At Paindane

The last item on our “to do” list while Steve & Karen were here was a visit to Paindane Beach in the Inhambane province. We started off the usual way—with a seriously packed vehicle and a 10 hour drive over bad roads. Then, and this is not the first time, we found the least-travelled, two-tire track, cross-country route there is to our destination. Bumping over dunes and getting stuck in soft, deep sand was not the most welcome way to end our day, but we joked about it and chalked it down as yet another adventure in Mozambique. Here are a few moments of our jolting ride. I think the squiggly dash lights tell the tale quite well.

If we hadn’t been ready for a few days of R&R before this trip, we most certainly were by the time we finally got to our beach shack! Here’s the place we stayed in.

It was a very basic structure where everything from 1 meter down was made of concrete (including our beds which were concrete slabs with a sponge mattress on top), and from a meter up everything was made from wooden poles and woven coconut palm crudely slapped together. There was mosquito screen on the windows which they needn’t have bothered with since the huge gaps between the door and window frames and the woven palm-leaf walls offered easy access to the hordes of mosquitoes that came to visit every night! Needless to say, our cans of “Doom” insecticide and “Peaceful Sleep” repellent were well used. This was our dining/vegging/ocean-gazing/photo-taking-of-awesome-sights gazebo. (Paindane reefs and beech: to the left) We were situated fairly high so had a nice view of the ocean and reefs. Beautiful, no?


And amazingly, on vacation, I was up early enough to capture a sunrise or two :)



There were a few days when winds blew some rain our way. This rainbow made a complete half-circle over the ocean.




We were pleased to discover that our trip coincided with Humpback Whale mating season, but we were mostly impressed by the fact that they seemed to like being on just the other side of Paindane reef, directly in front of us. We certainly saw our share of tail splashes and blowhole spume from our back door. This is the best shot I got...one of their tails.

Dwight and Steve standing on Paindane reef, taking a break from snorkelling.

It was a wonderful break for us and a great time together. Yesterday, we took Steve and Karen to catch their flight back home while Kim stayed behind with us to help out for a few months.

This marks a whole new chapter in her life.

We have 2 days now to unpack, make sure work is on track, and repack for our next trip south to pick Rick and Heather up. After many months of preparation, they will finally be on African soil—a new and exciting chapter in their lives too.