Trip Report # 14 (2 July 2009) : The farce named Route 242

We found on several occasions that Mozambiquan roads, boldly indicated in solid lines (tar) and numbered on every map/resource available to us, simply exist in the imagination of MapStudio et al.  Some inside info. The mapped route between Marrupa and Montepuez in the North of Mozambique does not in fact exist.  The erosion trench masquerading as a road between these two towns follows a completely different track and seems to change with every successive rain season.  Indeed, fixing the apparent road is definitely more expensive than building a new one.

No worries about exceeding the National speed limit of 80km/h here (not surprisingly however no police stops as we have grown to expect on the most obscure roads) as we averaged around 22km/h negotiating ditches, trenches, sand, swamps and tree stump bridges.

Imagine therefore our astonishment when we found neat, stark white road markers indicating distances to nearby towns and villages along the ‘sidewalk’ as though this was actually considered a road by authorities? 

It took us 7 hours to cover the stretch from our makeshift road side camp to Montepuez: roughly 160km (Av = 22km/h).  I imagine a tourist brochure for the area reading like a property add: ‘An off road enthusiast’s (ala renovator’s) dream’. 

We passed two Pietermaritzburg boys (South African clearly do not get the concept of REALY bad roads) doing the reverse of our route. We shared with them the secret of the ‘Sunset Spot’ and they shared with us information about Brenda’s Dive and Bush Camp in Pemba.  The light at the end of the tunnel for this day :-)

M-L