Pemba

Unfortunately Wayne became ill during the night, spending most of the time throwing up or sitting on the toilet. By morning he had stopped actually being sick and wanted to move on, although he was in no fit state to drive, so I had the pleasure of tackling the roads for a change.

Our original plan was to try and take the coast road from Nacala to Pemba, however it was impossible to get any information on the condition of the road and whether the Lurio River was passable or not, so we opted to travel the 115km back to Namialo and take the tar road north. Once again the road was in pretty good condition, there were slightly less people on the road to dodge and the trip took about 5 hours.

We have spent the last 2 nights and tonight, at Pemba Dive and Bush Camp. It is pleasantly located on a nice bit of beach with a bar and communal area right on the sand. They have free kayaks, snorkelling, volleyball, archery, guided walks and mud baths in the mangroves. There are 5 campsites each with their own large thatch roofed shelter. The amenities are rustic, semi open, reed enclosures, but are large and clean. The showers are cold water, but each has a large tub of hot water to scoop over you which works quite well, especially as the weather is still quite warm even though it is winter. The staff are very helpful, leaving kerosene lanterns in each camp at night, bringing hot water or a large tub of fresh water if needed. The last couple of days have been very relaxing, just reading in the hammocks on the beach and taking it easy.

We also looked at Russel’s Place at Wimbe Beach, but the camping area was very small, located right next to the large bar and restaurant and I think it would get very noisy. If you want to party that is probably the place to go, but if you want to relax Pemba Dive is a much better location.

We met up yesterday with a couple that we had spoken to a few days ago and ended up eating a delicious meal of fresh tuna with them and spending the evening chatting. I doubt we will run into them again as today they are heading to the Tanzania border and then turning south again to be back in Tete by the weekend. There have been very few travellers along the way this far north and those that we have met we tend to meet up with again.