A picture is worth a 1000 words.

A great view of Beira with the city skyline, Mozambique Channel and the mouth of the Rio Pungue clearly visible

We realise that this has been the  biggest gap between blog entries yet, but we have our reasons, not only has one of our bosses been here but my (Christine’s) parents came to stay for three weeks which was great.  We thought having been here only four months that our eyes were still open to seeing all the ways of life here that are different from what we were used to in the UK,  and we are definitely learning new things all the time.  However, with my parents we realised that we are starting to take some things to be normal that maybe we wouldn’t have before.  For example, my Dad was amazed at the number of people walking down the central reservation of a dual carriageway, my Mum was astonished by the sheer amount of stuff a woman here is capable of carrying on her head (whilst having a baby strapped to her back of course).  Things or situations that we have got used to they both found astonishing, for example the amount of people that can squeeze onto the back of a lorry, live goats tied to trucks to be transported and how enterprising people with limited resources can be.  Rather than try to explain what we think they saw as they stayed here we feel it would be more appropriate to give you a visual tour of what they saw.  And besides, Dad took near to 3000 photos so we might as well use some of them! 

The Plaza de Municipal in the city centre has strong a Portuguese cafe-culture feel

A typical streat in downtown Beira

Beira is full of very random sites like this plane in the subburbs. No one seems to really know how it ended up here...

Central Market is a great place to buy fruit and veg

The lighthouse at Macuti with the rusting remains of a Portuguese trawler

One of the very few tarmac roads, the EN6 is Mozabique's M4 and links Beira in the east with Zimbabwe in the west

As soon as you leave one of the very few highways, the vast majority of Mozambique's roads are dirt tracks like this. A 4x4 is an absolute necessity for driving outside the city

A 4x4 is well beyond the reach of most Mozambicans so many aspire to own a bike (if they can afford the  yearly licence, that is and yes, you did read that correctly!)

Sometimes, when the tide is up in the mangroves, not even a 4x4 will help you out!

Tropical paradise, Serra da Gorongosa

One for all you travel agents out there!

A type of Mozambican wildlife we've come quiet familiar with... Mataquene (at the end of the needle point) live in dust. If they get the opportunity, they love to burrow into your feet where they pupate and lay eggs. Digging them out is not for the faint hearted!