The 3 A's... Africa, Asia & the Americas

See Virtual Tours of Africa

22feb07

Hi All,

Well here's our latest tales ...... We've actually been stranded on a deserted island for the last week or so. (Actually it wasn't an island as such, it was still part of the mainland of Mozambique, but not accessible by car so it was totally shut off from.... life basically). 700 people live here in little huts made out of palm trees. We stayed in a similar hut with 2 single beds in it and that's all. No floor, just sand. There was no electricity & no running water - which meant no lights, cooking over a flame, no fridge, so no cold drinks and food having to be caught fresh every day (fish), water drawn from a bore on the island ( so it tasted a little concrete-y, shower under a makeshift shower which was a hosepipe rigged up to a tank of water in a little hut under the stars - we're talking basic living at its base-est....

It was lovely though - for a week.... any more and we'd have gone mad!! The place was owned by a fisherman who would go out fishing each day or night to provide for the family and us his guests. We definitley had a Valentines day that can never be repeated..... we went out on a tiny boat with Lucio the owner...... we caught a shark !!!!!!! I'm serious a real live shark!! Granted it was a baby, but it was still a metre long!!!! It writhed and splashed as we tried to pull it in.. well while Lucio tried - I made my way to the farthest end of the (10 foot) boat (not far enough by any of my standards!!) and Simon, well he tried..... Thank goodness the shark got away cos apparently it would have eaten part of the boat away as well as a few of our limbs!! So, anyway, on the way back to the bay a group of dolphins swam past us.... very romantic indeed.

At another paradise beach on the same bit of coast we stayed in the honeymoon suite (no reason apart from just wanting a bit of privacy and relative luxury though it still was totally basic) , it had panoramic "windows" (actually flyscreens) overlooking the ocean, we could see and hear the ocean from our bed..... WEll while we were sitting there at the bar overlooking the ocean we looked out to see.... a shark fin!! The dark spot surrounding this fin was huge - this shark was at least 10 feet long!! and it was just off the coast!! Needless to say we didn't do much swimming at that beach!!

Anyway we're back in semi-civilisation now..... Jo'burg. I say semi-civilisation cos although it has all the western delights of anywhere in the UK - retaurants, shopping malls etc etc, we keep having people coming up to us and warning us of how dangerous it can be here - We're staying right out in the 'burbs though and are getting out of here tonight - Heading to Victoria Falls... I wonder how that'll compare to the lovely time we had at Iguacu??

Anyway, better go. LOts of love Wendy xxxxx
ps would love to hear your news.....