Mozambique

A whirlwind tour of the country’s capital

When we opened the drapes in the morning after docking in Maputo, Mozambique, the Maputo-Katembe bridge dominated our view. The bridge had been planned for decades, but a civil war and economic issues got in the way. Eventually China agreed to pay for construction, and the bridge opened in 2018. That was a common refrain we heard throughout our stops in Africa: China built this and that. A new highway here, a civil works project there. It’s a good way for China to ingratiate itself with developing countries.

We took the included Viking tour in the afternoon, and it only lasted 2.5 hours. We saw the Monument to the Great War, erected in 1935, which honored people from the area killed in World War I. Because at the time the region was still a Portuguese colony, locals have long felt like it only honors the Portuguese. After Mozambique gained its independence in 1975, one official suggested blowing up the statue with dynamite.

These are probably some of the reasons that our guide told us that the statue honored a woman who tracked down a deadly cobra that was terrorizing villages. She let the snake bite her and then threw herself into boiling water, killing them both. She lost her life but saved her people. Feel free to pick which story you prefer.

Monument to the Great War and/or the snake-killing lady.

Next up was the giant statue of Samora Machel, first president of Mozambique. He died in a plane crash in 1986 while still in office.

Also in Independence Square we saw the nearby Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. We did not get to go inside.

One quirk of the tour is that we were visiting on a Friday afternoon. As such, many cars were on the street and people were setting up shop, getting ready for the weekend. Our van couldn’t cut through the traffic to keep us on our schedule, so our guide played pied piper and led us on foot through many streets until we could rendezvous with our van. A very different way to get a sense of the city.

Vendors and others getting ready for the weekend.

We sailed out of town as the sun was setting. Lots of Maputo residents lined the banks to watch our giant ship sail by. They waved to us and we waved back, both sides using their cell phone flashlights, making a silent connection as we headed back into the Indian Ocean and our next destination.