Maputo

New-to-us port #34.

Today, we were joined by seven friends for a walking tour of Maputo to see some of the most popular attractions in the capital city.

Hendy’s “Free Walking Tours” are very popular. Instead of a public tour in return for tips, I had arranged for a private tour for a specific per person price. Having heard that the street hawkers were quite “insistent,” I had also arranged for him to pick us up at the terminal gate instead of the usual meeting point near the Cathedral.

Running the gauntlet of souvenir hawkers, our tour took us up the street to the beaux-arts style Maputo Railway Station … built by the Portuguese between 1908-1910. The building is #8 on the “most beautiful train stations list.” The dome was constructed in South Africa and assembled in Maputo … a big innovation at the time. There are only three international lines running out of the station, so most of its use is for domestic purposes.

Walking through the Red Light District, where business at “by-the-hour” hotels goes on 24/7, we next went to the Fortaleza de Maputo. The fortress was built by the Portuguese between 1851-1867. It now serves as a military museum. The various rooms have historic exhibit and also the “memorial casket” of Ngungunhane, the last great chief of the African Kingdom of Gaza during the colonial period. He was captured and sent to the Azores in exile, where he died. What was purported to be his remains were returned to Mozambique when the first post-colonial President of Mozambique visited Lisbon. Although many sources on the internet indicate that the remains are in the casket, I got the impression that what we saw today was a replica of the original one.

Our walk continued onto the Tunduru Botanic Garden … fairly small and more like a public park. Hendy identified several of the trees as we wandered along the shaded paths of the park. He also showed us the fruit bats that have colonized several of the trees in the park. Then we stopped at the Iron House, designed by Eiffel. The house, which dates back to the late 19th century, has seen varied use, but only for short periods of time because the steel, tin, and iron structure gets too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

The Cathedral was our next stop. And then we followed Hendy across the multiple lanes of the road running around the Independence Plaza to hear a bit more about the war for independence and make the acquaintance of Marechal Samora Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique. He died in an airplane accident … believed to have been an assassination.

A bit of trivia about the wife of the assassinated president. She later married Mandela. Thus becoming first lady twice … in two different countries.

We wrapped up our tour with a visit to the Central Market … also known as the Downtown Bazaar. Stalls at the market sell all the usual stuff … groceries, fish, nuts and herbs. But one section is a “hair market” … the biggest of its kind in Africa. Apparently, hair extensions are very popular with African women, and they come from all over to buy them here. No buyers amongst us, but several people purchased bags of cashew. Mui wanted to buy some mangoes. But by then, the group had moved on. Later, however, our friends Kadi and Brad returned to the market and came back with a mango for him. He’s a happy camper. Thank you Kadi and Brad.Read more