Random pictures from Mozambique

This Easter holiday I had the pleasure of visiting Maputo, Mozambique. It is about 3 hours’ drive from Manzini, so the journeys to and from were quite bearable. Maputo is not the prettiest of cleanest place, but it has its own kind of beauty. The ugliest thing in the country is their traffic police. Enjoy the pictures from Maputo! Do look out for more pictures and stories from Maputo, which I will post between today and tomorrow. 

The giant statue of the first Prime Minister of Mozambique, Samora Moises Machel.

This church is along Ho Chi Minh Street. It appears to be Catholic. We attended part of the service on Good  Friday but it was in Portuguese, so we left.

The little boy in the picture was leading a blind woman to cars begging for alms. It broke my heart because it doesn't look like he enjoys life like boys his age

During the Christmas holidays we drove across Mozambique from the Swazi border to Machipanda, the border linking Mozambique to Zimbabwe. The Universal Church was the most common church we saw. A lot of bizarre and unfavourable things are said about this church. Heaven knows if they are true or false.

There is a lot of congestion in Maputo, very little space to manoeuvre. Most of the buildings look rundown because of clothes always hanging from the balconies, and seem to be in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. Maybe the sea water corrodes the paint.

Despite the lack of space, there are many disused buildings around, such as this one.  The little car in the picture is called a tuk-tuk and is very popular in Maputo. We also had the pleasure of boarding one. Very ideal for a country with very little parking space. 

This dilapidated building must have looked good in its time. Now vagrants inhabit it  but some sections of  it are being used by daring shop owners.

I took this picture while my husband was being harassed by the traffic police for allegedly flouting a road regulation. They eventually asked for a bribe. It's not easy not to be corrupt in the face of rogue cops.

We enjoyed a good meal at this restaurant by the sea side. Their portions were quite generous I even took a doggy pack.

I took this picture very early in the morning from the 8th Floor of Hotel Maputo. Most apartments don't have parking space so cars park on the street for the night, total chaos if you are not used to driving in that city.

South Africa has them. So does Swaziland. Zimbabwe used to have them but they were destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina. I don't know if they're back, but they could be. Maputo's slums. A real eyesore.