Weekend in paradise

I was fortunate to spend a couple of days in Pemba, Mozambique. Over the weekend I managed to capture a few pictures with my iPhone....

Instant headache

Three weeks ago I spend a a few days in Prague where I drank more beer in 5 days than what I normally do in a year. The beer was cheap, cold, and tasted sweet like a fairy peeing on your tongue. On my way to Mozambique I bough a South African travel magazine where one particular writer suggested that 2M (pronounced "doshem"), the Mazambican beer is far better than another local beer called Laurentina Premium...just in case you had to choose. Listening to his advice I wished an hour later that I didn't. This is instant headache stuff.  My opinion...rather go for the Premium...or go to Prague.

Snorkeling at Pemba

It's been a while now that I have written anything on my blog. It is not that I have been busy or that nothing is happening in my life, it is just that I somehow don't want to spend time in front of a laptop if I can be outside. Each time I want to come sit down and write something, I find something better to do...usually outdoors as the summer we've had this year is just brilliant. The summer has been quite hot and the wind has also been good for kitesurfing. I've posted some pics of my recent trip to Pemba on facebook, but not all the people that read my blog is on facebook and they have asked me to put the pictures on my blog.

If you ever are fortunate enough to travel to Pemba, a small town in the northern province of Mozambique called Pabo Delgado, you will find that there are quite a few things you can do. There are also coral reefs (Quirimbas Archipelago), so scuba diving and snorkeling is quite popular. For more information on Pemba just Google it and you will see how beautiful this part of Mozambique is. I am not going to re-write what's written on the Internet, I just want to show the pictures of my snorkeling trip I had.

On my last trip to Mozambique I had the opportunity to take a boat and go snorkeling on one of the many coral reefs not far from Pemba. We left from a place called the Bush Camp on a wooden dhow boat called Eve. I was glad that we took that one, because when we arrived it was laying next to another fancy deep she fishing boat which looked like it was for wealthy foreigners and I was not in the mood for looking rich. Eve belongs to a South African who has been taking people for diving cruises in Mozambique for some time now.

Pemba, Mozambique

If you are ever fortunate enough to visit Pemba in the northern parts of Mozambique, make sure you stay for longer than what I did. You might also have to check the weather, but even with the warm tropical thunderstorms the place has a magic feel to it. The town is very small and surprizingly well-kept. As a matter of fact, one of my first observations in Mozambique on  previous trips was that people seem to have a lot of pride in their homes and surroundings. Here it is the same. All the little houses have very nice fences all made with local wood and reeds and the streets are surprisingly free from rubbish. The people are very friendly and all seems to be able to understand a fair amount of English. With not many people able to afford motor cars the streets look like a Karoo town on a Sunday.

I guess the main attraction of Pemba is the warm ocean with tropical reefs and crystal clear water. Any scuba diver's dream. The hotel where I was staying was doing boat trips to nearby islands for snorkeling and scuba diving at very reasonable prices. For me unfortunately I had to snorkel opposite the hotel as I had no time for leisure boat trips, I was there for work and less play. I did however take some time to walk on the beach and check out the water. I will definitely come back and explore a bit more.

I took some pictures with my little point-and-shoot, but it was overcast with not much sun and raining most of the time. I am sure with a better camera, better weather and more time one would be able to capture more of the beauty of this place than what I could this time. Here are some pictures to give an idea of this tropical paradise. I hope to visit this place again soon. I will be more prepared this time for all the nice things it has to offer....

I stayed at the Pemba Beach Hotel and Spa which has a very colonial atmosphere. It is the biggest hotel in Pemba and probably the nicest as well. Like in many African countries north of South Africa seafood is cheap compared to other meat and needless to say I made sure that I had a good helping. Oh, and I didn't miss my opportunity for a nice breakfast either.

The Pemba Beach Hotel

Breakfast - Bacon and Eggs

Lunch - Calamari and Chips

Dinner - King Prawns and Chips

Or you can do "Red Fish" and Chips. Lobster was not available at time of request, but apparently just as good.

And what would all the above be without the taste of a local beer, "Dois Em"?

Bom Apetite!

Flying LAM - ten years down the line

My first ever trip across the borders of South Africa was a quick hop to Mozambique. That was about ten years ago. As I was not used to flying at that time and very excited about my first stamp I was going to get in my passport. I guess so excited that I did not pay much attention to the details of the whole trip. Besides, I was sent to deliver parts in Beira, had to stay over one night and did not know if I had enough money with me to pay the hotel. So apart from excitement I think nervousness was also interfering with the awareness senses. What I do remember very well from that trip was my flight with the Moszambique carrier LAM (Linhas Aereas de Mocambique), as well as the airport at Maputo. If I had to make a list of the nice memories from my first trip, then these two would unfortunatey not have made that list. They did however make the list of memorable events that shaped my opinion of African Airlines and African airports.

So last Monday, ten years later, I was yet again on my way to Mozambique, only the second time on LAM via Maputa. I did a trip in between to Vilanculos, but that was straight with SAA and back. This time it was to Pemba further up north, and also with LAM. On my last trip I was flying in a plane called "Smokey Joe", aptly named that way because of smoke that was coming out of the engine all the time. I was not a frequent flyer at that time, so I could not really judge the competency of the pilots, but I remember that I was doubting their ability very much for various reasons. When you fly a lot you get the feel of the plane's movements and sounds to such an extent that you can actually tell if something is going wrong long before the flight attendants reveal anything on their taut faces. Unless of course when they are so used to a particular pilot's way of flying and continue serving coffee and tea like nothing is wrong despite what might be happening in the cockpit. Usually when the descent starts it feels as if you are literally gliding down towards the runway. Quite a heavenly feeling when a pilot knows what he is doing, like a butterfly coming down to softly land on the petals of a lily flower. The LAM pilots are definitely not appreciative of the beauty of a butterfly's flying abilities. You get the impression that they have started the descent way too early and consequently have to throttle up from time to time to keep altitude, making your heavenly feeling dispappear very quickly. It is like they have completely misjudged their altitude, their time to landing, the distance to the runway, their speed, everything. The anouncement "Cabin crew, ten minutes to landing" sometimes only comes 10 seconds before the plane hits the runway like a ton of bricks. The approach is everything but a steady glide and gentle landing like the butterfly does. You as a passenger keeps wondering whether you are actually descending or not. Anyway, this has not changed, despite the fact that my flight to Pemba happened on brand new Embraer 190 aircraft. The aircrafts might be new, but the pilots however were never "updated". It was also the first time where I have seen that the little white towel on the head rests preventing people's heads from smearing hair oil all over the upholstery are being used for commercial advertizing instead. As if this was not enough, even on the tray tables they had these horrendous ads displayed. Don't we see enough of that on TV? Not really adding to the beauty of the interior design at all. My return flight from Pemba however was on an Airbus A319, probably one of the first 18 build in 1996. I did not see smoke coming from the engines so I cannot confirm if it was Smokey Joe or not. It looked a bit old and dilapidated inside, with only enough room space for a pair of feet sans the legs. Well, after the flight it felt like I was without legs.

I was quite surprized though when we entered the airport building at Maputo. It was clear that it was brand new, and I learned later that it has opened only very recently. I was however brought back to my first trip when we walked from the International Arrivals to the Domestic Departures only to arrive in the same little departure hall I found myself in ten years ago. It was like a dejavu. It even had the same red chairs from that time. I even remembered the scene playing off in front of me outside the departure hall where one aircraft's front wheel was changed right before departure and right in front of the passengers who were already a bit annoyed for being delayed for more than two hours already.  The plane that was initially supposed to take us to Johannesburg was pulled away by a tractor at the last minute before departure only to be replaced with one that had a flat wheel. Changing a wheel in front of the waiting passengers was like removing a fly from the soup in front of the patron who ordered the soup. The problem was fixed but their still remains some uncertainty on the effectiveness of the exercise. Anyway, in Johannesburg we landed hard like usual with that new wheel taking all the strain and all seemed well afterwards. I have to say that I expected the same chaos at the airport like ten years ago. I remember a couple of small kids running towards me shouting "Airport tax, airport tax! Follow me, follow me!" There was nothing of the sorts this time. As a matter of fact, I don't even need a visa for Mozambique. I wish that Angola could wake up and do away with visas. Anyway, this is Mozambique and there is clearly a huge difference between the two countries, despite the fact that they were both Portuguese colonies that went through a civil war. As a matter of fact, the people are actually astonishly different too, but that is for another post. So, the airport was much more organized and relaxed than ten years ago. Just don't buy anything to drink, I paid R30 for a small Cuppicino that tasted more like an Espresso. Before the second sip we were told to board again and I had to leave behind the most expensive and bad tasting coffee I've ever had in a foreign country.

New International Departure hall

Old Departure hall

I have to admit that after an absence of ten years there has definitely been some improvement in Mozambique. The people are very friendly in general and the food on LAM was ten times better than what you get on TAAG. The flight attendants were all beautiful and friendly and if I ever had to choose between Mozambique and Angola, I would definitely settle for the first. The pilots still need a bit of practicing though, but in general it was a pleasant experience this time. I would have no problem visiting Mozambique again, but would still prefer to do it with SAA's pilots.