Power walk

In Ponta do Ouro, as everywhere currently in Mozambique, the beach is officially closed.

I prefer not to attract attention as a foreigner, as interactions with the police whilst driving or walking around can be an irritating aspect of life. However Lundula is a ballsy one where the police are concerned. He strode up to three officers who were relaxing in a wooden shelter at the edge of the beach and asked if we could go for a walk along it. They confirmed it’s acceptable if it’s for exercise purposes, but under no circumstances should we lounge about or paddle frivolously. Off we trotted at a pace. Exerting energy whilst power walking is easy enough on sand. Hats off to the Ponta do Ouro police, less interested in power play (read: Maputo police) and more in an easy life. A quiet beach is a pretty good place to be in a pandemic, in the grand scheme of virus hotspots.

Around the headland at the southern end of Ponta do Ouro village, a stretch of beach runs a couple of kilometres directly south to the South African border. Looking at the map I wondered whether we did stroll as far as the border, which is fun if so. It was pretty deserted except for a few others undertaking exercise. I enjoyed this bamboo pole washed up with a colony of what the resident biodiversity expert (Michelle) and I believe to be white mussels, encrusted on it. Apparently the internet has decided that if you’re not in North American waters there is not much information out there about mussels and clams.

Edit: pelagic gooseneck barnacle! The resident biodiversity expert came up trumps.