It was a long first day of driving until we reached the Royal Swaziland National Park, when we arrived the sun was setting and we all huddled happily around a massive camp fire for our first dinner and meeting and greeting!

Swaziland is so majestic, so rustic and so beautiful! We did a few games drives and also a short walk. The waterhole which is very close to the campsites and rondavels is nice and big with wonderful viewing for everyone. We had the luck of seeing 3 big Rhino’s at the waterhole on the second day we where there.

The next morning heading out finally the much awaited Mozambique border makes everyone over excited and very happy! On crossing the border the weather did not hold up and it was cloudy with bits of rain, but that did not put any of us off from the stunning drive on route to Tofo.

Tofo is a beautiful camp with stunning little chalets dotted very close the ocean. The beach is magnificent for walking and the bar is good for relaxing. There are many activities here on offer; sadly as the weather was very stormy for our 2 nights at Bamboozi we were not able to do any ocean activities missing an opportunity to see the wonderful whale sharks.

Our trip to Vilanculo’s was a beautiful drive and you get to see so many cultures along the way and how they live. It is very interesting and just in general how neat everything is! Here we will overnight and wait for the long awaited trip to the islands!

We headed out early on a very hot and beautiful clear morning to get all our gear from Sailaway Dhow excursions, and from there we head straight out to Magaruque. WOW, is hardly a word to use to describe the raw and untouched beauty of this excursion. I have never before been so exited, in awe and in total peace all at the same time. We spent the whole day on this island; I actually managed to walk round the whole island in 1 hour and 15 minutes! Now that gives you a small idea of what an amazing island it really is. The rest of the day you are free to snorkel, swim or just lie in the sun.

It is very hot out on the islands, and don’t be fooled by thinking you have enough sunscreen on, especially not going into the sun very often it sure is a very different climate, do take care :)

That night the campers set themselves up at their campsite while us lodgers got dropped off at a place called Villa do Indico, which could not at that time bring any words to my mind, stunning! Just stunning! We go to spend the night here eating, drinking being festive and waiting for our next day out on the islands.

Setting out to Bazaruto was nice; we got dropped off and then climbed the massive dune to get a view of everything that is around you. When you are right on top of the dune you can see Paradise Island very faintly in the distance, which in my case is very sad, I wish it was closer ;) After the dune climb we set off again out to 2 mile reef for some good snorkelling. This is very daunting when you have to cruise through the swell on the dhow until you reach the reef, we had some very happy and some very white faces. None the less once we reached the reef everyone was too happy to jump overboard and go for a snorkel. I only managed to see small fish and coral, unfortunately I did not see any mantas or turtles or anything that was on the top of my list. I guess sometimes you are lucky and other times you are not.

Mozambique as a whole is incredible, clean, beautiful exciting, limitless and acceptable! The people are amazing the culture is amazing and everyone should have this experience at least once in their life!

After Mozambique we headed off to Kruger National Park where we were very lucky to have seen the big 5 before 11:00am that Friday morning we set out for our first big drive. Incredible! And thank you to everyone who stayed so positive! As a South African this was also my first time I have seen a leopard in the wild, I was not so lucky before.

Heading back home along the panorama route, we are left quiet and in our own thoughts remembering our time on the island and if we could all just turn around and go back…

This is honestly and truly a wonderful tour fit for any ages, you also have another opportunity to see whale sharks in Inhambane as an activity if you did not see them the first time in Tofo, and just the different and diverse cultures and experiences you have to take advantage of in this tour is fantastic!

Africa awaits….