Maputo with Fatimas Backpackers
Right in the middle of all the action – Fatima’s is the perfect place to stay when getting to know the intriguing city of Maputo.
Take a walk down Mao Tse Tung Avenue towards the ocean and soon you will find the main drag, adorned with hotels, embassies, bank buildings and the like. Very impressive the investments being made in and and around Maputo.Stop in at the Polana for a coffee and soak in the views normally reserved for the rich and famous.
Head down to the ocean and starting at Club Navale, walk south along the promenade and into the lower reaches of town.
Here the investment activity becomes apparent again – 5 star hotels, huge government buildings and a multi-storey shopping centre.
Keep going a while, turn right back into town along Julius Nyerere Rd, and keep going until you intersect Mao Tse Tung Ave – leading back to Fatimas.
This square route around the town is great to get you acquainted with the layout of the place – and when you get back to the Dragon Bar at Fatima’s, an ice cold beer or cooldrink eagerly awaits you.
Hopefully you will have a few days in Maputo and you can do one or two more of the many very interesting walks, like up to Costa do Sol, as described in a previous post here.
Or take a ferry across to Catembe/Buena Vista and explore Maputo from afar. From this angle you can really appreciate the beauty and majesty of this historical city. This ferry runs all day and it takes a short time to make the crossing each way.
There is also a ferry, leaving at 7am on suitable weather days, to Inhaca – but more about that in a future post…
Transport into and around Maputo is comprehensively catered for by bus and taxi operators. Durban and Nelspruit to Jhb are a day’s travel away by road and so quick by air. And taxis operating in Maputo will take you most places around town for a few hundred Meticals (2,8 to R1 at the time of writing).
You do have to carry your passport or a certified copy made in Maputo, with you at all times. Police are known to randomly check tourists with very annoying results sometimes.
Other than that and some bumpy roads and pavements, the city is enthralling and you can spend day after day exploring the place…
