolen from us. Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaa! But we give props to Southern Sun Maputo for their assistance. They went all out for us and that is pure customer care. They took really good care of us for all the days we were there. Obrigado! So if you end up in Maputo and you need a place to stay, go to Southern Sun. You will not regret it.

With that said, our exploring continued, the fun continued. We wanted to explore different islands, unfortunately time didn’t permit because of other things we had to do in between, that included the #CastleLiteUnlocks FUTURE concert and Press Conference we attended, and I spoke about it HERE.

Hopefully we will plan our time properly next time – yes there will be a next time. Mozambique, we will be back to your beautiful land. We had an amazing time. Thank you Maputo.

Thank you Southern Sun Maputo for the yummy breakfasts and food. You see we even bought the African print material? I paid R115 for 4metres. Meanwhile we are charged an arm and a leg for just a strip nyana here. Ku tough.

Thank you Ford for giving us a ride. Thank you Africa for being so beautiful. Thank you to my travel buddies, Thato and Neo for being so awesome. #OnToTheNextOne

 

By @KikiMarli

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