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Ouisurf in Mozambique – Surf travel show releases web version

Ouisurf in Mozambique – Surf travel show releases web version

Roosta and I were all muddled up on the south coast earlier in 2014- battered and fried after the swell just refused to stop, day after day, week after week. Roosta had an impending tour to Europe, and I was just getting through my days until something else came up. Which it did! Ouisurf in Mozambique!

Some history. About a year ago, this French Canadian TV show got in touch with Roosta asking if Roosta would guide a crew of four around the East Coast of Africa, to check out and surf the faraway and secret spots available. Roosta saw red and told them to get stitched. No chance pal!

A year later and the motley Ryan Poisson, call us up saying he got a job as a surf guide, and could he please borrow Roosta’s van for 10 days. Roosta helps a mate out and off Ryan goes.
Half way through his tour, he calls us and asks us if we want to go to Mozambique with his clients. Me and Roosta jump at the chance – and yes – it’s the same crowd Roosta told to vanish all that time ago! Ouisurf.tv!

We accepted the invitation and what a trip that turned out to be. Since the show is in French mainly – I will give you a quick rundown.

Game reserves, obviously. Some hectic action with a tame elephant that charged us down the road a few hundred metres, and a million photos of giraffes. Early next day Ponto d’ Ouro. Huge easterly. Huge. Blast to Maputo for my birthday – we get a $2000 suite in a city hotel and don’t even sleep there! Inhambane the next gruelling, gruelling day. Then easy street. Baia Sonambula. Casa no Praia. Restaurants. Parties. Surfing small south-east swells and having a lot of fun around the Tofo area. Pomene for a night. More fun waves and so many memory sticks full of footage, drone, gopros…all kinds – mostly and professionally operated by a tall funny guy name JP. Benjamin the producer also flew the drone and co-hosted the show with his mate Jean-Michelle. The production manager Stefano was super proficient and had his eye on me and Roosta at all times. We killed and ate a goat, a chicken and a tuna. The last day spent island hopping, spearfishing and deep sea fishing. Lots of blood. And we ate a goats testicle! Cooked yes!

Check out the super duper web presentation of the show…

Click the image to check out the Ouisurf.tv in Mozambique web presentation
Click the image to check out the Ouisurf in Mozambique web presentation

A really good experience for Roosta and I, we both learnt an immense amount during our 10 days blasting around the place with a crew I was really stoked to be a part of – real professionals!

Thanks Ouisurf.tv

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Cyclones! Amazing waves at Barra…

Cyclones! Amazing waves at Barra…

The first tropical storm to be upgraded in early January – Bansi – was graced with the accolade of being a Level 4 cyclone! She is moving away from Madagascar where she was hovering a while, and now has a newly born sister in tow!

Tropical Storm Chedza is right in the channel, our side of Madagascar, and also been upgraded to a tropical cyclone, but is also headed away from us – the two together have produced some epic conditions.

The water is super warm, around 27 degrees, and the airflow has steadily moved from onshore to side/offshore, and it’s finally raining. The light during the day is silvery blue, and as I write this, thunder is forcing it’s way overhead giving us even more to think about.
Surfing waves that can clean cut you in half can be fun once you get used to it, but the purported twin of The Donkey – a shifting superbank in Barra, is by no means easy. The drop is straight out of the sky and 6ft waves disgorge themselves onto a two foot deep sandbar that runs for hundreds of metres. When it’s perfect it can almost be easy, but the last few days at Barra have registered only about a 4/10.

It was lumpy, mean and yet still super hollow. Young Sung Min Cho was the star of the show – he was seen disappearing deep into pits that are easily heavier than any KZN South Coast break can be. The wave literally empties out on itself, is so fast, yet so perfectly difficult. And at 6ft it’s insane stuff.

And! It’s all captured, by Min himself. He and his two brothers, Sung Min Cho and Tae Sung Junior Cho only started surfing a year ago and the level they have achieved is astounding. In fact, Tofo is now littered with groms ripping up anything they can paddle into.

Enjoy the clip!

 

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Zambezi Shark

[twitchermap]

Submitted by: Sean lange

Report:

While surfing frontdoor down the beach from Tofo, Chad Leavitt of Lalaland had the honor of a visit by a inquisitive little Zambezi! It swam straight towards him and then veered off at the last minute presenting itself for a clear identification. Another tick off your bucket list Chad!

Meow Gallery: The gallery is empty.

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My last day in Africa: by Lucy Small

My last day in Africa: by Lucy Small

We had the privilege to meet and hang out with travelling surfers and adventurers Lucy Small and Anna Macauly from Australia a few months back, here in Praia do tofo. They were here for just a few weeks. But the Quantas jet that was supposed to take them home, had two empty seats, upon takeoff!

Yip, Lucy and Anna just stayed and stayed, soon to be joined by Hannah Cottrell, who also just stayed and stayed. Teaching surf lessons and playing live music (Hannah) – living the dream.

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TALES OF A TREEHOUSE PIC:HANNAH COTTRELL

Lucy writes for Saltwater Pilgrim and her blog can be found here…

http://saltwaterpilgrim.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/last-day-6-lessons-from-africa/

And this from her latest post…

It’s my Last day in Africa today.

Pent up in a fancy hotel in Johannesburg – one of those places with excellent service from friendly men in waste coats and those fancy trolleys they wheel everything for you on. Awkward music in the elevators and an overpriced 24-hour room service menu.

Quite the contrast the the entirety of the last six-and-a-half months.

Looking through photos from my life in the motherland, that sickly happy-sad feeling of nostalgia creeps up. Oh, so happy it happened, oh, so sad it’s over.

Continue reading My last day in Africa: by Lucy Small

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Kayaking Barra with Lalaland

Kayaking Barra with Lalaland

Staying at Lalaland kind of gives you everything. Peace and quiet. Beach and sun. And yet you are so close to all the offerings Inhambane has to offer…
Lalaland hosts Chad and Heidi make a point of facilitating anything you need around the Tofo area. Horseriding. Inhambane town tours. Ocean Safaris. Scuba diving. Fishing. Surfing. Kayaking…

Barra is just over the peninsula from Lalaland – and is home to acres upon acres of mangrove forests. They grow happily in the saltwater – at high tide some are completely submerged! They grow randomly, but create intriguing channels through the wetlands. And it’s these channels that you can negotiate on kayaks – putting you face to face with the bird and marine life so prolific in the huge Inhambane estuary.

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Laland is set in PARADISE! You can kayak the Inhambane estuary, surf the Tofinho point, dive Giants and spend time touring Inhambane town. Contact afontelda@gmail.com

The estuary is 40 times bigger than the Knysna lagoon – and is much more populated. Mangrove and blue crabs, flamingos, squid and fishies are among the main attractions – but just paddling about in clear warm water is enough to make you stoked!

Lalaland still has a few rooms open for December 2014. For more info please mail afontelda@gmail.com

Continue reading Kayaking Barra with Lalaland

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