Hi 'lost1',
Ja, loading the bikes into the back of someone's pick-up was plan A. Plan B is to organise a gang of porters to carry the two bikes across in return for meticais, smokes and T-shirts (always carry a ready supply of all three in Moz).
Plan C is to ride... depending on how deep the water is. The river's at its lowest now, but the rains are toying with Jo'burg which means the clock is starting to tick. By late November the Limpopo will be running a lot higher.
There's quite a bit of traffic (bakkies, chapa cems) between the border and Mapai - something else to watch out for on the 98km bush track to the river...
It's strange that there are no boats or canoes at or near the drift at Mapai but both my sources confirm this.
The one guy uses the road quite a bit to get from his campsite on the coast at Vilankulo to his other job in Louis Trichardt in SA. It's a logical route from SA to central Mozambique but few people use it - for all their big talk, the SA 4x4 brigade are mostly armchair warriors. Which is fortunate, really.
Would dig to chat further - mail me at ashp@sundaytimes.co.za
cheers and thanks
Paul
|