We crossed out of South Africa at the Kosi Bay border and into Mozambique at the Ponta do Ouro border on November 8th 2023. We made our way up the coast and up through central and north west Mozambique where we eventually crossed the border into Malawi at the Milange border crossing on November 30th 2023.
Here is a short and sweet summary of our favorite places and some places we could have missed along the way!
Marracuene – Just miss, since Marracuene is so close to cities like Maputo its feels like a commuter beach town with not much going on.
Xai Xai – Also a miss; this bigger city doesn’t have much to offer. We ended up along the beach and were very unimpressed. There are some resorts there but 0 campgrounds. We only spent a few hours there but were glad we didn’t stay.
Lagoa (lake) Quissico – We really liked the mix of the lake and the ocean in such proximity. The ocean was quite wild, and there were tons of small crabs running up and down the beach.
Guinjata Bay – There are only a couple of resorts here. It’s a really great spot for relaxing and all beach activities, but you need to come prepared for the duration of your stay since there is not much of a town nearby.
Tofo – Great little beach town, with such great vibes; there is a lot going on (for Mozambique), a great variety of food, big expat community and plenty of places to stay.
Inhambane City– We did a day trip and just walked around the city, but would highly recommend making the trip out as locals were all so friendly and shopping at the local markets was a lot cheaper than Tofo. We loved checking out the old colonial Portuguese architecture and walking through the streets of this small city!
Morrungulo – The town consists of a few resorts along the beach but probably the best diving in Mozambique, it was phenomenal, probably due to the remoteness and the corals not being overfished! But we probably wouldn’t have made the trip out without the car due to the remoteness of the town.
Pomene – We just did a day trip, but I wish we spent the night here! Pomene is a remote Nature Reserve that has the whitest sand and clearest blue ocean water. The beautiful reserve has a couple of abandoned resorts, few locals but overall, you kind of feel like you’re on a desert island.
Vilanculos – It was a much bigger city than we originally thought, and after all the amazing places we’d been, we were quite disappointed with Vilanculos.
Inhassoro – We originally had no intention of visiting Inhassoro but are so glad we did! Our favorite thing about Inhassoro was driving on the beach (make sure to get a permit beforehand from Maritima).
Zinave National Park - This is the most remote National Park either of us have ever been to. During our time at Zinave we were the only visitors which made the park even more special. There are no paved roads and it takes about 3-4 hours once you leave the tar road to get there but it is worth the trip! There is an abundance of animals and the landscape is beautiful!
Gorongosa - We didn't end up going into the park since they do not allow self drive game drives in Gorongosa and we were already feeling tired from all the driving we had recently done. The area itself was really nice and very forested, if you're planning to do the park I think it would be worth the trip
Caia - We did not like Caia at all! We planned on spending the night before crossing the border into Malawi but it was the one town in Mozambique we actually felt quite unsafe. The town is extremely impoverished and mostly used by truckers but there was nice hotel which also felt odd. We were treated quite rudely by the staff and the hotel, which was the final nail in the coffin so we continued on our journey...
Morrumbala - I think it's fair to say that tourists do not visit Morrumbala. People there speak very little English and we were asked a couple of times if we worked for the UN. There is not much going on in the small city, the only reason we passed through is because we were under the impression we could drive up to the border but unfortunately we learnt the hard way that the road leading up to the border doesn't exist anymore due to the cyclone damage from February 2023. We looked up an alternative route through Mutarara where we would need to take a ferry but unfortunately the ferry hasn't been working for some time.
This is the route we took & would recommend taking
From Morrumbala the best way to get to Malawi (Milange Border) is via the N322 down to the N1this is a decent tar road all the way to Malawi (you can take this road directly from Caia) follow to Namacurra & up to Mocuba. From Mocuba take N321 to connect onto the N11 which you can follow all the way to the Milange Border.
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