Marc and I were looking for shade to have lunch. We looked up and saw an oncoming cyclist. It was only at second glance that we both stopped dead in our tracks. It was another crazy mzungu on a bicycle.
We immediately introduced ourselves and invited Anders to join us for tea.
So there we were in the sand under the shade of an acacia tree, boiling a kettle and sucking on boabab fruit and sharing some bread, while loeries were screeching their occasional call of “go-away!!!”.
Anders has cycled from Denmark and covered 15000km already. All alone, he was very happy to have the company of other “Europeans”, only he was wrong, we are African.
After the tea, we continued north and Anders pushed south towards the Cape.
We reached Tete in good time and entered the gates of Mozambique Leaf Tobacco. Suddenly the grass was green. Marcel met us at the gates. Marcel works in Tete for Doctors without Borders. She was looking after Theo and Mynie de Bruin’s home while they were away in South Africa.
Our hosts arrived home the next day and have pampered us since.
The compound feels like we are back in South Africa. Swimming pools, air conditioning, DSTV and braai’s!!
The comforting thing was the hot shower when we first arrived. The little thing that you take for granted until you spend a few days washing in a bucket.
Theo took us for a tour of the processing plant. Mozambique Leaf Tobacco can process up to ten million tonnes of leaf tobacco a year. At roughly $100 for a 200kg box that is an industry that is saving the economy of the Tete province, which mostly relies on mining and transportation for its capital.
Theo and Mynie also picked up our needed spares for the bicycles while they were in South Africa. So we are now back on new sprockets and chains.
We are very excited that we are on our way to a new country. Possibly the next blog will be written on Malawian soil. We have been given a few contacts through the tobacco industry so we are in good hands.
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