The Travelling Teacher: Mozambique – Whale, Whale, Whale…

July 7-9

…look at what we have here!

Whale shark

Hello everyone!

Bon dia from Mozambique. More specifically from Tofo, a village on this large country’s eastern shore.

Mozambique: massive

Tofo beach

That beautiful water that laps against Tofo’s soft, white sand is the Indian Ocean. Johannesburg, my previous stop, isn’t a million miles away from these waters either. Travelling from one to the other, however, makes it feel like you’ve travelled that far.

We split this drive into two days, also including a surprisingly
easy border crossing

Travelling through the northeastern provinces of South Africa allowed us to see some rather barren landscapes and occasional wildlife.

White rhino

Crocodiles

A short drive away from the crocodiles was the border post allowing us entry into Mozambique. Conflicting statements meant that I played it safe and got my visa in advance in Malawi; British citizens can get one at this border. As a slight aside, I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t wear shorts in the Mozambican embassy in Lilongwe. Asking the security guard what I could do, he simply replied, “You can use my trousers.” I duly did.

Traffic near Maputo, Mozambique's capital city

There’s certainly no need to wear trousers in Mozambique. Temperatures at the moment – winter – seem to be matching those in Britain’s recent heatwave.

Sunrise at Tofo - warm enough to go for a run without
a t-shirt!

The temperature of the ocean is warm enough to swim in, a stark contrast to the Atlantic Ocean on Africa’s western coast. We spent a couple of hours bobbing up and down on the choppy waves on an ocean safari.

Tofo beach stretches for many kilometres

There are a few species which I’ve never seen before. The one we saw close up – and I mean really close up – was the whale shark. These giant fish, which can reach up to 15 metres in length, are very docile and swim smoothly and slowly through the water. This means that you can swim with them. Yes, you read that right. Swim with (whale) sharks.

A whale shark is often in excess of 10 metres long

Whale sharks are the largest fish on our planet

I say they swim slowly – it’s all relative. It was quite tricky to keep up with them with the waves bashing you backwards. Still, I was swimming about two metres above the shark for a while. To give you an idea of his enormity, his tail seemed as long as my body.

Most photos here were taken on my camera by another
person, who was a faster swimmer than me

Later we caught glimpses of humpback whales in the far distance, the darker air from their blowholes looking like small smoke stacks on the horizon. We also passed a manta ray but many of us, myself included, didn’t spot it before it scurried out of sight in the deep blue.

Mozambique itself is quite similar to Malawi; this is understandable, given they’re next door neighbours. The land is lusher but villages along the main road between Maputo, the capital, and Tofo seemed identical. The main difference is language; being a Portuguese colony until 1975, Portuguese is the lingua franca for the country.