Mozambique Is Officially Rubbish

No camp sites or expensive camps sites, long drives with nothing inbetween, corrupt Police, Expensive Visa’s (if you get them at the border which we didn’t), terrible roads, roads that don’t go where you want to, no fuel stations, VERY expensive food and they don’t speak any English (mostly).This list is pretty much endless of the gripes about this crappy country. The sooner we leave the better IMHO. Topped off with the below. The caveat to this is some of the whites are very nice. Yes i used the term “whites”. We’ve been looked after by quite a few here. There must be quite a few locals who are nice and the kids are lovley with big smiling faces when they aren’t looking bewildered by the passing land rover. This is the exception though. The country in general is lots of nothing good. Sorry.Today we go a speeding ticket. I didn’t pay and they can keep my fake licence and their jacked up $40usd fine. We went through a 60kph sign and julie said 60 as she nearly always does. I slowed to 58kph (we have the log on the GPS so can prove it) and by the time i’d slowed they had already speed gunned us right at the sign. No chance to slow and just not the way this happens. We were going at 58kph by the time we even saw them and then slowed to a stop right in the middle of the village. I can prove from the logs we were doing 82 and then when julie said 60 i was already at 66 and then 58. So i wasn’t going to pay 3 times the standard 300 Meticals, as they wanted 1000 Meticals. Even the next police station called this “FRAUD”. Unfortunatly the Chief in the traffic police station didn’t and told us to “drive the 50km back and pay the fine” to “retreive my licence”. I told him that “I didn’t care and he could keep it”. We have about another 19 fakes to go before i need to make more. If i could be at all bothered i would report the little sods to the corruption desk in Maputo but we’re now skipping there in favour of leaving to South Africa as soon as we can. We’ve not enjoyed the constant battle to find accomodation here. Some free accomodations provided just because they can………Thanks to James White Saw Mills for the stay in their Lumber Yard. The cabins were lovely but at 850 Meticals out of our range (£20)Thanks the the Catholic Church in Quelimane. (the singing made julie go back to sleep at 7am)Thanks to the Maforga Mission and Orphanage near Gondola. (cute kids but still we don’t want one even though they have some spare)I almost forgot the bridge toll where they decided the Land Rover is a “truck” and charged as such. So i switched off the engine in the toll gate and sat there for 23minutes until they accepted very reluctantly that a Defender 110 CSW is a car. I pointed at the 3 european “car” vignette stickers and waved my V5C and the Carnet at them but they didn’t seem to bother them at all. They opened the other side of the road to let traffic go past me. I was blocking the bridge !  An English speaking local who arrived going the other direction was deputised on their behalf a came round to speak to me only to explain i needed to pay the toll for a car. When i explained to him that i knew this and they were trying to charge me as a truck their plan backfired. He took up my case and argued in my favour. They weren’t happy…..