Cruisers deliver Voetspore team safely back in SA after epic journey

The Masters of Africa have done it again. Three tough Land Cruiser 70’s helped deliver the Voetspore team, headed by intrepid Africa traveler Johan Badenhorst, safely in South Africa after an epic journey of more than 23 000 km through West Africa.  read more »

• Toyota's blog
• 1 comment

Tony's

Tony’s

Run by the eccentric and hospitable Tony, this little coffee shop has become famous in the Bvumba region with most travellers finding the time to come and enjoy one of his speciality coffees and homemade cakes, not to mention the fifty or so different teas!

His little house was immaculately cared for and exquisite in its details - from the carefully crafted gardens, to the from the tiny wooden houses that served as garden lights, to the rich and inviting interior that wouldn't have been out of place in 17th century France.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

Ndundu Lodge

We soon found our way to a charming little country lodge called Ndundu Lodge, tucked away in the Eastern Highland mountains.

Run by a Belgian couple, with terraced gardens, huge fireplace and a distinct log cabin feel, we could well have been in the middle of Europe, with only the lodge’s name (and numerous helpers) to remind us that we were in fact still in Africa.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

The Eastern Highlands

With time to spare, on arriving in Bvumba, we thought we’d do a bit of exploring before finding a place to set up camp for the night.

Our first stop was the beautiful Leopard Rock Hotel. Standing majestically below Chinyakwaremba (Leopard Rock) this magnificent hotel was originally modelled on a classic French chateau.

The hotel was built of stone by Italian prisoners of war during World War II. It was later destroyed during the Second Chimurenga in 1978 but has since been superbly renovated.

Driving onto the hotel grounds was like stepping onto a different continent.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

Crossing into Zimbabwe

Although sad to be leaving Mozambique, we were excited to be heading somewhere new and we set off with great anticipation after packing up and saying our goodbyes.

The drive itself was very gentle and soon arrived at Chimoio and began looking for a place to spend the night.

We eventually found a rather sweet little place on the Chicamba Real Dam where we settled in around a roaring fire for a braai and a well deserved beer.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

Sun City 400 preview 2009 - Castrol Toyota team

Toyota, on their campaign on the recent Toyota 1000 Desert Race in Botswana, won just about every battle but lost the war.

Eight of the 11 Production Vehicle finishers were Toyota models, there were two class wins for the fourth time this season and winning the manufacturer’s award helped put Toyota in the lead in the prestige South African Manufacturer’s Championship. The only thing missing was the overall win and Toyota will be aiming to redress that situation on the Sun City 400 on July 24 and 25.  read more »

• Toyota's blog
• Add new comment

Vilankulos - Magaruque Island

We decided to make use of a professionally run outfit called Sailaway Dhow Safaris for our day trip to the island. They’re slightly more expensive then some of the private enterprises, but are definitely worth the extra.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

Vilankulos - Part 2

The beaches at Vilankulos were fairly disappointing as they were littered with mountains of discarded sand oyster shells, the decaying remains of which left a very distinct and unpleasant odour in the air. Over the years these huge mounds of sand oyster shells have been ground up and walked into the sand, making it extremely granular and coarse to walk on.

That said, it’s not really the beaches that one comes to Vilankulos for, it’s the islands which more then make up for it.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

Vilankulos - Part 1

Once back onto the main road from Pomene, the drive to Vilankulos went well, although we did find large tracks of the EN1 were badly pot holed and in desperate need of repair.

Further on however we reached a two hundred or so kilometre stretch that was in excellent condition (possibly the best stretch of road in all of Mozambique) and we soon settled into our eighty kilometre per hour preferred speed (our previous average in Moz being around forty or fifty) and sped on towards to our destination.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment

The Old Pomene Hotel

Unfortunately all too soon it was time for us to pack it up again and head further north to Vilankulos.

As we were leaving, however, we decided to stop in at the the Old Pomene Hotel on our way out to explore the ruins that were left.

Build in 1968 by a conglomerate of Portuguese and South African businessmen, the Old Pomene Hotel must have been quite something in its heyday.  read more »

• Dave's blog
• Add new comment