After a morning relaxing and walking the dog, we headed over to Mozambique Horse Safari. It was an interesting drive, down small dirt roads through the outskirts of Vilankulos past lots of roundhouses. If we went the wrong way the local children were very good at pointing us on the right track. They seemed to know where we needed to go.
Mozambique Horse Safari has an amazing story to tell. Thrown off their farm in Zimbabwe during Mugabe’s farm grabs they had a lot of horses and nowhere to go. They ended up in Vilankulos. They’ve written the story into a book that’s now a best seller. We were given it when we went riding, and we’re taking it in turns to read it.

They were so welcoming as we arrived. It was like arriving at the house of an old friend. After a chat, we all got horses, helmets and the like and were good to go. We had a great ride, down to the beach and up and down the dunes. We got a long, interesting ride. The girls, who are much more expert riders than us, were allowed to head off for a canter from time to time. Zoe and I were allowed a trot, although at one stage both horses clearly fancied a rather faster run on the beach and it took a bit of effort to stop them going full speed along the sand. Zoe seemed to gain a “helper” who kept guiding her horse, much to Zoe’s annoyance. This didn’t seem to be part of his job and people kept telling him not to. But he seemed to insist that at tricky parts, where it seems it best to let the horse move as it wanted to, he wanted to grab the reigns and try and guide the poor thing. Which the horse and Zoe were not very keen on.

But the scenery was brilliant and the ride interesting. We learnt a bit of local history on the way. And we got to take away some amazing hand made soap. From the riding, we headed to the famous red dune we had seen from the boat the day before. The name really speaks for itself. The idea was to see the red dune at sunset. But after having to drive via Baobab to pick up the dog and get right across Vilankulos it was more a case of the red dune after sunset. But it was a pretty cool place. It was only a very short steep walk to the top. From there it was a great view of the local plain in one direction and then out to sea the other way. Nelio, our guide, had taken up some chairs and some drinks. It was nice to sit and sip a beer watching the view. Well, for about 2 minutes until and children and Zoe got bored of that. So we went off the back of the dune towards the sea. Lower down it was more soft sandstone than dune with 2 metre deep channels carved out tht you could walk through and climb out of. It was a cool place to explore in the dying light.

The next day was our final of the organised tour. It started with a cultural tour of Vilankulos by tuk-tuk (or Txoupelas as they are called here). This was Imogen’s idea of heaven being driven around by Txoupela. We stopped at some great craft places where they made some pretty impressive stuff. Paintings, chess sets, wood carving and the ever-popular magic bags (it looks like a purse but unfolds into a shopping bag). We also took in the busy port and the central market. The market was cramped, crowded and full of interesting treasures. It was great to be able to go around somewhere like that. We’ve not managed to do that sort of thing while we’ve been here. I did feel a little as we went around that we were the tourist attraction for the locals. It is very hard to just blend in here. We are always going to stick out.

The tour finished at Vilankulos beach lodge. This was a beautiful hotel with little lodges to stay in dotted around lush tropical gardens. Then a restaurant and bar on the lawn leading past the inviting pool and out to the sea. Lunch was really good and pleasantly well priced. We thought about staying longer at the Baobab, which was great in its own way. But, without the busy vibe, it lacked some of its normal charms, and the holes in the mosquito nets were starting to get to us. So after lunch, I had a quiet word with the manager, she was amazing and more than happy to accommodate us and the dog. So the next morning we had somewhere new to stay.

The late afternoon was a sunset paddle in local wetlands. Of all the trips this was probably a little bit of a letdown, and Zoe was very un-keen on the guides paddling the canoe for us. There were some interesting birds and a good chance to get some sunset photos though. After all of the local food, the kids were really pleased when we picked up some pizza on the way back to our last night in Baobab.

Our trip to Vilankulos will continue in the next blog (not quite published yet).