Zootie Zongoene

Took off from Vilancoulos loaded with as much fuel the trikes would take. Before us lay a 350mile flight.
Things were in our favour as there was a good tail wind low down. I knew that Mark and I were in for a
good warm days flying. First stop was at Pomene where we landed on a centre island road which acted as a
runway. We emptied the jerry cans into the fuel tank and headed for Inhambane. The tailwind grew into a strong one and we were screaming down the coast at 80mph.

As we crossed the Inhambane mouth we had to dodge the mother of all squalls heading in from the sea. We missed it by 10 miles but it still threw us all over the sky. Later as the wind died down we landed on the beach for a leg stretch. It was so great to have the beach to our selves and not be swamped by indigenous people. It felt so free that Mark and I decided to exploit our freedom with a swim and bath in the ocean alla Adam and eve style. I took out the shampoo and we had a good wash. We must have spent two hours on the beach swimming and lazing. We were finally free to adventure not being disturbed by anybody. As we arrived at Zongoeni Maximus arrived in his vehicle. As always it was great for the three of us to be together again.

Maximus said his day was a long drive from Vilancoulosto Zongoeni passing many trucks. The Hell run from Massinga was relatively quiet this time and not anything like the trip North two weeks ago. Previously Maximus had to dodge gangs pretending to fill potholes and insisting on payment or attack. The third gang managed to lodge an axe into the side door of a Gauteng Prado.Maximus managed to evade the attack and sped out of there as fast as the badly potholed road would allow him.He expected the worst on today’s return journey. However none of the three thug gangs were to be seen.

After bracing himself for the worse it was an anticlimax for the journey to go off relatively without incident.