Distance:
885 km Inhassoro to Giriyondo Border near Letaba
15 369 km trip to date
Goody Villas at Inhassoro is a nice beachfront camp. Shady campsite, excellent ablutions, a swimming pool and view with direct access to the beach. Here the ocean is still very flat with no waves due to Bazaruto island only a few km directly to the east. We stayed for two nights. An excellent restaurant was 100 meters south along the beach where we had giant prawns (as big as langoustines).
The fishermen were very busy on the beach and we watched them bringing in nets filled with fish – all fish are taken home, irrespective of size and species.
Going south the condition of the N1 changed radically from the Vilanculos turn-off. A perfect tarred road with shoulders all the way towards Maputo. Near Inhambane the coconut palm plantations lined the road and lots of trucks were loading coconuts along the road to take to the factories.
The amount of wood and charcoal sold along the road is alarming – how many trees will be left in this country a decade from now?
In Masinga we visited Shoprite to stock up on some necessities, and experienced the wonder of using a map in a foreign town – the map tells you where to go, but not how it looks like. We turned off the main road to a side road where the Shoprite is located and followed the map onwards to return to the main road. Suddenly we were in a very narrow alley lined with market stalls and a car approaching from ahead – the alley was almost not wide enough for us towards the end near the main road. Had to reverse until there was enough room for the other vehicle to squeeze by.
We continued south to Chidenguele, a town 70 km north of Xai Xai where we stayed at Sunset Beach Lodge for another two nights. The campsites have no view to the ocean, but was nice with every campsite having it’s own ablutions and electricity points. The ocean has big waves and resembles the KZN north coast beaches. Definitely a summer holiday destination for the beach loving crowds, as the chalets overlook the ocean and one can swim and fish there.
We had the biggest and tastiest grilled crayfish there at R200 per portion and the menu is extensive regarding seafood and pizza.
As we missed Gorongoza NP, we decided to go home via the Limpopo NP (Kruger Transfrontier Park) and the Massingir dam towards the Giriyondo border post near Letaba.
To use the border through the Kruger Park, one has to overnight in either Limpopo NP or Kruger NP. We camped at Aguia Pesqueira in the Limpopo NP overlooking the Massingir dam. Beautiful setting on an escarpment above the dam.
The drive though the Limpopo NP was mainly through mopanie forest and we did not see much wildlife. Fresh still wet elephant dung, one herd each of impala, zebra and wildebeest.
The border crossing was a breeze. Through Moz side Limpopo NP office, Moz immigrations and customs, RSA immigration and customs as well as Kruger NP office in less than 30 minutes in total.
TWO WRINKLED TRAVELLERS 
Welkom terug in SA
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Dankie. Bietjie warmer hier as waar ons vandaan kom.
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