Week 1; Monday-Monday
Author: Lil
I arrived 8am in Maputo airport. The “Visa exempt” lines took an hour but was only $10 for entry into the country.
Juma from Amigos Tours & Shuttles was waiting for me when I arrived, he was very friendly and quick to introduce himself so I wasn’t worried about getting picked up by the wrong person.
The drive from Maputo to the red road was about 8hrs long, but I got to see so much of Mozambique that way. Juma said that there are so many shops built around the road because it’s the easiest way to get found and sell things. Juma was very helpful, he helped me take out money from an ATM in the local currency and offered to stop and get food/ breaks along the way if needed. But I mostly slept along the way.
Upon arriving at the Red Road, I met Ines from LTO and another volunteers, Genece. We got a fun safety talk about dangerous animals in the area and the next morning I found a scorpion exoskeleton!!! I was very excited.
The first days we first spent learning about the different projects LTO has and a nice wee recap on all things ocean conservation. In the evenings we’d go for a swim or my hutmate would fly the drone around and we really got to see just how much beauty there is in this bay!
The last couple days I’ve spent at the schools and I taught a class of youngsters about turtles – this meant I had to do two lessons of lesson prep as well and so I taught them about the spiky turtle throats and how hatchlings build strength in their flippers from birth, we then played some turtle related games and on the Friday the kids got to run around in a circle as we played “turtle, diver, shark” and they very much enjoyed themselves haha! (and so did I)
On the weekend we also went for a surf and watched the sunset from a wee restaurant that overlooked the estuary (where there are crocodiles btw).
It’s been a great start to our 2024 expeditions with Lil and Genece and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season! If you’d like to join us on an expedition, you can read more about them here.
