LynnieD

An old friend and I have decided to visit her daughter who is serving in the Peace Corps in Mozambique in August. We cannot postpone as her commitment is up in December 08 and this is the only time we can go.

I will lean heavily on you Fodorite pros for info, as I've never even thought of going to Africa before this.

We will take 2-3 weeks for this trip. I understand we need to fly to Johannasburg and then take a bus to Mozambique. Bus no problem, the kid will work out that for us.

Here are my first questions:

What airline can get us there easiest. We will leave from LAX. I have AMEX miles and will want to use them if at all possible.

Shall we plan to stay in Johannasburg for a few days? What is there to do in this area? What about Mozambique. She is in a really, really remote area, accessable by canoe, so I think we will stay with her no longer than 5 days. What other countries are easily attainable from Mozambique.

Sorry for the broad nature of my query, but I need to start somewhere.

Thanks, Lynnie

leopardprintpants

I haven't yet been to Mozambique, but for some reason I really want to go and so have been doing some reading and bookmarking websites.

If you have 2-3 weeks for just Moz, you could considering making your way up the coast from the south to the north and then fly out via Pemba to Dar es Salem.

Here are a few websites for places in Northern Mozambique, which I was attracted to because of the great diving and interesting history of Ibo Island and Ilha Mozambique...

www.mozguide.com
www.kaskazini.com/
www.mozambiqueguesthouse.com
www.guludo.com

About the bus....some friends of mine were working in Bostwana last year and took the bus from SA to Maputo... I have attached their website with description of the trip, particularly the hassle at the border crossing:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Moz...og-165457.html

luangwablondes

Isn't TAP Air Portugal a member of the AMEX program. If so, you can fly into Maputo and avoid taking a bus or something like Pelican Air.

LynnieD

Thanks for the info.

So far, our tentative plan is to fly LAX to Cape Town, spend about 5 days there (hoping to stay with friends of my friend), travel by plane to Maputo, where we will be met by DF's daughter (Peace Corps Girl). We will stay in Mozambique in various places, including PCG's place which is accessable by canoe.

From there, we may go to Malawi for a few days, then maybe to Cairo. Is there a way to get from Maputo or Malawi to Cairo expediently?

Does this seem overly agressive for 3 weeks? PCG tells us that travel is very slow, and alot of times we will be travelling by bus/van and the going is slow. She will be with us and speaks Portugese and is quite familiar with crossing all of these borders.

I also wonder if Visa's are required from country to country.

One last questions, are hotels/meals expensive? I think we would like to stay in moderate-good places.

Thanks, I am going to buy a book today.

Lynnie

cruisinred

I did some research on combining Mozambique, with Lake Malawi. One interesting place to stay is http://www.mandawilderness.org/
which is on the Mozambique side of Lake Malawi. To get there, you fly from Maputo to Lichinga (on LAM, mozambique airline), and the lodge picks you up....then to Lilongwe via a charter. From Lilongwe, you can connect with Kenyan or Ethiopian Air to Cairo.

LynnieD

Thanks crusinred. It looks lovely. Any idea about pricing?

cruisinred

Hi Lynn-

When I emailed Manda Nkwichi 2 yrs ago the rate was $190 per person per night...I'd guess it would be a bit more now. The charter flight from the lodge back to Lilongwe was quoted as $600.
Hope this helps.
Sounds like you have a great trip in store.