Roger and I said goodbye to mom and dad, spent the night in Jo’burg and then hopped on yet another plane, this time to Mozambique. After much confusion – including the airline not being able to find our names in Jo’burg, and us not being able to figure out whether we were supposed to take a boat or a plane from the mainland to the island – we saw someone we recognized: the pilot who had flown us to Londolozi airstrip, a week or two earlier! We were in a different country, flying a different airline, but he was our pilot again! We figured out that we were flying to Benguerra Island and off we went. I kid you not – 5 minutes later, we landed on Benguerra Island and were driven to Marlin Lodge, one of only two lodge son the island.
the "airstrip":
Mozambique was very beautiful. The people were extremely nice and the food was wonderful. However, I am sorry to say that the accommodations just did not compare to The Palms on Zanzibar. I’m afraid The Palms ruined us for any other beachfront lodge.
the lodge:
Nevertheless, we had a very nice, relaxing time. We dove, took naps, lounged by the pool, walked on the beach – did everything you would want to do on a remote island in the middle of nowhere.
the view from our hut:
the view of our hut, from the beach:
On our last night there, the staff wanted to give us a surprise, so they set up a "Mozambican hot tub" on our patio – basically, a large metal tub and a medium metal tub (like you would wash your clothes in, or perhaps a small dog), filled with bubble bath and strewn with flowers. It was such a sweet gesture, but there was no way Roger could fit in the tub. We splashed around a bit but quickly gave up and took a shower.
the Mozambian hot tub:
I think the hot tub exemplifies Marlin Lodge, Benguerra Island and Mozambique in general: they are somewhat new to the tourist industry, they are trying hard and their heart is in the right place, but they have not quite gotten it right. If I had never been to The Palms on Zanzibar, perhaps I would not have been disappointed, but we had such a perfect, amazing time at The Palms, in every way (accommodations, view, activities, food, people, etc., etc.). Marlin Lodge just fell short.
Anyhow, we hopped on yet another plane (with the same pilot again), and flew from Benguerra Island to Jo’burg, then on to London, where we spent a day and the caught our final flight home.
In all, we were in 5 different countries (the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique), we were on 14 different planes, we went through customs/immigration 10 separate times, we stayed 8 different places, and we passed through 11 time zones.
Was it worth it? Yes!!!
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