Mozambique: Vilanculos

Sunday 5th July. Vilanculo, Mozambique: We were up early & Robert, the owner of Casa Cabana had enlisted the help of Paulo, a Portuguese man who was a friend of his. They both went to check on the chap in hospital & we headed off to the police station for 11am. Robert & Paulo turned up a short while later and we were so relieved to hear that not only did they enquire about his well being; they actually got to speak to him. He had a broken nose & stitches to his forehead and was feeling very battered & bruised. He acknowledged to Paulo & Robert he might have been speeding but I doubt he remembered any of what happened. He was going to be OK, or so it seems.

We spent an hour or so at the police station & John had to sign various documents, all translated by Paulo, so he knew there was nothing incriminating in them. Jonas, from the tourist office also turned up. It appears that the bike rider did not have a drivers licence and it was not his bike. The bike was in a garage for some work to be done, and he removed it from there, without permission. I wonder if the problem might have been brakes! He is going to be prosecuted apparently. Of course there is no insurance for him so it’s going to be a costly repair on the car. John says it will need a whole rear panel and a door skin as well. I’m hoping it can be panel beaten. Either way, it’s going to have to wait until we arrive back in Somerset West. It is all duct taped up now so we will be able to continue our journey. Up to now, not as much as a scratch was put on Dusty in over 15,000kms of this trip.

We still have to go to the police station at 8am tomorrow and we’re hoping we’ll be given the all clear so we can continue our journey to Maputo, 715 kms away. We’re all mightily relieved & just hope there’s no setback overnight. We returned to Casa Cabana where we did some laundry.  Dinner is going to be at Casa Rex tonight to say a big thank you to Mel, the manager there, who helped us so much.

Leaving here in the knowledge that the patient is going to be OK is a huge relief and we can hopefully continue to enjoy the trip south, as we had done up until yesterday morning. We then sat and watched the Wimbledon tennis final on TV at Casa Cabana & went for dinner at 7pm. Two fresh Garoupa fish were prepared and along with some fresh crab salad plus a few samosas to start with, we had a delicious meal. We’ve got to be back at the police station at 8am in the morning for what we’re told is just a formality. An early night is called for because we want to try and get to Maputo in one day. We settled our bill with Robert at Casa Cabana & he’s given us a huge reduction for the extra night, a really generous gesture. He actually did not want to charge us at all for tonight, but we insisted.