,,,Last weekend was our first time out of Mozambique since we arrived in March. We had become accustomed to Mozambique with its shaky infrastructure and laid back approach. Crossing the border into South Africa suddenly sent us back to a well-developed country and, what felt a lot like, home.
Crossing the border has now become pretty simple (well as simple as any African border crossing ever gets). The only extra thing needed being a negative COVID test. Not only that but if you go for a short visit you can get back into Mozambique on the same COVID test you left with.
So there we were at about midday Friday driving out of the border post and into South Africa. The first hundred yards looked remarkably like Mozambique with ramshackle stalls and breeze block housing at the side of the road. But after just half a mile or so that all changed and we were suddenly in a landscape (if not weather) much more recognisable from home. With shops, cafes, restaurants, industrial units, petrol stations with stocked shops. All ordered on tarmac roads.
We stopped very soon at a petrol station to pick up some Rand. Having heard about the security issues in South Africa I suddenly became aware of the fact I was withdrawing large amounts of cash and questioned how good an idea this was. However, as we found security issues there seem to be very different from what we are used to.
We were headed to Nelspruit which is an hour or so from the border and a town that seems to thrive on Maputo shoppers desperate for all the things they can’t get, or that cost a fortune, in Mozambique. It also seems the place where many South Africans head to stock up on as much homegrown food as they can cram into their pickups.
The road into Nelspruit runs not far from the southern border of Kruger national park and we had deliberately left early to take a detour. From a map, you can see that Kruger is massive. Bigger than many countries. There is also a huge park in Mozambique that is going to gradually merge with Kruger. With a plan to join that with other parks further into Mozambique the plan is eventually to have a trans-national park on a colossal scale.
das soon as you are in the park it’s clear you are not in Mozambique. With a stocked gift shop, camping, coffee bar and more just half a mile into the park. We got some food and coffees and relaxed on the picnic benches before heading for a drive. While we were sat there an Impala came by nibbling on the grass and just as we were leaving a wort-hog appeared on the grass by the picnic benches. That was certainly the first time I had seen one of those.
It was then into the car and along the dirt roads. Although dirt roads, they are well maintained and easy to drive. We soon found that Kruger has animals everywhere. It was not so much a case of driving to find the animals, more a case of deciding which ones to stop for. We soon realised we would not be out of the park before the gates shut if we stopped for every Impala. Before long we had seen Wildebeest, Impala, Kudu, Guinea Fowl and Zebra. We then took a detour off our route through the park towards Nepsruit to see the hippo pool down at the river (Crocodile River). We didn’t spot any crocs in its namesake (although there were many pieces of wood and telling them apart from a distance isn’t always easy). But there were plenty of hippos. It is just incredible what enormous creatures hippos are. They are just huge. At one point they went for a run into the water which was quite a sight.
As I want to cover the whole trip I’ll try and skim over Kruger a little here, but it was an amazing place and one we will certainly be returning too. By the time we had left we’d seen countless elephants, many almost right next to the car, giraffes, including one who was very small and still had its umbilical cord and several Impala nurseries.
As there was so much to see, and the park is just so huge (we had just travelled through a tiny part of it, yet had gone through for over 100km) it was later than we had planned when we left. That meant it was rather darker than we had been advised it was safe to drive when we finally pulled up at our Guesthouse in Nelspruit. Driving in I again noticed the organised roads, slip roads, infrastructure and organisation. It felt a world away from Mozambique just over the border. We picked up our room key, chatted about local places to eat and headed out to the local ‘pub’.
We were slightly wary about leaving the car with everything still in it by the pub, but the parking seemed secure and so we went in. The pub was outdoors with loads of traditional wooden pub garden bench tables with covers from the sun and rain. There was live music from a Scot, who it transpired was the owner of the bar. It was called ‘The Jock’ so we probably could have worked that out quicker. It was a great place with a nice atmosphere and beyond the waiters wearing masks very little sign of worries about COVID. People were meeting and enjoying themselves. It was a nice place to be. On top of that Imogen, Zoe and I got out first taste of fish and chips for 9 months.
inThe next day was about getting to the shops and getting all those things that you just can’t get in Mozambique. The trip was Imogen’s birthday present so there was also birthday money to spend and the chance to check out ice skating, bowling and all those things in short supply here.
The morning was spent mall shopping, which I think I coped with remarkably well. With the appearance of H&M and a few other recognised favourites, the kids were really feeling at home, if slightly confused at trying to work out the value of anything in yet another currency.
The best find of the day was the book shop, where we all spent a long time and got a good supply of English books to keep us going for a good while, as well as guide books to Kruger, birds and mammals I’d been after since we arrived in Mozambique. We also managed to squeeze in some coffee, lunch, a music shop and a spot of ice skating before heading off tired at the end of the day to our guesthouse. Once there we had a fashion show from the kids showing off their latest clothes. We were too exhausted to eat out so we had Italian take away on the table outside the room.
The area around Nelspruit looks interesting. There are some great hills and crags that all look very interesting to explore. How safe that is and where the best places to go are, we are still working on. With it being in the hills the weather was radically different from Maputo. The temperature was significantly colder and on Saturday it was drizzling. I think the drizzle helped us to feel that this was quite like being at home!
On Sunday morning we were getting to a few more shops. We then picked up lunch from Woolworths and were ready to head back. Woolworths is, as far as I can tell, identical in every way to Marks & Spencers. They sell the same stuff, use the same wording, fonts, colours, layout. It’s really quite bizarre. As Harriett pointed out, the only difference we could find was that Woolworth’s didn’t sell Percy pig sweets. Beyond that, it’s identical.
We took the main road back this time instead of the park. The border was simple again and by early evening we were pulling up on the drive, back in Mozambique. Back to where we now call home.
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