Hmmmm… next time I suppose I should write a post about it before I go.

For everyone who’s been sending emails wondering where I disappeared to – the answer is Mozambique. One of my best friends, Ruan “Maanhare” Cilliers and I decided to take two weeks off and go surfing.

How to get there

We stacked four surfboards on top of Ruan’s light blue 1991 Toyota Corolla “Die Ark”, threw a guitar on the backseat and hit the road in a north easterly direction, finally settling down in a small town called Tofu, about 20km down a pot-holed road from Inhambane.

In true African fashion we managed to somehow turn a 10-hour trip into a 17-hour trip, using the very relevant excuse of “en toe word ons dors” (translated: “and then we became thirsty”) at various intervals along the way.

Initially I was a bit worried about making the trip with a small 2-wheel drive car.

It turns out that, firstly, we encountered a beautifully tarred road all the way there (with the exception of about 200kms of severely potholed sections), secondly, that “Die Ark” was quite capable of handling just about anything we threw at it (provided that you take the bad spots with enough speed), and lastly, breaking down or getting stuck anywhere in Mozambique can turn into a good adventure. This is best accomplished by using the very relevant excuse “en toe word ons dors”, finding one of the many small huts in the middle of the bush (in most cases magically equipped with fridge) and acquiring yourself an ice-cold Coke or beer to relax and cool down while watching some local kids play board games with bottle caps on a make shift checker board.

The local surfspots – Tofinho and Backdoor

Unfortunately we picked the wrong time of the year to do a surf trip (the best swells come through in the winter months between May and August), but this was the only time both Ruan and I could make it at the same time.

As expected, we only found small to medium sized swells to entertains us the entire two weeks we were there. That said, we still spent about three hours a day surfing the consistently fun, two to four foot waves that did come through.

We mostly surfed a right-breaking point break called Tofinho, situated about 2 kms south of Tofu’s main beach. It’s a beautifully formed reef break that runs for 200 to 400 meters, resulting in good 10 to 20 second rides that offer both controlled slow sections for maneuvering and a few hard-charging fast sections that will definitely barrel nicely on a good day with bigger swell.

At Tofinho there is a flat bed of rock where you can walk around on during low tide all the way to the tip of the point and jump in there, save yourself the long paddle out and basically ride a near-perfect point break wave after wave amusement-park-style with very little effort required on your part.

However, remember to take your reef-walkers if you plan to take this shortcut. I didn’t and, by day three, ended up with nasty cuts all over my feet from the shelled critters growing on the reef. I consequently spent the rest of the holiday walking around with plasters all over my feet and smelling of Detol and Bactroban trying to avoid an infection.

The only other place we surfed is a straightish sand/reef spot called Backdoor, situated about a kilometer south of Tofinho, with both left- and right-breaking waves. Backdoor is less consistent than Tofinho and offers shorter rides, but it receives a lot more swell and I really enjoyed the fast, hollow take-offs you get from any of the three well defined peaks. It’s a go-go-go-get-out type of wave and I’m sure it also gets very good given the right conditions. I realized right away why it’s called Backdoor – the best way to get a thrill at this spot is by backdooring the peak and charging through the hollow section as fast as possible, trying to make it out on the other side before the lip swallows you.

What else to do

Where the small November swells was a bit of a disappointment, the rest of the Mozambique experience was made up for it in full in a variety of ways. The place is a tropical paradise. White beaches and clear, blue, warm water.

We did a bit of snorkeling along some of the many beautiful reefs in the region. Ruan also completed a course for his deep-water dive qualification and ended up diving with whale-sharks, Manta-rays, dolphins and various colorful tropical fishies that flitter about all over the place.

In the evenings Tofu is a non-stop party. You only need to walk far enough down the beach to find a gathering of happy people doing all kinds of happy things. There are a handful of the bars/restaurants situated along the beach. We usually started out at Fatimas (which is also a back-packers, and thus, great for meeting new people) or Dino’s Beach Bar.

We met some very funny guys, some very weird people and, would you believe it, a great group of thorough-bred South African students from Stellenbosch, sporting mustaches and talking good Afrikaans all night long with whom we became good friends. We also got to sample some of the great local beers (I especially liked 2M), chat up a few pretty girls and then make them feel all awkward and totally destroy our chances of scoring by praying for them.

The other stuff, like money and food and Malaria

One surprise we had on the trip was that, apart from our accommodation which was dirt cheap, everything else was expensive in Mozambique. My advice to people who plan to travel to Mozambique by car is to buy most of your food in South Africa, and then rather spend more on accommodation by getting a self-catering place equipped with a fridge and cooking facilities. Fuel is also expensive in Mozambique (just about twice as expensive as you’ll pay in South Africa), so take as much as is legally allowed with you.

We lived mostly off bread, fruit (mangos, bananas, papaja, pineapple, etc.), fish and calamari that we bought at the local market and prepared on Ruan’s super-tiny gas stove.

We found an ATM in Inhambane where we could draw cash with our MasterCards, but it was a mission and required us to queue for a long time. I recommend taking enough cash (Rands/USD) to see you though most of your trip and either changing it to Meticas at one of the banks, or if you have enough savvy not to get ripped off, on the black market.

You can also pay with Rands or USD at most places, but it is better to change it to Meticas first, since you’ll get a terrible rate and end up paying 10-20% more for already very expensive goods.

Lastly, malaria is a problem and definite risk. Take plenty of bug-spray and a mosquito net and, if you’re going for a short trip, take preventative medication. We also took some light cotton, long-sleeved clothes that we wore in the evenings, which worked quite well.

Photo credits: Thanks to Jadien “Wille Kind” Geldenhuis” and “DJ Ant” Anthony for manning the camera and getting some surf shots.

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Backdoor, Inhambane, Mozambique, Surfing, Tofinho, Tofu