We left home for Pomene at 05H00 in the morning on Sunday the 29th of July. Packing the car had taken quite a bit of time and effort the night before. I was proudly showing off these packing accomplishments on the morning of our departure when Sean lobbed a couple of extra packets my way, “Do you have room for these?….. They are chips so they can’t be squashed”. Crimony! With some not so subtle adjustments to the packing job done the convoy was on its’ way.
Our drive up was a pleasant one. It took us all of three days to get there, a grand total of 2,500km. We spent the first night in Bethlehem which is 1,260km from Cape Town. From Bethlehem we headed for Volksrust and then Piet Retief. The Swaziland border post, Emahlathini, is about 25km from Piet Retief. It’s then another 175km drive through Swaziland to the Goba border post. Both borders were very quite and we were through each of them within 20 minutes.
Maputo is a further 81km from the Goba border. We were doing well for time but the Maputo rush hour traffic, we hit at 16H00, put an end to that. We eventually reached the Blue Anchor Inn about an hour after dark. Run by Saffa expats it is a lovely but slightly pricey place to stop.
The last leg of the journey is only 564km but takes the whole day. The last 60km taking the best part of 3 hours. This was the part of the journey that I was slightly apprehensive about. I had never taken the X-Trail through soft sand and I was worried that a 4×2 wouldn’t handle it. On the whole the car handled fine in the soft sand and we only got stuck once, 250m from the camp because I took a wrong turn. Sean’s Landy popped me out on the third try no worries.
So after 3 days of driving we 
had arrived at the Pomene Beach lodge. The boys and Ali were brilliant the whole journey. We had zero melt downs which made a potentially stressful experience a pleasure.
The Casa Rei “Lodge” is a reed beach dwelling built on a sand spit between two estuary inlets. It has three bedrooms, a dinning area, lounge, shower with toilet and a small kitchen. The “shack” has fresh running water supplied by an elevated day tank. Hot water is supplied by a “donk”. A “donk” is a steel tank filled with water it has a fire underneath which is then plumbed into the “hut”. Casa Rei has everything you need and is very comfortable but I still wouldn’t call it a lodge.
Our days in Mozambique were filled with typical beach holiday activities. Warrick learned how to use a fishing rod and lure. He unfortunately didn’t catch anything but had a wonderful time spinning. Dylan also had a go but needed some help casting. The estuary is calm and safe making it a great place to swim and paddle round on surf boards. Warrick and Paige took to SUPping where as and Dylan and Jack preferred to paddle their surfboards around.
Pomene has tonnes of beautiful shells and is also home to the Pansie. Sean found a couple of pansie shells the size of tea saucers. Most of our shells survived the trip home and I have promised to set a few in resin for the boys. You can never have enough fridge magnets.
Vehicles are not really 
allowed on the beach in Mozambique. It is however something that is way too tempting to pass up. The Landy became the go to vehicle when we went scouting for waves and beach action. We must have driven more than 60km on the beach over the nine days that we were there. We found a nice little surf break, beach and river mouth we could snorkel in a little way up the beach. Driving 5,000km in a “shorty” must have had its’ moments but being able to access the beach by car would have made it all worth while.
We took practically all of our food with us. We bought a few extra things like beer and other staples in Massinga. Having a “Doshem” (2M, beer) 
became a tradition around the braai each night and we did practically braai each night. Ali and Sonja got the hang of the gas oven and even managed to bake some cup cakes for Dylan’s 4th birthday. He was quite happy with a cup cake for his cake and matches for candles.
Malaria was a concern before we left but I didn’t even see a mozzi the entire trip. The boys did get a few bites though and we were never going to take any chances with Malaria. One of the house guests a couple of shacks away actually contracted malaria but they were able to treat him with medication they brought along. Unfortunately myself and the boys did suffer from a few of the drug’s side effects slightly.
9 days whizzed passed and it was time to head home before we knew it. Our trip back home was relatively uneventful. We only had to bribe one Mozambican traffic official who was trying to fine us the equivalent of R2,800. One pocket knife and R300 seemed to smoothing things over sufficiently.
Thanks to Sean, Sonja, Paige and Jack for a fantastic holiday and memories that we shall cherish for ever.
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