Mozambique Travels

We only had a day and a half in Joburg, before setting off for Mozambique.Carol and Jane travelled with us. We left early on the Wednesday before Easter, to avoid the long weekend rush at the borders. This turned out to be a very good plan and we breezed through both sides of the border at Komatiepoort in about 40 minutes,with no hassles, despite the fact that the Moz Customs form is only in Portuguese and we had filled in the wrong details in the wrong spaces. Why pay the tout R50 if you don't have to?
We spent the night at Casa Lisa about 40 kms north of Maputo, an overnight spot we can recommend with a good pub and a hearty dinner.
We met Tommy and Mandy at the pertol garage in Xia Xai the next morning, before trekking north to Inhambane. The road was amazingly good all the way - the new road is finished thanks to the Chinese - but we think you probably have to travel it soon if you want to see it in such good condition. It seems to be about 5 cms of tar slapped onto the sand.
We listened to Keith Richards' biography while driving, which was highly entertaining, but it's a weird to be listening to anecdotes about growing up in post war England while watching rural life in 21st century Africa pass by. I had the same discombobulated feeling listening to Nelson Mandela's book in France.