Mozambique: Maputo here we come!

By Peter van Noord

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Ponta do Ouro is protected from the Indian Ocean by a headland, so the sea is very calm here.

Sometimes all you need is a short break that's not too pricey. A package tour to Maputo could be just what you're looking for.

Pack and go!
We didn’t have any holiday plans, never mind going to Maputo. You know: Too few leave days, too little money, no time to plan… Then, paging through a newspaper travel supplement, I saw a special offer on a flight from Johannesburg to the capital of Mozambique and three nights’ accommodation at the Polana Hotel. Five stars, designed by Sir Herbert Baker. Breakfast included, as well as a seafood buffet and entertainment on two evenings. Plus a half-day tour of the city’s main attractions. And, to tempt food lovers, you could join the chef on a trip to the market to buy fresh fish. All of this at a price we could afford.

A dream come true.
Ever since I was a child, when it was still called Lourenço Marques, I’d dreamt of seeing this place. LM… a lively, old-time harbour city on the east coast of Africa where the warm water of the Indian Ocean laps at white beaches. A tropical paradise where fish are plentiful and fruit abundant, where people smothered in Coppertone lounge under palm trees, thinking of the huge prawns they’ll have
for dinner and the night clubs where they’ll dance to the beat of salsa music until sunrise. A place where the streets with their beautiful old Victorian, Art Deco and Moorish buildings never sleep, a bit of Latin America in Africa. I just had to go.
 
We're here!
En route from the airport the city flashed past us: large billboards, mostly advertising cellphones and cooldrinks; rows of informal businesses such as fruit stalls, barbers and spaza shops on the pavements; braai drums with meat sizzling on the grill. In Julius Nyerere Avenue, a stone’s throw from the Polana Hotel, we drove past the house of former president Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel – on our way to have lunch at Costa do Sol, known for its prawns and calamari.

Food, glorious food.
In the morning we were at the city’s big seafood market, a memorable experience. We were part of a crowd of people looking for something for the pot on tables heaped with everything imaginable from the sea. Outside, people sat under umbrellas,waiting while street chefs cooked their purchases for them. The Polana’s chef showed us where the fish for the evening’s buffet table came from. He warned us to be alert, because sometimes nasty surprises lurked under a single
layer of beautiful prawns… At Costa do Sol we were welcomed by the sound of a beer being cracked open. I sat staring out over the sea and thinking back on what we’d seen the past two days.

Meandering through the streets.
On an early-morning walk, we saw beautiful mosaicked houses, somewhat neglected; the recently refurbished train station designed by Gustav Eiffel – yes, he of the tower in Paris; the enormous Independence Square, where thousands of people happened to gather; the Central Market, where you get not only seafood but also anything else you can think of; and a memorial garden dedicated to Voortrekker Louis Trichardt locked, and seemingly forgotten. In the streets we met people who make a living selling peanuts by the aerosol can lid; at the Polana, smiling men and women in spanking white uniforms ensured we didn’t want for anything. Maputo. Not what I had imagined when I was young, but still a fascinating place.
 

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Published 1 January 2010

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