Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

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Die$eL
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Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

Hi,

We are considering a trip to Moz in December this year.

If will be my 4x4 and chances are another 4x2 or my uncle's Rav 4 awd.

It's our first trip so we dont want to go anywhere too hectic.

We planning on leaving from Durbs on 19 Dec and returning on 22 Dec (Wifes want to spend time with family in Dec as well)

This trip will be guys only and we wont be camping. Will rather stay at a lodge but it does not have to be grand.

Could anyone help answer a few questions for me pls:
1. Where can i find out the border times? (especially since we travelling on a sunday)
2. Any suggestions on where to stay/visit?
3. What paperwork do we need at the border? (or where can I find this info)
4. Stickers etc that I need to attach to the bakkie and where to get them
5. Suggestions on essentials to carry with


I found this place on the net. Looks good.
http://www.wheretostay.co.za/nhonguanelodge/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by OOOOMS »

1. Where can i find out the border times? (especially since we travelling on a sunday)
Garcia Marcia during December 24hours.
Swaziland - usually 06h00 - 18h00
Ponta - 06h00 - 18h00
Which border post will you be travelling through, I would recommend Swazi or Ponta
2. Any suggestions on where to stay/visit?
Santa Maria nice place - Nhonguane Lodge, looks good, just book early
3. What paperwork do we need at the border? (or where can I find this info)
Passport, police clearance certificate of vehicle, letter from the bank if still financed, letter from insurance company, drivers licence, vehicle papers.
4. Stickers etc that I need to attach to the bakkie and where to get them
ZA sticker (see the hilux4x4 shop - http://www.hilux4x4.co.za/theshop/index ... 0gu3aupp56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
5. Suggestions on essentials to carry with
Food, there are not many shops around Santa Maria. But if lodging just snacks
Tabbard, medical kit, binox, camera
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

Thanks Mark.

Do i not need that blue sticker with the yellow triangle?

oh and what about Malaria medication?
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by OOOOMS »

Die$eL wrote:Thanks Mark.

Do i not need that blue sticker with the yellow triangle?

oh and what about Malaria medication?
You only need the blue sticker if you are towing a caravan / trailer

Malaria meds - yes, chat to your local GP of pharmacist
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by dustbuster »

Hi Nishan

If you travelling from durbs I would recommend going to southern moz through Kosi bay border they relaxed there and don't give much hassle, just take a your certified copy log book never let your original log book out your hands also (letter of permission if any vehicles are not in your names ie banks of if your friends are borrowing one) don't worry about insurance you buy it at the border cost me R150 for 7 days when I was last there. Just make shore if you leave durbs you make the boarder before 4:30 any later than that and you are pushing it.

I would recommend Ponta Malongane close and you only going for a few days it is crazy season then so you must book, if you go to Malongane or somewhere close there I would not really worry about medication for malaria just take lots of anti mozzie stuff with if you go past Maputo I would start worrying about it.

The roads are sand from the boarder you will make it easy just let all the tires down the 4X2 will make is as well you might get stuck once or twice with it.

cheers
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

Finding accommodation is proving harder than i thought
most places are booked out already and the fact that we going with 12 people doesnt help much

any suggestions on places?
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Traveler »

Have you tried using Safarinow?
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

found this place:
http://www.macanetalodge.com/Info/tabid ... fault.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
works out to R295 per person per night for self catering chalets. seems ok
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by OOOOMS »

Seems OK from the pics :thumbup:
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

ok so we booked and all bursting with excitement

any idea on whether there are any restrictions on the amount of meat, vegetables and alcohol that we can take in?
also, is there a limit per person to the amount of sea food we bring back?
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by 2.8 d/cab SFA »

dont check going in at ponta, but coming out they did search bakkie. Dont buy seashells and wood carvings in moz cant take out border. Local rum(sparberry) R&R and beer very good, but can get SA stuff.
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by 2.8 d/cab SFA »

Crossing the Border to Ponta from Kosi Bay
The border here is a lot more relaxed and gernerally a lot quieter than the Komatipoort border but it still has queues at the peak holidays (Easter, long weekends and Dec holidays)
Fortunately the officials are more relaxed as this is a tourist border only - no trucks or commercial goods can cross here.
The paperwork needed is still the same:
• Vehicle ownership documents -
• If the vehicle is on hire purchase / bank loan you will also need a letter from the bank giving permission to cross the border.
• Also if the vehicle is not yours you will need a letter of authorization from the owner saying you have their permission to take it into Mozambique.
• A valid drivers license is also required.
• All people crossing the border need valid passport.
• Insurance is required in Mozambique - if your current insurance covers Mozambique you must get a letter from the insurance company on official papers clearly stating that minimum of third party insurance is covered, it must show the vehicle registration and the country 'Mozambique' - not 'covers all SADC' or 'Southern Africa'.
Temporary 30 day insurance cover is available at the Mozambique border and cost R150 (payable in cash only) we recommend Hollard Insurance.
The border is small here is a brief walkthrough:
Turn up at least 15 minutes before closing or they may have already locked up !
• Park up on the left on the SA side
• Go into the cabin on the left
• Passports stamped out
• Usually no vehicle paperwork (though this does change)
Sometimes they will do a full vehicle check to see if it is stolen, paperwork matches etc, other times they will not even look at the vehicle !!
Then it is across to the Mozambique side (200 metres) and off the tar roads.
• Park up
• On the left is the vehicle paperwork hut
• Two sheet A4 document with a piece of carbon.
• Fill it in (making sure the carbon works and is clear on the bottom sheet)
• Then take it back to the desk and they will stamp it return half to you and demand R20.
• Back out on the right is a window in a building where you hand in your passport, get stamped in (R20 fee) and you are away
• Insurance is required and there is usually a guy at the border asking if you need to buy it, Hollard do have a small hut there, R150 set fee valid for 30 days.
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

Thanks for the info John.

I'm not sure which border we will be using as my father-in-law is the appointed navigator :)

i emailed the lodge where we will be staying and this is what they said about the restrictions on what we can take in/out

We can take 1 x bottle spirits + 12 doz beers per person in

Coming back 8kg fish per person
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

ok i think i have just about everything

one more question, we are leaving from durbs so will probably go thru swaziland.

i see we need to get insurance for the bakkie at the moz border. would that mean that i would also have to get for driving thru swaziland?

also, anyone have a set of detailed directions to maputo from durbs?
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by Die$eL »

Sorry for the delay on the trip report.

I managed to get a few pics. The rest i need to get off my buddy.

We had planned for 12 of us to go in 3 vehicles but at the last minute we had 3 people cancel.
This turned out to be a BIG blessing.

Reason I say that is, we were supposed to travel with:
- My 4x4 D4d
- AWD Rav4
- 4x2 Isuzu Frontier

We ended up going with the D4D and Rav4.

There is No WAY the 4x2 would have made it through those roads! Didnt get pics of it though coz i was too busy driving :)

Day1:We travelled from Durbs all along the N2 to Pongola side and entered into Swaziland. (cant remember the name of the border post)
The roads in SA were excellent and I was REALLY impressed with the border post. It was not very busy and there were people to
direct you to the correct queue and make sure that you have the correct documentation etc. They were also very friendly

Crossed over into Swaziland and the border post was just a little run-down building. (they are however constructing big new facilities)
Again the people were friendly. No1 to point you to the correct queue etc this time.
Got out the border office premises and immediately there was virtually no road. This was actually coz of the construction going on.
It however did get better.

The roads are "ok" but nowhere close to ours. We realised that we take our roads for granted!

Swaziland was irritating in that for most places the speed limit was 80. We kept to it as we wanted to avoid any probs.
The Rav4 did hit a big pothole but after a quick stop and check we were on our way again.

Leaving Swazi into Moz we stopped at the duty free and grabbed a few beverages. Ohlssons beer! wish they still sold it here

The border post didnt offer any probs. We got the insurance from the hollard guy as someone on the forum had suggested.
However, be careful for those guys hanging around who dont work there that offer to help. They want to be reimbursed.
On the way back through this border post one guy said he is an undercover border dude and wanted a bribe or he will get the
guards to search us etc. We just ignored him and went on our way.

The roads in moz were about the same as in Swaziland.

When we got to Maputo, traffic was standing still. We switched off and waited.
Was funny to see guys walking through traffic selling whiskey and brandy

We decided to put our faith into the GPS and follow an alternate route. (not so clever)
I dont know how the GPS recognised those roads coz they basically weren't roads!

It started off ok.
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Ended up adding HOURS to our travel time.
As we approached the ferry point where we would load the bakkies on and go across to the 'island' the guy from the lodge called
and asked if anyone told us the ferry was not around.
I was like WTH??????

We had 2 options.
1 - leave the vehicles on this side and he would send a boat for us
2 - drive around.


I obviously chose option 2 and asked him for directions to "go around". His reply was that he couldnt give directions as that
way wasn't really a road. He would send someone across to jump in with us and direct us around.

What should have been 4km going thru the ferry ended up being 65KM going around.

Yoh that road was F#$@#d.
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The road was Soo narrow that my rear-view mirrors hit the trees on both sides as i drove.
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On the "road" of beach sand, just after dark the Rav got stuck on its belly. We tried digging it out to no avail.
(unfortunately we were all too high on adrenalin to think about taking pics)
Fortunately there was an opening where the Rav got stuck.
Time for the Lux to step in!
I tried pulling it out forward but that didnt work as it was an incline and all 4 wheels just spun.
I had to drive thru the trees on the side to get behind the Rav and pull it out from behind.

By now we had been travelling for around 15 hours and were exhausted.
Got to the lodge about 40 minutes later.

Well that was Day 1....

Day 2
we got to check out the place.
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Found a guy selling huge river crabs and got the local restaurant to cook them up for us.
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Oh wait, before that, we tried to buy bread. But there isn't any normal bread.
Bought 6 loaves from a lady standing on the road with a sack of bread. It was hard and you could use it to defend yourself.
However is tasted Great!

We did some fishing but the water was like chocolate milkshake. Only caught some sort of bream.

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That night we had a braai at the estuary. On the way back i asked someone to take over and opted to walk back to the lodge.
Well then everyone else wanted in and we couldnt get a driver to take the vehicles back!
It was SOO beautiful. SO many stars! So quiet!

The vehicles didnt go far before they stopped on the middle of the road and got out some beverages.
We ended up sitting there for a few hours talking shyte (in the middle of the road).
there wasnt a single vehicle anywhere

Day 3Since the ferry was back we decided to visit Maputo and the fish market. It was 42 degrees outside!!!!
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The 2 vehicles got seperate in traffic and the Rav stopped to wait for us.
On a straight road with a verge the size of another lane, they stopped under a mango tree.
2 cops with AK47s fined them saying that they were stopped on a dangerous bend and had not put their hazards on.

After paying a "fine" (R200)we were off again but ot for long. Everyone's mood was spoilt after that + with the extreme heat the
we were suffering
So we made a turn back to the lodge. This time i got stopped.
Me being the hero i am had left the vehicle papers at the lodge coz its safer. The cop then "fined" me (R100) for not having those on me.

So we just visited a local market close to us.
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Also visited some beaches:
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Day 4 We left for home. There was a queue about 300m long for the ferry!
Stopped at a place in Maputo called "Costa Do Sol" for lunch. Food was not too good.
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We found the fish market but didnt buy anything coz it was working out to the same price as we would pay back in SA.
R100/Kg prawns!! Think prices went up coz it was holiday season.

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All in all it was an EXCELLENT trip! Real bonding time with the sons and dads.
The ballies still cant stop talking about it!!

The local resident Lux:
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by OOOOMS »

Cool bananas :!: Sorry about the fine.....that's what peeeees me of about the place....


Nice pics indeed!
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Re: Considering a trip to Moz. Advice pls

Post by kfxnando »

As for the Koai bay border post being laid back

my Ford Courrier papersd were not 100%
engine number did not match, as I had fitted the 3.4
had paid someone to sort it out, and they screwed it up
went throught and back and they did not even check, would not do it again

as for the silly fines, that is one of the things that puts me off, although we do have future plans for a trip to Moz

great pics and storry
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