The next morning we walked down the beach to the next lodge, Guinjata Bay with our new found four legged friend (whose owner had yet to be identified). He proceeded in thoroughly embarrassing us by trying to eat some of the locals whilst paying no heed to our frantic shouting and cries to desist. He was then chased away by another dog, this time in the very scary form of a five week old puppy, around a quarter of his size. Foolish dog.

Guinjata Bay is another massive holiday resort and we found them in preparation for a deep sea fishing competition that they were hosting a week or so later. What struck us at the time was the fact that the lodge must be really busy in season – so much so that they required a parking lot for all of their guest’s fishing boats. Some had permanent shelters, whilst others where out in the open, with demarcated parking spots.

As our time at Paindane drew to a close we nipped back to the bank to cash in a few more dollars as we needed to re-supply before heading to Morrungulu. After waiting in the long, hot and rather unpleasant queue to be served, I was then told that unfortunately it was not possible to cash more of our traveller’s cheques. This was because it was the bank’s policy to limit any holiday maker to one such transaction (this would have been useful information to have been told when we first came to change money). As no other bank in Inhambane dealt with Amex, the teller suggested that perhaps I try cashing them at their main branch in Maputo, some 480 kilometres away!

Frustrated and mumbling obscenities all the way back to the car we then started to count together our pennies in the hope that we had enough money to pay for our accommodation and enough fuel to get us to our next port of call.

Thankfully we did, but had very little to spare. With that in mind we spoke again to the owners and discovered that the Standard Bank in Maxixe would probably be able to help us and since this was en route we decided to stop there the next day. Of course as it turned out they couldn’t in fact help us as I needed to have an account with them before they could change any money. Luckily we did find another Banco Austral and two days later, with our wallets bulging we were able to continue with our holiday. What a grand waste of time.