August 9-10: En Route Down the Coast

Not much to report as I am just incrementing my way down the coast en route to my final destination in Mozambique, Maputo National Park, but that will be the focus of my next post after my visit. For now, just to keep my journal continuous, I will give you a quick report on my last two nights. From Inhassaro, just north of Vilanculos shown on the map below, I headed several hours south to Coconut Bay just south of Inhambane shown on the map below, and then on to the seaside village of Macaneta just north of Maputo shown on the map below

Coconut Bay was another huge compound of campsites and cottages set back behind the frontal dunes, so no ocean view from the campsite, but rather a short hike through the dunes to the beach. Fortunately, I was the only guest, so I had the place to myself except the staff. I was originally going to stay a second night, but a huge wedding party was coming in the following day so I bailed. The campsite was rather atypical. As you can see here, you park your camper vehical under a big shed. I suppose most people come to the beach during their summer hot, wet season, and the sheds are probably a way of providing campers shelter from the rain. I suppose that would be nice under rainy conditions, but for me it felt less like camping. Anyways, not my favorite of camping sites, which was another reason to bail after one night:

The best thing about this place was the Bay itself. As I was the only guest, except for a few local fishmen, I had this amazing beach to myself. Talk about deserted sub-tropical beaches! I even got in a short snorkle behind the natural rock jetty shown in this photo, despite the winds and white-caps everywhere else. It wasn’t the greatest of snorkling locations – some reef fish and a few corals – but it was nice to get in the water regardless:

Also of note for the birders, I had a spotted eagle owl hooting in the tree next to my campsite during the early evening. I managed a poor photo, but I am putting in here for Phil (and you other birders) as proof:

And sunrise over the Indian Ocean is always a delight:

After leaving Coconut Bay, I kept heading south down the coast and randomly ended up in the small oceanside village of Macaneta just north of Maputo, and landed at Pisane Lodge, one of the several oceanside lodges/campgrounds. Nothing special or to my liking at this place – fancy lodge and campround with resstaurant, bar, pool and all the amenities – except that it had a big screen TV and I was in time to watch the US womens soccer defeat Brazil for the gold medal! Funny thing was that Nancy was watching the game with Phil and Mary and we were Whatsapping messages back forth about the game in real time as it was being played – isn’t technology amazing. Here’s my unexciting campsite:

Here’s a short 2-minute video of my campsite at Coconut Bay and of the Bay itself; there was nothing worth videoing at Pisane Lodge:

Coconut Bay video (2 minutes)

Ok, I’m off to my final destination in Mozambique, Maputo National Park. See you there.