Mozambique: September 2004

September 2004

Mozambique - an African dream

In a rented bushcamper we travelled from Johannesburg via Swaziland and Kosi Bay to Punta de Ouro, where we crossed the border to Mozambique.

Land and population: The current largely peaceful stability, which has been in place for the past ten years, had followed upon a twenty-year civil war. Much of the African joy of life and some of the original Portuguese charm has resisted the ravages of war. The formerly flourishing economy of the country has broken down. According to the UN statistics, Mozambique is one of the poorest countries of the world.

Portuguese is only taught as second language in school, mother tongue is one of the 13 languages spoken in Mozambique. The majority of the population works in agriculture - either as self-sufficient farmers or as hired labourer on a plantation.

The scars left behind by the civil war have not yet entirely healed. Large areas are considered unsafe due to millions of mines still buried in the ground. The estimates as to the explosives in the ground vary between 300'000 and 3 million. To place a personal mine costs one dollar, its removal however 1000 Dollar.