We joined the Hills on their annual pilgrimage to Ponta Milibangala in the Maputo Elephant Park in that part of Maputaland that lies in Southern Mocambique. I think ca.1999 – must check.
We needed 4X4 to get there, so swapped our smart, sleek up-to-date VW kombi for Bruce’s old rusty battered VW kombi 4X4 Syncro. OK, so that description wasn’t strictly true, but you’ll see why I needed to make it soon – upfront – for strategic reasons.
It was hot on the way. Between Xmas and New Year. Windows down wasn’t enough so we opened the front doors and a breeze wafted around our legs. That was better. Up and down we see-sawed in the sandy dunes. It had rained and water pooled in the bottoms of all the dips between dunes.
Then we hit one of those puddles a bit too fast. I was amazed at how big the bow wave was! We really weren’t going fast, but it still WAS too fast. Muddy water flooded the cab. I stopped to clean. It cleaned easily except: There was muddy water in the headlights outside and in the speedo gauge inside. I thought I saw tadpoles swimming at the 40km/h mark. Later they emptied, but a high-water mark remained! At the camp I gave the kombi a big cleanup again, but the mudstains inside the headlights and speedometer were out of reach. There was no dodging this: I would have to confess to Howick’s Mayor-in-Exile, Broose Soutar.
Map
Theo shot a 50kg Giant Kingfish or Trevally – Caranx ignobilis
We snorkel’d with a whale shark – briefly. Then with no seeming effort he just swam away, too fast to keep up with.
~~oo0oo~~
Update 2020: The Hills went to Mili again – its about 22 years now that they have made their annual pilgrimage. The family has grown in all directions. Here they are, minus Tatum, but two girlfriends added:
~~oo0oo~~