Mozambique trip -- part 1

On the weekend of Friday, October 24 through Sunday the 26th, I joined a group expedition with staff from the Swazi National Museum to Maputo, Mozambique. The trip was to visit, learn about and strengthen ties to museums in Maputo, especially the Natural History Museum there. We took two cars – mine and Nomsa's, and five people went. The plan was to meet in Manzini by 8:15 am with the goal of arriving in Maputo by 11 am. Of course, we got a late start, which I suppose is inevitable with a group. Some people needed to shop for supplies, someone needed money, etc. The border crossings also took quite a while. I was a bit worried that I might be turned back, as I hadn't yet managed to change the title on my car. (I couldn't do that until my work permit is issued, which just happened the week of November 24 – in fact I finally got the title changed over on the 26th). Anyway, I took with me as much paperwork as I could to show that I really
had purchased the car and applied for the title transfer. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), other than looking at the blue book/title, which was clearly not in my name, no one asked me anything.

What with all the delays and the crazy Friday afternoon traffic we encountered once we entered the city (Maputo's population is about 1.1 million), we didn't get to the Natural History Museum until 2:30; and it closes at 3:30. We had just enough time for a back-stage-type tour to see how the catalog database works and how insects are preserved and stored. Then we headed for our hostel to check in. The hostel was full, with only one private room left (which Laura nabbed), so I ended up in the 6-bed dorm room. By the end of our stay, I'd become surprisingly agile at clambering up and down from my top bunk.

On Friday evening, Lucilia arranged for us all to go to a big seafood restaurant near the water with her and four of her staff. Mozambique is known for its seafood, and the fish and prawns were lovely and fresh. Lucilia also invited us to her house in the suburbs for lunch on Saturday, where we again had seafood. She served crab, which most of our group had never tried. They liked it.

The following photos are attached:
a street scene near the museums
part of the lion diorama at the Natural History Museum
a view of the snakes-in-glass display at the same museum
my collegues waiting fruitlessly for the geology museum to open
the lovely seafood lunch Lucilia served in her suburban home
cranky street vendors near the hostel (should have bought something before taking their photo, I guess)