A Broke Down African Melody

**This post contains a video, so don't forget to go to www.continental-drifters.blogspot.com to view it!**

So our interesting story starts with the drive north from Maputo in Mozambique. Our destination was Tofo, about an 8 hours drive.

But, since our trip had been relatively big-problem-free, fate decided to turn on us. Our car decided it had had enough of the pot-hole riddled road we were enduring, and broke down going up a hill about 3 hours south of Tofo.

A bunch of local kids started staring, so we got them to help us push the car off the road. Here is where a cell phone might’ve come in handy, although in the end it wouldn’t have made a difference. Dark was setting in, but luckily several local cars stopped and tried to help. None of them could figure out what was wrong with the car, so one guy offered to tow us to the next “big” town. Supposedly this town had a hotel and food, so we could sort out our car situation. But, it being dark now and on a busy road, the hotel was full, so we started to worry. We didn’t even get dinner as we spent most of the night trying to call back to South Africa and contact the rental company, to no avail.

Our only choice was to sleep in the broke down car.

Definitely the low point of our entire trip thus far (and cross your fingers that that’s it!)

Neither of us really slept, as we were constantly on the lookout for any suspicious locals. Nobody bothered us and we made it till morning safely, though we now know that they rake the gravel parking lot at 4am.

We tried to phone the rental company a few more times after breakfast, got through, but didn’t get a definite answer as to what to do about the car. The last we heard was that WE had to tow the car back to South Africa at our own expense. Huh. Yeah, right. Our cash was getting low, as to call South Africa required buying airtime for the local’s cell phones. But wouldn’t you know, the little town of Quissico had an ATM (two actually). One hotel, but 2 ATMs.

While Ryan was waiting in line, a voice behind said a friendly hello. He turned around to meet Jaji Stam, a South African woman now living in Quissico. After an explanation of our situation to her, Jaji said not to worry; she would take care of us and get us back on our feet. We were almost desperate for help at that point, so we took her up on her kind offer, not really knowing what to expect.

One to always carry a tow bar, she was able to tow our car to her place, and offered us hot showers, cups of coffee, and a clean comfortable bed. She even called the rental company for us and used her knowledge of the South Africans to get them to send a new car all the way to us, which arrived 2 days later.

We owe an overwhelming amount of thanks to Jaji, who is a true lifesaver and one of the most genuine, caring people we have ever met. She moved to Mozambique 4 years ago, and is currently in the process of building a tourist lodge to be called The Crow’s Nest, so called because of the thousands of crows that roost in the coconut trees around the property, opposite an amazing lookout of a big lake sitting right next to the sea.

While chatting with Jaji, she told us about her involvement in the local community, and that she sometimes takes groups to see Mozambican everyday life. We had been feeling as though we hadn’t experienced the real Africa yet, so we climbed into the back of her used-to-be-4X4 truck and off we went. This experience was one of the best ever!

Highlights included: visiting a local school where they put on a timbila (a type of xylophone), drum, and dance performance for us:


visiting Ngyadane, a local witch doctor who performed a ritual involving calling up her ancestors (Anna was told she has blood flow problems and to get that looked at!):

drinking and eating lots of coconuts (Adamir, Jaji’s assistant climbed the tree to get a bunch):


seeing cassava being uprooted (Jaji makes the best cassava fries, yum!):

and pumping water for the local girls to carry back on their heads:
The nights were clear and just slightly chilly, so a bonfire was whipped up on a dune overlooking the ocean one night, and we drank our Dois M’s (local 2M beer) while saluting the stars and a full moon.

Of course, to top this all off, Jaji cooked up some delicious meals!

So what else can we say about this breakdown except that it was a great one!

After 3 days of enjoying good company, we said goodbye, loaded our new car which was a different car entirely and 100 times better anyways, and drove north to Barra (right next to Tofo) to enjoy the beach and do some diving. Jaji referred us to her friend’s Palm Grove Lodge in Barra, where we settled into a casita 20 meters from the beach, and would enjoy 6 nights of sand, sun, and seafood.

Every morning, locals would come by our porch trying to sell prawns, calamari, fish, and crayfish (lobster); every night we had something different to braai (bbq). We also did 2 dives, one of which was an adventure dive cert that now allows us to dive to 30 meters instead of 18. The reef we dove at was called Manta Reef, known for its population of Manta Rays, but of course, they were nowhere to be found. Some humpback whales did perform for us on the boat ride back, however.

In addition, we met some more friends of Jaji’s; Abrie, Irma, and family, who kindly invited us for an afternoon on the beach. Again, some of the nicest people! A big reason we look forward to coming back to South Africa and Mozambique is the kind people we have met.

After getting our dose of sun and sand, we had another adventure to look forward to. We had reservations for a hut in the Kruger National Park, so had to drive back down the Mozambican coast (not forgetting a stop-in to say thank you to Jaji again) and into the park, which borders Mozambique. We took an out-of-the-way road to get back to South Africa, where at one point we thought we were lost...nope, just in the middle of Mozambique.

Abrie and Irma have a fantastic lodge in Komatipoort near the southern Kruger gate (they are also building one in Barra) called Ambri Africa, where we stayed the night before entering the park. We chatted with them the next morning, telling them of our plans to definitely return, before heading off into Kruger.

The speed limit being 50 km/h (35 mph) in the park (don’t want to hit an elephant going 90!) it took us most of the day to drive to our camp at Olifants. Of course, this takes into consideration all the animal sightings you see. Just that day, we got lucky and saw two lionesses lying in the grass very close to the road, not to mention a rhino, elephants, zebras, giraffes, impalas, hippos, and more.

The view at our hut at Olifants was pretty nice, as we could watch hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, and elephants drink their fill at the Olifants River, down the hill from the fence.

We spotted all of the Big 5 (buffalo, elephants, rhinos, lions, and leopards) over the next four days, plus all the other wildlife roaming the park.


One very early morning, we took a walk with armed guides into the bush with the wildlife (you can only get out of your car at various camps in the park, for obvious reasons, so it’s all wildlife viewing sitting in your car). The rangers pointed out two Impala kills hanging in a tree, dragged up there by a leopard. Unfortunately, the leopard wasn’t around that morning but we did spot some giraffes and an elephant, accompanied by lion roars, which can be heard for up to 8km.

Each camp has a board with animal spotting markers, so we drove toward where a leopard had been spotted, and lo and behold, there was a big cat lounging way up in a bare tree!

Not more than 0.5km farther down the road, we witnessed a little rhino and mom chase a hyena from their grazing territory!



But the best viewing place on our drive out of the park on our last day. A pair of leopards in a riverbed crossed under the bridge we were on, and one came so near the road and our car (albeit partially hidden by brush) that Anna started rolling the window up! It got about 10 feet away before ducking under the bridge. We were so excited that we could only manage to snap a few blurry pictures as they walked out of sight.

But what a way to end our Kruger Park experience! We then took the rest of the day to drive to Nelspruit for one final night in South Africa, before catching our flight to Cairo, Egypt.

South Africa and Mozambique have been the highlights of our trip so far, so much so that “when we come back…” has been a much-used phrase. It may be a long flight, but it is well worth it!