From 4WD to Chapa to Truck: The Long Journey from Pemba to Ilha de Moçambique

After finding out that it is possible to get from Pemba to Mozambique Island in one day (I originally thought I would have top stay a night in Nampula), I opted to stay another day in Pemba. For the past couple of days I hadn't stayed in one place for more than one night, so I decided to take a breather from the constant packing and moving and take a day off.

When I first flew from Maputo to Pemba I had discounted the city because there wasn't much to do. To be honest there isn't much to do at all in Pemba (but in comparison to Ibo Island there is plenty ...), so I decided to spend the day checking out the city, and seeing what a 'city' in northern Mozambique actually is. It also helps that I was feeling very comfortable at my accomodation in Pemba, 'Pemba Magic Lodge', or also known as Russell's Place, Russell being a very friendly Australian. I had the dorm room to my self for two nights (perks of it being low season), there are proper showers (although there is only cold water, but it's so hot it doesn't matter), flushing toilets, WiFi (!) and I've been able to get my laundry done. All very good things in my books. (Also all the employees speak English which has been nice after struggling with Portuguese for the past few days).

Pemba Magic Lodge is located about 8km from the city center, so Russell drove me into town (in his Toyota Landcruiser) on his way to do a few tasks. He told me a bit about Pemba. In the years prior there seemed to be a lot of investment because of coal and other stuff in the ground/other natural resources (to be honest I don't really know what), but this all was in the past, as construction or development has otherwise been paused or stopped. There are buildings that have been partially built and stopped midway, or have been completed but are otherwise deserted. There isn't even a supermarket in the town (just local markets and shops), although there is a ShopRite complex in the process of being built.

I wandered around the town for a while, though it wasn't anything too exciting, before walking along the beach back to my accomodation, a good 8/9km. It was hot, I was sweaty, but I hadn't done that much walking in the past few days so it felt good to do a bit of exercise. On the way back I stopped by a restaurant/hotel that was serving Indian food so I had a bit of lunch. A man at the table next to me started talking to me and asked where I was headed next. He said he and his wife are headed to Nampula tomorrow, their home, and they could take me to a town part of the way where I could then catch a chapa to Mozambique Island. They would leave at 9am, which would beat waking up at 3:30am to catch a bus. The buses from Pemba don't go direct to Mozambique Island anyhow so I would need to transfer somewhere anyways. I gladly accepted the offer and the next morning I met them and travelled with them as far as Namialo.

Roadside villages in Northern Mozambique

The trip to Namialo took close to 4 hours and was a smooth journey, except of course for the poor condition of the roads. In the Cabo Delgado district where Pemba is situated, the roads were shocking, with pot holes everywhere. We were constantly jumping up and down and I was glad I wasn't doing the journey in a bus. Once we crossed the river into the Nampula district the roads got better instantly, there were two lanes and even lines painted on the roads! From there it was smooth sailing until we reach Namialo at 1pm. The couple were very friendly and helped me get a chapa heading to Mozambique Island and I said goodbye, hoping to meet them again when I head to Nampula on Friday.

The river separating the Cabo Delgado district and the Nampula district 

From there my trip went downhill. From Namialo to Mozambique Island it is 90km, so I was thinking perhaps a 2 hour trip on the chapa. I was very wrong. This was my first time being placed in the back of a chapa. We waited around 30 minutes filling up the bus, and they just kept putting more and more people on. It got to the point where we had 25 other people, plus the driver, plus the drivers assistant, inside the chapa. It was ridiculous. I could even see some of the other passengers begin to complain about how many people were inside, and then I knew it must be bad.

We drove for about 40minutes, dropping people off and collecting more people (people in the back had to climb out the window to get out of the bus), before we stopped next to a pick-up truck and all of us headed to Mozambique Island had to switch. At first I thought this was fine, there weren't many people, I got to stretch my legs, this might not be a bad trip. But then they started loading people on. And more people. And more people. And we continued to stop every time someone needed a ride. I was sat down and squished, my backpack in my lap and my foot falling asleep. At one point there was someone with several lengths of wood, so everyone had to get off the back of the truck while they loaded the wood on. It took up all the space in the tray of the truck (not even an exaggeration), so I had to sit on a plank of wood, somehow squeeze my feet in, and hang on for most of the trip. The trip cost 100 meticais ($1.85aud), five hours of my time, and a lot of my patience.

I was so happy when we finally reached the bridge for Mozambique Island. From there I had to transfer to another truck to travel the 3km to the island (for only 5 meticais). Mozambique Island was the former capital of Mozambique before it was moved to Maputo, and as such there is a very nice bridge connecting the island to the mainland. We had finally reached Mozambique Island.

And then I had to figure how to get to Ruby Backpackers, where I planned on staying for the night.

Ruby Backpackers didn't have an address online, and I had been searching on my phone for something to show someone so they could direct me, but I wasn't coming up with anything. We were driving around the island and I was getting a bit stressed. One of the guys who had been on the chapa/truck all the way from Namialo took pity on me though, and helped me find my way. He didn't know where it was either, not being from the island, but he spoke Portuguese and he was able to lead me there by asking around. I was very lucky to have someone who spoke English and was willing to help me.

I finally made it to Ruby Backpacker's at 5pm. It was still light so I took a quick stroll around the area, looked at the beach and watched the sunset. I'm planning on spending two days here before i head to Nampula on Friday, and then take train to Cuamba on Saturday, before crossing the border to Malawi on Sunday.