Day 15, 2011/05/16 Gorongosa to Praia de Zalala

Day 15, 2011/05/16

Day 15, 2011/05/16 Gorongosa to Praia de Zalala

We up early. We know it is going to be a long day in the saddle and need to get going early. We have s lovely cup of coffee with the van Zyl's, Piet and Rina. Then  it is off. We do good speed and arrive in Caia at about lunch time. There we cross the mighty Zambise. And mighty it is. We can see the old ferry which use to carry people across but now, it has been replaced by a new bridge. Yes, all of 2,3 km in length. The lovely planet guide says that, the river is over 8 km wide in places. One can only imagine how huge that must be. David and I both agree that, this is most certainly an accomplishment. One always thinks of Zambise as a big river in Africa, and here we are, crossing it. We still have some riding to do since, we not sure where we are going to be sleeping.as we have been going further north, accommodation is becoming more and more scares. As for camping sights,they are almost non existent. We finally decide to push on to and Quelimane and then Zalala beach. It is getting late when we eventually start driving into Quelimane, and boy we are not expecting what we get. This is some bustling port town, and everyone appears to be heading home. There are pedestrians,bicycles, motorbikes and big 4x4s everywhere. Now I know what it must feel like to ride/drive in a place like Cairo. It is extremely stressful! The bikes do what they want, the cars, think the rule the roost and here is David and trying to find a campsite. We eventuallyfind we have  that we have come too far into town and need to go to Zalala on another road. So all the way back out of town, again with all those people. 40km later,on a very potholed road, we eventually arrive in Zalala. Turns out, we are the only people in the campsite, which isnoproblem for David and I.