Detour

Although the original plan didnt take in Mozambique until after Zambia we decided to press up the coast to Mozambique and started the malarial tablets a couple of days ago accordingly. We reformed the plan to go up the coast to cross at Kosi Bay and re-enter South Africa at the transfrontier border between the Mozambique Limpopo National Park and Kruger. At both the Lesotho border crossings formalities were perfunctory on both sides, but Mozambique has more requirements and are officials are reputed to be somewhat capricious about whether you meet them or not. In preparation we had purchased another emergency triangle, some Mozambique triangle stickers, some additional reflectors and had copies of drivers licences, passports and other necessary documentation certified.

We drove about an hour further up the coast to the border crossing at Kosi Bay. Sunday morning, there was only one other person in front of us in the queue although when I enquired after his wellbeing the official grumbled that he was too busy. He stamped our passports out of South Africa with barely a second glance, but it turned out we couldnt take the Landy through that border to Mozambique! We would have to drive another 700 odd kilometers around Swaziland and use the Lembombo border right at the southeastern border of Kruger National Park! After a bit of explanation, the grumpy official stamped us back IN to South Africa and we started on a mission up to the other border. We thought if we couldnt make it to Maputo before dark, we'd stop in the Krueger for the night before continuing. That was before we came across a solid 95 km stretch of single lane only roadworks which delayed us by several hours... We've ended up taking a detour to camp at a farm still several hours drive from the border. We're back 1600 meters above sea level again and its freezing.