Visiting beaches in Maputo is no longer allowed or sensible, with too many people in a small place. This was a shame until we found something better. The sugar estate is centred on the top of an escarpment, below which cane fields run towards the sea. Following a tip, Sam, the girls and I packed a few beach things in the truck to investigate the beach that was reputedly situated at the end of a rough road through the fields. We were advised in advance to reduce the tyre pressure for the journey (but a check of the handbook advised otherwise so we left the tyres as they were).
We set off along a tarmacked road, across the Incomati Rover and it’s (in)famous bridge and onto field tracks. The tracks varied between wide, sweeping compressed dirt tracks and narrow, heavily rutted routes which frequently looked as though they could become impassable, before suddenly improving again.
After half an hour, the mud tracks ended and a little sign with an arrow to Calanga pointed the way up a narrow sandy track. I was driving and made it about forty metres before grinding to a complete halt, unable to get any purchase on the sand. Some curious local children watched my efforts to move and the subsequent reversing and trying again, which eventually worked. The tracks widened but the sand got deeper and the route continued along sweeping tracks up and down sand dunes and we coaxed the truck along for another 10 minutes or so before again grinding to a stop, this time unable to restart, however much reversing and trying again we did, all the time observed by an old lady, basket on her head in flop flips, presumably highly amused by our floundering.
We were pretty astonished to see another truck come passing by after a few more minutes. It seemed to be floating unproblematically up this steepest dune and came to a halt alongside us. “Your tyres are too pressurised”; the man hopped out, pulled out a handy little tool and proceeded to remove the valves from our tyres to let the air out. He was right; the car pulled away happily and we continued more easily along the remaining sand dunes.
We arrived at the ‘’Calanga Beach Resort’ and has to explain to Harriett that this didn’t mean a beach restaurant and bar! There was an unused campsite though, which we left the truck in before clambering over the final and steepest sand dune on foot.
Approaching the top of that dune, the view over the top was stunning. Huge, wide sweeping beach surrounded by dunes, with a sea crashing into the beach with well formed, rolling waves. It’s rare the find a beach as beautiful as some in the UK, with their cliffs and rock pools, but this one was incredible. And of course, had better weather than the UK, too.
The four of us ran bare foot down the sand towards the sea, left our few things in a heap and ran at the sea. The sea was warm and choppy. Imogen was worried about the waves at first, but grew used to it and we spent a long time playing in the sea. I don’t think I’ve come across a sea before where it is warm enough to play in the waves for so long.
An hour later, a rest and an exploration of the dune beckoned. We walked over some sand hills in a different direction to the one we had arrived from. We arrived into an open valley of sand; the closest comparison to anything I have seen before will be the wide sweeping valleys, with new snow after a night’s snowfall at the far reaches of some European ski resorts, where the is perfect snow and nobody except yourselves in sight as far as you can see.
We ran up and skidded down dunes; sat and looked at the view; climbed and watched the sea and generally enjoyed an environment that was totally different from any we had experienced before. This was a phenomenal experience and the drive to get here – entertaining in itself really – was absolutely justified. The kids were disappointed when we had to drag them away, with promises – since fulfilled – to return the next week with more time and food to spend the day there.
Mozambique is known for its beaches; this wasn’t something I had paid attention to before, never being attracted by the long, flat perfect beaches of holiday brochures. But these beaches are different and one of the most amazing environments I have seen. Social distancing was hardly a challenge either!
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