After a late lunch in Ponta D’oro (see the previous blog) we decided it was time to head up to Ponta Malongane and the Sky Island Resort where we were booked to stay. The Pontas (points) are a series of points heading up the coast. Each point has a sheltered bay behind it. Ponta D’oro is the main resort. With every Ponta you get to travelling north, the quieter and more remote it gets.
As the track ahead was quite deep sand it was time to let air out of the tyres and head onto the sand roads. This is now a well-practiced procedure with a family member on each tyre letting out air, while I go around with the pressure gage (great give away from the Business Showcase in Doncaster) checking we’ve deflated to 1 bar.
Our first attempt at driving on sand, with fully inflated tyres, was a major disaster. But now we’ve learnt to drop the pressure and had some practice we are happy driving around on sand.
The road was a typical Mozambiquan road near the beach. Deep sand with a couple of tyre tracks. Branches of the road split and then re-join which is helpful if there is much other traffic, which there wasn’t. Not far down the road we stopped to look at a monkey sitting on a fence post. Once we’d stopped and looked around, we found the trees by the side of the road were alive with them. These aren’t the Vervet monkeys that come to the house and we’ve seen in other places. These were something different. There were lots of youngsters and it was great to watch them playing around. The troop was gradually heading over the road and away and once they had headed off, we continued bouncing on our way along the sand road.
After twenty minutes or so of bouncing along came a signpost for the Sky Island resort. This was well away from the route Google recommended, but its accuracy on these sand roads is always very limited. We drove past the signs for lodges, a food forest and tented camp before coming to reception parking. The whole track was running through lush thick woodland, with birds all around us.
The track from the car park took us suddenly to a tall building in an opening. The building is built to be fully open air. It is tall and airy, and a wonderful sea breeze runs through the building. The reception staff booked us in and once that was done, we were given some pineapple juice they had pressed as we arrived, and we went out onto the lawn at the front of the building. There was a patio with tables and chairs, a bar and a huge fire pit (for later) with chairs around. The patio leads out onto the lawn, that lead down to the cliffs at the edge of the sea. The view was brilliant and after a while of sipping pineapple juice we saw some Whales passing in the distance. Apparently, its whale migration season and so whales moving along the coast is quite common at the moment.
We then headed over to our camp. We had a tent for us and one for the kids. The tents had electricity and a large bed made up with crisp white linen, we had a bedside table and a wardrobe. This isn’t the sort of camping I’m used to! We then had our own sink toilet and shower just for our camp.
After exploring out camp we headed down to the sea. A sandy track takes you gently down the wooden slopes and onto the white sands. This was a mid-winter late afternoon, so we didn’t dive in the sea, but we had a paddle and play on the sand. Apart from two other people a way off, who left not long after we arrived, we had the beach to ourselves. As the afternoon drew in, we headed up to the main building for Gin and Tonic on the lawn as then sun went down.
I woke early the next morning and headed out for a run on the beach, while everyone else stayed in bed. I wanted to reach the actual point of Ponta Melongane, but it was further than I’d hoped. I didn’t fancy hobbling for the rest of the day so after running just under 3km I decided it was time to turn back. It was a brilliant run. I had the deserted beach to myself, with the sun slowly rising up and starting to warm the air. I found with moving up and down the beach I could find sand of just the right firmness that was perfect for running on.
For the rest of the day, we had a similar trip to Saturday, but in reverse. After breakfast with eggs and lots of fresh coffee and juice at the main house, we took the sandy drive back to Ponta D’oro. Imogen and I took the new boogie board out for a spin (well Immy did and I got the old one) while Zoe and Harriett enjoyed the view from a beach side bar. The bay is great with almost gradated surf. The very point has big breakers onto rocks which doesn’t look much fun. Then just inside the point is a mill pond flat sea, perfect for little ones and a nice swim. Then the further you go from the point the bigger the waves get. It’s like you can choose how large you like your waves. Imogen really enjoyed the new boogie board, until, on one particularly large wave she ended up surfing underneath it. It was then she decided it was time to finish.
Lunch amused me, as they we are on the other side of the world from the UK and for lunch, we all had Jamie Oliver Burgers! What Jamie Oliver had to do with there burgers I’m not really sure, but to be honest they were really good. I presume he must be well known in South Africa as South African’s are usually the main clientele here. I don’t think they get many Brits.
On the way back we more saw more animals on the Maputo special reserve. No giraffes this time, but Harriett was very pleased because she got a picture of the ‘give dung beetles priority’ sign. Both Ponta D’oro, Ponta Malongane and Sky Island will be places we’ll return to. It will be nice to go when the beach is fully open.
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