Tofo Beach and rugby in Pretoria

COUNTRY: Southern Africa (Swaziland, Mozambique & South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Lucy Coles

The Antipodeans have had an eventful fortnight since the last update, which has included an incredible week by the beach in Mozambique, travelling to Pretoria for the rugby and returning to work with the kids at our NCPs.

It was two weeks ago that we all piled into the All Out vans, sleeping bags, mozzie repellent and swimmers in tow, and headed to the Mozambican border. The poverty was far more evident than in Swaziland, but Mozambique was a beautiful place and a fantastic destination for our beach holiday! Our first night was spent resting at Casa Lisa after a long day of driving, and then we hit the road again the next morning headed for our final destination, Tofo Beach.

The week went by quickly with a mixture of planned activities and free time - on the first day there, we all went on an 'ocean safari', hoping to spot the famous whale shark, of which Tofo has the world's highest known concentration. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see any, but we did swim alongside a pod of dolphins, which was amazing!

Because the boat had broken down several times, the dive company took us out again over the next couple of days, again without a whale shark spotting, although the choppy sea did make for a bumpy and adrenaline-filled boat ride. Another of the activities in store for us was a kayak trip to a remote island near Inhambane. The island is home to some eight hundred people, along with a small school, two churches and a (very) inadequate clinic. We were greeted by the Chief, Eric, who prepared a meal of fresh seafood for us.

Aside from that, we spent our time swimming, reading, lying on the beach, putting the free wifi to use and relaxing. It was great having meals prepared for us and spending evenings at the bar, where we ordered our meals every night and fresh seafood was always on offer. After five days in Tofo, it was time to return to Swaziland - unfortunately, we left our new friends from England and Sweden behind, but we were glad to return to Swaziland, where we have sand-free beds and clean water and the mosquitos don't carry malaria.

The day after we arrived at Lidwala, the fourteen of us headed off on a road trip to Pretoria to see the Wallabies take on the Springboks. We all dressed up in Aussie flags, tattoos and face paint and held our heads high as we walked to the stadium despite a fair few taunts from the South Africans. Unfortunately the Wallabies weren't in top form on the day and suffered a narrow 31-8 loss, which can surely be put down to the home ground advantage. We had a great time anyway, and particularly enjoyed the night out in Pretoria, heading back to Swaziland the next day.

Since then, we've settled back in to life in Swaziland, reminding the kids of our names and gradually learning theirs. A new group of volunteers has arrived and it's great to have some fresh faces around the place too. We've now got another two weeks here (which we're sure will go very quickly) before leaving for the tour to Cape Town and finishing our project work there.