Our week at Fawlty Towers was a true "vacation from our vacation," despite our minor mishaps. We took advantage of the half-price massages, had dinner with co-owner Aston, cooked some of our own meals (a true treat) and played with the resident cats, the 5 laziest felines I have ever seen. Rick and Ava, the American/Austrian couple we met at Kafue even dropped in for a chat. And in case you are interested, there is nothing "faulty" at Fawlty. The lodge got its name (tongue-in-cheek) from a post-Monty Pithon Brit-com featuring John Cleese about a hotel of sorts. We were advised not to watch the series if we had the chance. There is no resemblance between the two.
We flew out on Tuesday for Maputo, Mozambique with an overnight layover in Jo'burg. Yesterday was spent trying to figure out how to get the most out of Mozambique; the alternative was just to get out of Mozambique. Hotels in Maputo make the ones in NYC seem like bargains - and even they are booked. What could a hotel have that's worth $400 a night? Well, yes, there is that! The folks at Dana Travel (Lonely Planet recommended) have arranged 5 day visit to Gorongosa National Park. And as over-priced as it seems, it's a bargain compared to an overnight at Maputo Special Reserve. Distances are great and buses don't always go where you would like so flying is often a better, and more costly, option. The taxes on LAM, the national airline, are often twice the price of the ticket. But what can you do?
We wandered around the shoreline this morning, avoiding the streetside rubbish looking for birds. While I was photographing a kingfisher a soldier dressed in camo started hassling us in Portuguese. Did I mention that Portuguese, our linguistic nemesis, is the official language of Mozambique. Just can't catch a break! Anyway, it seems that the building on the hillside was the presidential palace or something. He was pretty insistant that we follow him to the gate where he wanted to confiscate our "rollo," which I took to mean film. I placated him by deleting the dozen or so photos and, tails between our legs, we headed back to the Sundown Guesthouse.
