Vilanculos is the biggest Mozambican town we saw, with a fair bit of infrastructure in the town centre, just about all of it Portuguese. It even has a bit of a sprawl of suburbs, but again the houses are mostly simple huts in yards fenced with grass or palm fronds. Not knowing where we wanted to stay we drove around for a bit and eventually ended up on the beach. At this point the tide was out, with sandbanks stretching for miles out into the shallow, turqoise water. There we found a quaint little backpackers called Zombie Cucumber and, not too keen to have to set up camp again, decided to stay there. It turned out to be a pleasant stay with the exception of the unfriendly manager.

Soph and I spent the afternoon exploring the bustling market which seemed to stretch forever under a low roof made from countless bits of plastic, cloth and tin, all very dodgily held together with wire and rope. The african printed fabrics being sold were really nice and we bought a few. Later we set out to try and find a restaurant as the nasty Zombie lady had forbidden us to cook on the premises. After quite a search we did eventually find a pizza place, although it took us across most of Villanculos via dodgy sand roads through the suburbs.

vilanculos