Journey to Africa

The town of Nacala, in the northern region, has beautiful beaches. The photos just below were taken at one of these, Fernão Veloso, a few kilometres away from town. This beach is set on a large bay with calm, clear waters. Here, local people catch tuna and other smaller fish with their nets, and my brother-in-law Manuel usually obtains many of the sea-shells he collects. For my nephews, as you can guess by the photos, the beach was sheer fun.

A proud uncle with his nephews: Sérgio, Mónica and little Joana.

Sérgio, showing off his biceps!

My nephews are great! They're handsome and clever (just like their uncle, modesty aside...). They get along with each other well, apart from small quarrels for the car seat by the window, or for the best seat to watch TV.

Mónica, with two teeth missing.

Joana with "Dona" Etelvina, mother of Manuel.

Joana in a typically african pose, with the housemaid Deolinda (in the south, at Namaacha).

I also enjoyed the beach quite a lot. Besides playing with my nephews, I could also go along with Manuel on some boat rides and scuba diving.
We were set to take quite a few scuba dives, but I ended up taking only two, and Manuel only a few more, because of some incidents:

The boat Manuel bought was used. We had to replace electrical cables, which led to some burnt fingers and burnt wiring, for more than once.

The compressor's engine received inadequate fuel. It wasn't easy for us to find that out and "suck" the gasoline out of the tank (I swallowed almost nothing, just enough to make me burp of gasoline for a whole day).

The weather was often too cloudy to have good underwater visibility.

Manuel had diarrhoea.

I had eyes like dead fish (with a crescent of blood underlining each eyeball), after a simple skin dive to about seven metres deep. I think that what did it wasn't positive pressure, but negative pressure, when I surfaced and pulled off the mask too briskly.

Of the two dives I took, the first one didn't go so well. I wasn't managing to compensate the water pressure on my ears and I wasn't carrying enough lead on my belt, which forced me to constantly use my arms to keep a constant depth. The second one was taken on hesitantly, because I had already gotten my eyeballs injected with blood, by then. But it went better: I spent about 20 minutes underwater, between 15 and 20 metres, and I could enjoy the view, although visibility was much worse than on my first attempt.

My sister Fátima with her husband Manuel.

Sea stars seen on a boat ride through the bay of Fernão Veloso.

    I wanted to visit Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, to get to see what the country looks like outside the touristic spots, but my plans went down the drain (not only the plans), on account of a diarrhoea that kept me no more than 2 minutes away from a toilet, for a day and a half. It passed, but as a matter of precaution I avoided longer journeys and tried to make the best of what there was nearby.

The second highest bungy jump, with  111 m (That's not me on the photo, but if you want to see me...)!

The Big Tree, a baobab 20 m high and 16 m in perimeter.

    I wasn't really afraid of taking the jump... Things only got scarier halfway down the fall, when you really gain speed and the feeling get less familiar. Until then, if you're not afraid of heights, it's not very different from jumping into a swimming pool from a board five metres high. The difference about bungy jump is that it's almost impossible (for you) to fool up, whereas in the swimming pool, if you don't jump properly, it can really hurt!
    When taking a bungy jump, as  you're pulled up by the elastic rope, you feel the blood rushing to your face, but no more than that. The first few pull-ups are also fun, and they last long enough for the jumper to be able to bend over and look up, wave, etc. When you start falling again, you get more confident and you can play Superman... But after two or three rebounds the excitement wears off and you just get fed up of hanging by your feet. Then a helper descended by a line and gets you ready to be hoisted up..

    Victoria Falls is close to the border with Zambia, Namibia and Botswana. Some 100 km into Botswana is the Chobe National Park. I went on a guided tour to the park, and I found it was quite rich in wildlife. In the morning we took a jeep ride (we saw elephants, monkeys, kudus, warthogs, etc.) and in the afternoon we went for a boat ride on Chobe river (we saw some more elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and more birds...)

Herd of Elephants

Elephant just finishing relieving himself...

Group of impalas by the road Struggling hipos

The photo of the elephant above was good, but even so I failed to register the funniest moment (for those watching, anyway), when the creature decided to go back into the forest and had to pass over a tree fallen across the path. The fore legs went over easily, and so did one of the hind legs, but then the poor guy got stuck... He had no alternative but to drag himself sloooowly over the trunk (an elephant's skin may be thick, but still!) until he got it all across to the other side!  Crocodile taking a tan.

    Whoever has the opportunity to travel to these places should do it. I wasn't very lucky with the weather, but even so it was well worth it. I hope you enjoyed the photos!

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This page was created on 20 January 2000 by Paulo Tavares. There were  visits to this page since April 26, 2000.