The Blue Finale
The past few days have been just about getting us home, the down hill run being a little
tougher than the flight up the coast due to adverse weather...
However after over a week of rain, wind and squalls we Woke before sunrise to near perfect weather at Zongwene to jump-start the day. Took off and headed for Maputo, was really strange to see the first signs of civilization that we have seen in nearly a month.
Routed in between the jumbos for landing to clear customs and complete immigration formalities. We’ve got Mozambique bureaucracy taped now and were in the air within half an hour heading for Kruger International.
About 30 miles from the border its very clear to see the contrast between the almost completely empty Mozambique landscape and the fully developed South African side.
One of the main lessons for me on this trip has been how we take South Africa so for granted, complaining
at every turn about this and that. The irony is that we have it so well here with a fully functioning
country with great infrastructure and economy where everything is reasonably easy to do and opportunities abound for anyone looking for them. Mozambique on the other hand is a completely broken country with no infrastructure to mention where buying 75 litres of fuel can take you the better part of an afternoon.
The people are the poorest I have ever seen and from the air we saw that most villages have no access
to the outside world. They are totally self sufficient with no concern what so ever about the oil price or what Mugabe is doing in Zimbabwe. Ironically they seem to be some of the happiest people I have ever encountered and as for the people in the towns that we slept in, every night is party night with loud music bellowing till the early hours of the morning which seems to have no effect on people getting to work by about six in the morning with school starting at seven.
This is the reason we chose to go and explore Mozambique for its undeveloped raw beauty and adventure... and adventure is what we got, during our 6000 kilometre flight if we saw five tar roads along the coastline it was a lot. Just miles and miles of totally unspoilt coastline and beaches ladened with palm trees, tons of rivers, lakes estuaries and lagoons that make that the Knysna lagoon look like a garden pond.
I am grateful to have completed another adventure safely and would like to thank my team mates, our friends and our families for their support in our efforts to explore Africa in what we have come to call flying coat hangars. We have had the privilege to explore the entire Mozambique coastline and adjacent Islands in the best aircraft for the job, with the wind in our hair low level along the coast.
Adventure and explore on...
from the free to adventure team.
Until next time.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Graham MacDonald on March 14, 2009 at 10:32am - just read your whole story..BRILLIANT..what an experiance..totally jealous.Well done.
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Comment by Tjeerd Beens on May 30, 2008 at 9:34am - Hi Pieter. Greetings to you,Steve and princess Di.Look forward to seeing you all back in old SA.We had a blast but now it is back to reality.It is great to be reunited with our families and friends back home.We are blessed to have families that support us and most of all permit us to be free to adventure.
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Comment by Tjeerd Beens on May 30, 2008 at 9:28am
- Thanx Erika (blom to me).I believe you.
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Comment by Erika on May 29, 2008 at 2:38pm - Must add my congrats. Would have loved to catch the whole adventure but Tjeerd,did not let us know. Next time please. See I have now had a look on the site.
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Comment by Pieter Laubscher on May 28, 2008 at 8:25pm -
Congratulations gentlemen! So the long journey has finally ended! Have fun back in SA and let us know when next you plan a journey into Northern Mozambique!
Medjumbe greetings.
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Comment by brett hill on May 26, 2008 at 11:35am - welcom back ,glad it was a safe trip.I am off there on Friday,this time without my plane.
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Comment by Oliver Reik on May 25, 2008 at 11:59pm - Great job, guys! I am already looking forward to the video! :-)
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Comment by Diego Sagrera on May 25, 2008 at 4:40am - Glad that you mad it back home safely.
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Comment by Ross Jeffery on May 24, 2008 at 9:19am - Great, well done with the expedition! See u in CT
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