The Mozambique Family Blog
Our adventure in MozambiqueOur latest Blogs
Santa Maria – A gem a short boat ride from Maputo
Santa Maria is part of the mainland of Mozambique, but from Maptuo is easier to go by boat than drive. It’s at the end of a peninsula in the Maputo national park. To drive its one and a half hours on the good Chinese built road as far as the park entrance, then four...
Diving, it’s stunning down there.
Diving I have discovered is a process of which being under water is only a part. It’s a sport with a lot of kit and quite a lot of faffing. If you are not willing to relax and go with the flow, and are impatient to be in the water, then I don’t think it’s the sport...
Cape Town Outdoor Adventures
I’m catching up a little on blogs here. Earlier this year we headed to Cape Town where we met up with my parents. The thing I really loved about Cape Town was having outdoor sports almost within the city. We were able to hike in the mountains and see almost no one...
Our kids education, in Mozambique and beyond
Regular routine and consistency in a familiar environment is good for children, right? Well, I hope not – or more precisely, I hope that is not necessary, because constant change, varying routines and new experiences is more what our girls have been exposed to, and...
A kayak trip to Ilha Xefina
When I’m out kayaking in Maputo bay I can always see the island Ilha Xefina. So the temptation to visit has always been there. Local legend has it that on really low tides you can walk out there. You just have to time it right getting back. Or get a lift with a local...
Corruption
This is a common topic of conversion in Mozambique and a word people think of with most poorer countries. It's certainly something we all experience on a daily basis in Mozambique. I'll start with a few examples of where we across it everyday living in Mozambique. A...
A National Park with a difference (or lunch with a crocodile)
It was drizzling as we arrived at Mlilwane. The hour and a half drive across eSwatini had gone quickly, especially as I slept through most of it. I was only interrupted for a stop for lunch at a fish and chip shop in a mall. It seems eSwatini are good at fish and...
Christmas in Paradise
We decided something totally different on Christmas day would be good, so, we booked the trip to Santa Carolina, or paradise island. We were staying in Vilankulos at the beach lodge, and after breakfast overlooking the sea we wandered down to the beach where we...
Monte Binga Mozambique’s highest mountain – part 2
Dercio, our guide who had organised the trip and taken us from Beira, woke us early the next morning, ready to get to the top. The weather hadn't improved during the night. It was a damp and windy start to the day with the scenery and weather feeling more reminiscent...
Monte Binga Mozambique’s highest mountain – part 1
Our trip to Monte Binga had been a thought in the back of my mind for a long time, but finally, we were going there and we boarded the plane from Maputo bound for Beira, Mozambique's second city and biggest port. Goods come in here for many of Southern Africa's...
Laura’s Lobolo
We recently went to our maid Laura’s “lobolo”. After much confusion about what she was inviting us to “I am going to marry my husband, Mum” and consultation from Julia (our HR director) and Filipe (my boss) we finally worked out that we had been invited to a lobolo...
Online School can be fun
Since mid August, when the girls' school returned after the long holidays, it has been online learning again due to Mozambique’s high levels of COVID. We realized as school is online it can be anywhere. So, here we are in Praia de Bilene. We are staying in the same...
Ponta Malongane and the Dolphins
After a period of staying home most weekends, as a result of Covid related restrictions, we felt it was time to get out again and find out what we could do despite beaches being closed and restaurants only opening for lunch. We returned to Sky Island, a favourite...
A trip to Kruger
We have just got back from our first long trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa (cut short by Winston, the dog being ill). It's only just over the border from us, and as it was the end of the girls' summer holiday and the COVID numbers in South Africa were...
The weather and seasons in Mozambique
Having been here for almost 18 months I think we have just about got the hang of the seasons and weather in Mozambique. So, I thought a blog about the weather would be popular with our British friends and family back home. Although it seems the weather is as much a...
British bureaucracy and the hostile environment
We had a fantastic visit home to the UK in June and you’ll hear a lot about that on some blogs to follow (and Sam has already written about the delights of hotel quarantine). Pre-empting those comments, and to avoid this more downbeat blog implying we didn’t love...
Our time in quarantine
Our Moz family blog has been quiet for a while. Partly because we haven’t been in Mozambique. We’ve been back visiting friends and family in the UK. And getting new passports as the UK passport office made it impossible for us to renew them while abroad (see the last...
A trip to Bilene at Easter
We had been wondering what to do for the Easter holiday. Harriett and I have less than 6 months left on our passport so need to renew it (as we need more than that to get back into Mozambique if we leave). But our passports have our residency permit in, and the...
Horse Expedition
It has been a little while since we have posted. With the rise in COVID numbers as discussed in the last blog, life got a bit more restricted and a blog about my latest exploits with online shopping and not leaving the Condo much seemed a little dull. But numbers are...
COVID update 2
My last update on this was in November and things looked very different back then. COVID had not taken hold in Mozambique and things were opening up. At Christmas, we managed to get my parents over here and South Africans were flooding over the border to Mozambique's...
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