Cóbuè to Ilha de Moçambique, Mozambique 26 - 28 Mar 08

Crumbling relic of past glory

We flew over scattered clouds until Nampula where we got into some light rain before landing. After refuelling, we were told that due to the visit of the Portuguese president to Ilha de Moçambique, the Mozambican military Hercules taking him there was blocking the only useable runway in Lumbo until 5 p.m., so we would have to wait. It was lunchtime so we installed ourselves for a few hours in the airport canteen. We ate ham and cheese toasted sandwiches, plugged in the computer and worked on our web pages while enjoying the view of palm trees and granite inselbergs. Meanwhile, airport staff laid out a red carpet in front of the Portuguese president’s jet with potted plants on either side in readiness for his arrival and transfer from the Hercules to the jet. We went back to the airport office at about 4 p.m. to pay the landing fee before our intended departure at 4:50 p.m. and were told that the Portuguese president’s plane had left Lumbo early. Had they advised us before, we could have taken off about an hour earlier. As it was, by the time we were ready to depart, the president’s plane was about to land, so we had to wait for it to leave the runway before we were finally cleared for take-off. The president must have been received with a lot of pomp and ceremony for his brief stop of about 20 minutes. Local dignitaries had come out to greet him, together with a band of musicians and dancers. We didn’t see him step out of the plane, though, as we were already being cleared for take-off.
We flew 1000 ft above ground level with granite hills called inselbergs sticking up above the terrain rather like Ayers Rock in Australia, except the countryside was green and there were pretty rainbows thanks to isolated rain showers. Thanks to the Portuguese president, we only just landed shortly before sunset (VFR 0:40). We were greeted upon arrival by lots of curious children. Our hotel, the French-owned 'O Escondidinho' sent a car to drive us over the bridge to Ilha de Moçambique, the first Portuguese capital in the country. The hotel was in a beautifully restored colonial house. We rounded off the day with an excellent meal and a good bottle of white wine.