Imhambane to Blantyre (Malawi)

Hi,

In novembre I'll travel through Southern Africa. I'm planning to start in Johannesburg and work my way up, through Mozambique, to Malawi (to visit my girlfriend there). I don't want to rent a car, but use public transport or shuttle services (maybe Bazbus in South Africa). For sure I'll visit the southern part of Mozambique, because I want to dive in Inhambane.

I'm not sure about travelling between Imhambane and Blantyre in Malawi though:
- Are there nice places to stay and see on the route or will I just be waisting my time and would it be better to take a plane?
- What is the best route?
- How much time will it take?
- Do you recommend it considering that I don't speak a word of Portugese and have never travelled in Africa before (I did travel in most other parts of the world)

I hope you can give me some advice!

Regards,

Koen

Edited by: thorikoenie

Africa is a great place with great people. I'll be going from Joburg to Maputo, then Inhambane up to Nampula and Ilha de Mocambique. From what I heard, Malawi is absolutely fantastic, I had a friend who volunteered there for a year. If you want to see and meet people, which constitute one of the greatest treasures of Africa, better you take the road but if you just want to see places and hang out a bit, take the air transport. Regarding time, public transport is slow, I've given myself more than a week to do the mozambican coast.

Hi,

I have taken this route before (about 3 years ago) and I would recommend it.

I left Inhambane and went to Vilanculos where I spent a few days by the beach. It's a pretty spot and a good place to visit the islands off the coast, the trip from Inhambane took the best part of a day at the time but then the roads have been tarmaced recently which would decrease the travel time.

After that headed to Chimoio although if I remeber correctly had to change buses at Inchope which is not far from from Chimoio (note the bus from Vilanculos to Chimoio was 4-5am in the morning and took all day). There is a large hill near Chimoio shaped like a head which is easy to climb and gives beautiful views of the city and surrounding area. From Chimoio to Tete the bus also leaves very early and it would be advisable to scout out where it leaves from the day before you expect to travel.

In Tete you can get a bus which will bring you to the border (Zomba). The ride from the border doesn't take long but you would be advised to pick up some Malawian currency in a currency bureau in Chimoio - There are blackmarketeers changing currency at the border however it is illegal and can lead to problems with the authorities (especailly if they are in league with the blackmarketeer!)

All in all if you were to take a bus from Inhambane to Blantyre I'd say you would be looking at about 3 days travel by local transport (at least if the roads are anything like they were). While a flight won't take long it could cost you a small fortune due to the BASA's in place in Mozambique.

I hope this is in someway helpful, whatever you do have a great trip, Inhambane is a lovely spot as is Praia de Tofo nearby!

P.S. Stayed at the Pink Papaya in Chimoio which is run by a Zimbabwean woman. I tink she also runs a farm about 100km away where you can learn about Zimbabwe and its recent history. While it sounded inteesting I didn't make it due to time constraints at the time.

Wow, that's exactly the advice I was hoping for. Thank's a lot! I'm going for it. And I'll try to stay at the Pink Papaya.

Is it hard to get arround without speaking any Portugese?
Would you recommend a visit to Beira?

Koen

It won't be quicker by plane as I assume you'll have to backtrack to J'Burg in order to fly to Blantyre.

Do you speak any other Roman languages? (Spanish, French, Italian) If so it's easier to get along or to get a basic understanding about what's going on. If not, I guess there's always a good soul speaking English.

I like Beira, it has (imo) an undeserved bad reputation, but it depends completely what you're looking for. It's not a "relaxed" place to chill out I guess, but it's interesting to visit though.