Bars in Africa: Arrival and Animals

For the longest time, I have been looking forward to these past two weeks. Being able to share one of the most transformational places of my life with some of the most important people in my life was sure to be incredible. As the Bars have a long tradition of far flung family vacations (see Belgium et. al.), coming to visit me in Mozambique could be seen as just material for another family photo album. But thanks to many factors, it was so much more. Since putting all the details into one post would be a little daunting for both myself to write and my lovely audience to read, I have decided break our trip into installments of heavily captioned photos. Today we’ll start with Part 1, Arrival and Animals.

We spent the majority of our first afternoon at the Maputo Fish Market, a sea of tables of and tourists. Upon arriving, you get swarmed by restaurant workers trying to get you to sit at their tables through sheer overwhelming enthusiasm.

After sitting at your table, it's time to go select what of the day's catch will be your meal. The 40 or so stalls that make up the market carry all types of sea food, but we settled on a 20lb fish, 3lbs of tiger prawns, and 2lbs of calamari. Pro tip: keep constantly giggling sisters at a distance, as they tend to blow your "tough negotiator" vibe

Once we purchased our catch, we sat down at the table to enjoy our beers and food. PCVs Adrienne Marvin (Moz 17, pictured above) and Vicente Rodriguez (Moz 16, not pictured above) joined us for lunch

My mom enjoying the tiger prawns. Though she doesn't normally eat shrimp, the freshness of the fish and the experience warranted an exception.

Though you can't tell it, my dad was beginning his tour of Mozambican beers at this point with a frosty Manica, second only to 2M by his ranking.

Our hotel's pier/bar/restaurant where we enjoyed a night-cap in front of the Maputo skyline. Thanks to the Belgian owners, they had both Chimay Bleu and Duvel available to celebrate Belgian Independence Day (July 21st)

Next day we took a bus to the South Africa border crossing at Crocodile River and on our way into Kruger Park

After picking up our SA rental car, we made our way to the Malane Gate and into the park. The welcoming committee was already there waiting for us, causing my elephant obsessed sister to promptly freak out

Over the next few days of rental car and game drives we saw everything: rhinos, baboons, warthogs, impala, kudu, horn bills, water buffalo, zebras, giraffes. Each one prompted their own Lion King reference.

"They call me Mr Pig!!"

"It doesn't matter, it's in the past"

"This is the morning report. You get the long and the short......"

On one of our mornings, we went on a bush walk with two Kruger guides. Though we didn't get to see many animals, we did learn a ton about poop. For example, did you know that rhinos regularly poop in the same location? This is known as a miden, which they use like a smelly messy brown message board. If one rhino is just passing through, he'll do his business near the miden in a small tidy pile just to say "hey, what's up?". But if they want to throw down with the owner of the miden, they'll  use the middle of the pile and stomp it all over the area saying "whatcha gonna do about that?"

On another day we went to the Elephant Whisperers Sanctuary for some personal time with our favorite cartoon character (Babar). Super touristy, but in the the best way possible

Beyond touching and riding elephants, we also learned about their lives and habits. From how many times they poop a day (up to 19) to the gestation period for calves (22 months!), they are truly fascinating animals.

In the afternoon we would relax by using our hotel's awesome water-slide. This photo shows my disappointment at getting trounced in this round of the classic sibling rivalry. Rebecca is by-far the best at flying down a large plastic water lubricated tube at high velocities. I concede the title to her greatness

Thanks to his sharp eyes, radio friendships with every guide in the park, and years of bush experience we were able to see all of the big 5 (lion, leopard, water buffalo, rhino, and elephant) within a single hour. Go Gert!!

On our last morning we went on a game drive with Gert (pictured above), a master of all thing mammalian

Upon our return to Maputo we went to visit the CFM train station, an architectural masterpiece designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.

There, we met two Maputo based US expats who I've become friendly with (Larry and Diane). The rarely used station platforms are a great place for lunch

Before we made our way to the airport for our flight to Quelimane, Larry gave us a tour of the first and only synagogue in Maputo. Who knew?

So ends Part 1 of this series. Next ti

me on "Bars in Africa", my sister teaches Tojo a new phrase and my parents reveal the true foundation of their relationship: scouting.