Day 5 overview: Distance driven: 380km An earlier then usual start saw us off from Cuacua Lodge before first light. The road conditions North of Caia (Caia - Mocuba) are much better then yesterdays and we made good time, allowing us to stop regularly for photos. Due to our early start, we decided to make the 40km detour to Quelimane for lunch. Quelimane is the largest city in the Zambezia Province and the population density was evident with the thousands of bicycles on the roads. The town has a definite touch of Arabic culture as it was founded as a Swahili trade market in the 16th century and was frequented by Arab slave traders. The town is situated on the mangrove banks of the Luala River and seems to be surrounded by swamps and palm trees - perhaps this lack of dry land adds to the perception of the cities density. It is also interesting to wonder how life must have been here in 1856 when David Livingston reached the town at the end of his famous west-to-east crossing of south-central Africa. In those days there were no tar roads, GPS or mozzie spray - this land was for real men! We had a lovely lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the river and were thrilled to see huge flocks of White Faced Whistling Ducks floating by. Their shrill cries echoed across the muddy waters every time a fisherman passed by in his dug-out canoe. After lunch we made our way back through the swarming masses of bicycles to the town of Namacurra where we turned north for Mocuba. As I have mentioned, the EN7 road is fantastic in this area however the 40km between Quelimane and Namacurra is terrible. The remainder of the days drive was uneventful and the scenery was featureless and monotonous. It was only on approaching Mocuba that we were finally given a small taste of what is to come, with the first granite formations. In this region the massifs are still gentle and rounded, but as we head further north they are said to become magnificent inselbergs. Mocuba is a well established town where the road forks to the north of Mozambique or west to Malawi. #Ponta2Palma
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 17:20:50 +0000
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