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Abstract

:fit:800/1*0ckm4Cje6jj3Vk4zW_ygzw.jpeg"><figcaption>Flooded plains. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>Water splashed left, right, and center around the car as we slowly cruised along the empty roads.<figure id="ac63"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Q0UzOOt2ZMGUQJp7k3IaVQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Flooded roads. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>But as miserable as the day might have appeared to us, life needs to continue. Not only in the townships but on the streets in general. Locals were out in the rain trying to sell fruits, clothes or whatever they had as they needed to come up with their daily bread.Life is tough down here for sure and we're more than privileged and thankful for having a car and being just able to pack up our belongings in such a scenario and drive out of it.<figure id="4865"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*4BWc5XtBo0359w0tJZZI3w.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="2539"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*YrZtUKtc-_eaYHJuRY9KTA.jpeg"><figcaption>Life in the towns. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>We drove past fields of pots, pans and other self-made kitchen utensils being sold on the side of the road.<figure id="10d2"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*ZK2PQgE6bNycLYZPcn1raw.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="9ea4"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*CQ8ohWURgdbXlCmDw6kS9w.jpeg"><figcaption>Pots for sale. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>A sad side-effect of the heavy rains was piles of trash being washed away, spread across towns and fields and destroying the lovely picture of Mozambique.But this is part of it. Pollution. A plastic production that grows far above their recycling capacities.<figure id="e84c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*hZGrUgyT-MOigA2S2tn3DQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Trash everywhere. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>These parts of the country are no more but sandy soil, saturated fields and palm trees. Water was flowing everywhere.<figure id="0ddb"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*dG9aW0f7NVGAS86Nb2_buQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Palm trees, reeds and sandy soil - this is Mozambique. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>And as I mentioned, people were still out and about. On their bikes, bicycles or on foot.There were three categories of locals walking in the rain.<ul><li>Those with a rain jacket and an umbrella trying to not get wet in these extreme conditions.</li><li>Then there were those who pulled a trash bag over their body. It works almost as well as your Jack Wolfskin waterproof rain jacket.</li><li>And then there was the last category of people. Those who gave up and just walked, soaked, in the rain. With no umbrella, jacket or trash bag. Maybe, because they had none of it…</li></ul><figure id="7c33"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*d8t-7PagLvUVFoXtqNoVaw.jpeg"><figcaption>Our view ahead. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a

Options

</figcaption></figure>Our destination wasn't set but we had decided to drive as far as possible trying to escape the rains in the cyclone area. But as the storm was moving South toward South Africa, we had no chance of outrunning the storm.<figure id="f38f"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*VoSOlqsAE9SHE5PeIf8eZg.jpeg"><figcaption>More water on the road. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure>Around 5 pm we decided it was time to stop and sleep somewhere over. Without needing to pitch our tent. We found a hotel room, certainly above our normal budget but we needed something dry to sleep in and took the punch by paying a little more.<figure id="f0fa"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*HlpuxCl5K7Hh4MKoQY-PJA.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="0849"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*btAxHTdtNb8nyMi7DSmrHw.jpeg"><figcaption>Arriving in a Hotel in Xai-Xai. | Credit: <a href="https://medium.com/@anne.bonfert">Anne Bonfert</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="03e4">This is part four of our roadtrip. Watch the full video of our tour through Mozambique down below:</h2>

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    </figure></iframe></div></div></figure><h2 id="a488">We’re currently touring southern Africa and if you’d like to follow, go through this list of stories from our road trip:</h2><div id="cb8d" class="link-block">
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            <h2>Southern Africa Road Trip 2023</h2>
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SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023: DAY 44 — MOZAMBIQUE

We Have to Leave, Now!

When the rains were appearing on the radar

Escaping the cyclone. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

I looked once again at the radar photo and the rain predictions for Tofo when I knew we had to leave. Like now. The wind was still howling outside and it was dark but I knew this was our last night here.

Deciding to stay and wait out the cyclone and hope for some diving-friendly weather after the storm had gone past did not work out for us.

With the amount of knowledge and understanding about wind and weather systems we decided it was safe enough for us to stay and wait. But not without preparations and precautions.

Twice daily we would be checking the wind predictions and radar photos on changes in the pattern of the cyclone and what we would be facing. Since yesterday, we reloaded the three websites hourly.

We knew the cyclone had hit land on Friday morning and we would be getting the strongest winds this night with gusts of close to 50 knots around 3 am.

I woke up just before 3. It felt like the little thatched bungalow we were staying in was a lonely building in the big open world and someone was trying to play with it attempting to rip it out of its anchors.

The wind was howling and it was pouring down rain. A few raindrops were coming through the thatched roof dripping onto my pillow. Not that I minded getting a little wet but I didn't feel necessarily very safe anymore if I'm honest.

I was scared.

It was dark. The storm was loud. And now I was wide awake.

As there was no way of getting back to sleep, I opened up my tablet and reloaded the weather pages. This was when I saw the updated predictions of rain for the upcoming few days.

I knew we would be fine this night with the wind and rain even if it would be a hard one. But the amount of rain that was supposed to fall in the following 72 hours would cause serious damage to the roads we’d need to drive to get out of here and possibly to the property we were staying in as well.

We waited long enough. Telling myself we'd be packing up in the morning and leaving camp, I did manage to fall asleep again.

As we had picked up our camp already long before the cyclone arrived, we only had a few belongings inside the bungalow to carry back into the car before we could leave.

We stopped at the fuel station to fill up the car and needed to pump air back into the tires as we had deflated them to drive on the sandy roads in Tofo. The pump was not under the roof and as it hadn’t stopped raining yet, David was pumping up the tires getting soaked in the rain.

David pumping up our tires in the rain. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

Driving out of the bay we could see the fields being soaked, floodplains getting filled and water standing everywhere. Some palm trees had lost their coconuts, others their entire canopy.

Water splashed left, right, and center around the car as we slowly cruised along the empty roads.

But as miserable as the day might have appeared to us, life needs to continue. Not only in the townships but on the streets in general. Locals were out in the rain trying to sell fruits, clothes or whatever they had as they needed to come up with their daily bread.

Life is tough down here for sure and we're more than privileged and thankful for having a car and being just able to pack up our belongings in such a scenario and drive out of it.

Life in the towns. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

We drove past fields of pots, pans and other self-made kitchen utensils being sold on the side of the road.

A sad side-effect of the heavy rains was piles of trash being washed away, spread across towns and fields and destroying the lovely picture of Mozambique.

But this is part of it. Pollution. A plastic production that grows far above their recycling capacities.

Trash everywhere. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

These parts of the country are no more but sandy soil, saturated fields and palm trees. Water was flowing everywhere.

Palm trees, reeds and sandy soil - this is Mozambique. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

And as I mentioned, people were still out and about. On their bikes, bicycles or on foot.

There were three categories of locals walking in the rain.

Those with a rain jacket and an umbrella trying to not get wet in these extreme conditions.
Then there were those who pulled a trash bag over their body. It works almost as well as your Jack Wolfskin waterproof rain jacket.
And then there was the last category of people. Those who gave up and just walked, soaked, in the rain. With no umbrella, jacket or trash bag. Maybe, because they had none of it…

Our destination wasn't set but we had decided to drive as far as possible trying to escape the rains in the cyclone area. But as the storm was moving South toward South Africa, we had no chance of outrunning the storm.

More water on the road. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

Around 5 pm we decided it was time to stop and sleep somewhere over. Without needing to pitch our tent. We found a hotel room, certainly above our normal budget but we needed something dry to sleep in and took the punch by paying a little more.

Arriving in a Hotel in Xai-Xai. | Credit: Anne Bonfert

This is part four of our roadtrip. Watch the full video of our tour through Mozambique down below:

We’re currently touring southern Africa and if you’d like to follow, go through this list of stories from our road trip:

Southern Africa Road Trip 2023

Edit description

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