First off apologies that this will be mainly a text post. I don’t know why I didn’t take more pictures on this leg…but just didn’t.
Got up pretty early to catch an early breakfast at the hotel in Swaziland, which was fascinating on its own. The buffet area was small – a dozen tables or so at the Mountain Inn – and most will filled with large South African tour groups. Regardless, we got a good breakfast, and got ready to head on our way. We’d planned to head out of Swaziland on the northern side via Pigg’s Peak, but there was very very thick fog, and the front desk advised us this route would not only be dangerous, but we were unlikely to see anything at all. Oh well – can’t control the weather!
Headed out via the west, and it was still very foggy. We had to get to Nelspruit, South Africa where we were due to catch a Greyhound bus to Mozambique. The drive was slow and quite foggy, but we still made it in plenty of time. Dropped off the car at the airport, and caught a way overpriced taxi back to the bus terminal. No problems at all – which in and of itself was quite surprising. Bus was even on time!
The bus was half full at most (and a double decker) and in less than two hours we were at the Mozambique border. We had purchased our visas in advance, so the border was a complete nonevent. We even had time for a couple pictures:
Soon we were over the border, and the bus lady was walking through checking on things…and caught us misbehaving. It seems there was no alcohol allowed on the bus, and we got a good chastising and a warning that she should kick us off right then and there! So, we hid the rest and drank it discretely 😉
We arrived in Maputo just after sunset, and I was seriously concerned about finding a safe taxi to the hotel. In the end, it was a complete nonevent, and there were plenty of honest taxi drivers hanging around the bus terminal. 10 minutes later, we were at our hotel, checking in, and off to hunt down dinner.
Decided to go to Mundo’s restaurant, which was listed as a bit of an expat haunt and sports bar. After a long day of travel something low-key and “safe” sounded good, and we set off on the walk. Got lost a couple times, but after 30 minutes we made it there. THank God for the iPHone and maps, or we never would have found it. I seriously don’t know how we traveled before it.
Got a couple pizzas and drinks, and decided to grab a cab back to the hotel instead of wandering in the dark again. Lots of exploring to do the next day!