Joca's birthday

Just after Christmas, at the end of 1971 (I think - the memory is a little rusty!!), a small group of us (Rob, Susie, Ze Banana and I) decided to go to Chinde to celebrate Joca's birthday! Joca's father ran the Chinde office of the sugar estate all our respective fathers' worked for - Chinde used to be hugely important, not only as the administrative capital of the Zambezia Province we lived in, but because previously all the sugar had been transported downriver on barges to the mouth of the Zambezi river attached to paddle steamers,

Paddle steamers on the Zambezi

and then loaded onto ships anchored offshore for transport to the market (which back then was exclusively Portugal). However times had changed and with the building of the Caia-Marromeu railway sugar was transported to the port of Beira much faster, and Chinde's importance had waned considerably. The office remained open, as the barges and steamers were beached at the coast for repair at high tides, and having a presence close to the administrative capital was good for business when permits and the like were needed!
The company maintained a "beach house" at Chinde and over the years we had gone down on family trips to stay there - the house had accommodation for around 12 people, running water (pumped by hand by the staff there) a generator for electricity (that was switched off when everyone had gone to bed), and at least one flush toilet (the remainder looked conventional, but the "soil" was collected in buckets and emptied regularly by the staff - on one occasion while a friend was using it, and a hand suddenly appearing beneath her nearly gave her heart failure!).
The road to Chinde was a poorly maintained dirt road, almost impassable even in 4-wheel drive vehicles during the rains, and entailed two river crossings - the first a small river on a ferry pulled by rope, and the second across the Zambezi itself on a motorised ferry. We had done this trip before by bike, but decided this time, due to reports of heavy expected rain, to do part of the journey by river, on a motorised barge called a Harbourmaster.

Harbourmaster

The sugar company had extensive coconut plantations at a township called Matilde (the coconut kernels being used in the production of copra) and this was our destination, cutting at least two thirds of the journey time.

Susie, Ze Banana and Rob - waiting to board.

As we approached Matilde the skies got progressively darker, and we knew we would be lucky to get to Chinde before the storm hit, but arrived there before the rains. There was a bus waiting for any passengers so we asked if they would take our luggage and made a run for it! Rob was carrying his sister Susie as pillion and this slowed him down, but I stayed with them, while Ze took off to try and get there before the storm, and get Joca to meet the bus and collect our luggage. In the coconut plantations the road was very sandy, and progress was slow, and Rob and his bike were struggling with the extra weight (apologies to Susie if she reads this, but I am not implying anything, simply there were 2 people on his bike!), so as soon as the rain hit I said I would take Susie for a while to help out, and we did, in fact, make a little better time (the rain had compacted the road so it was easier than soft sand!).

However once we left the shelter of the trees the full force of the storm hit us - the rain was coming at us horizontally, and the dirt road turned into a slippery, slimy mess that was almost impossible to stay upright on! Within half a mile we had caught up with Ze, who was also unable to progress quickly! I don't know how many times we fell off, but we were on the ground more often than on our bikes, and on one occasion Rob fell off in front of the bus, which had by then caught up, and it slid to a halt with the bumper hanging over him!! Suddenly we saw a Landrover approaching from the direction of Chinde - it was Joca! He had realised we would be struggling in the rain and come to look for us! Susie gladly jumped into the vehicle, and set off after the bus to get our luggage, and clean clothing, while Rob, Ze and I slipped and slid the remaining few miles to the guest house! It had taken us about 90 minutes to travel the 7 miles from Matilde to Chinde!

As soon as we got to the house we all headed for the shower, and then sat around in towels waiting for our clean clothes to arrive - which Joca brought, along with some much needed warming alcohol! I don't remember much more from that day, other than having a monster hangover the following morning, and finding out that we had told the staff to turn the generators off early so they could go to bed, and then almost burning the house down with a misplaced candle! Fortunately only a curtain succumbed to real damage.

Intrepid fishermen!

Chinde is also famous for the huge Langoustines found off the coast, and the local fishermen catch them in front of the guest house, so Ze decided he would give it a try - and soon realised there was a skill to it! We had to make do with buying some off the locals and having them grilled over charcoal with butter and periperi - for breakfast!

Rob and his sister Susie

More alcohol was consumed the remaining time we had there, before we headed back to Luabo for the New Year's Party, bringing Joca with us - on the back of Ze's bike. The road had dried out so the journey back was much smoother - aided by the fact that both Rob and Susie's, and my, parents came to meet us at the main ferry crossing, so took the extra passengers and luggage back in Landrovers! There was one mishap on the way back, however - we were riding in convoy, with Ze in the lead followed by Rob and then me, with my dad driving behind me, followed by Rob's dad. The road surface is full of potholes so we weaved our way back and forth, at about 40mph, to miss the worst of the bumps, when I noticed my dad's Landrover catching up to me, and assumed he wanted to overtake (which was incorrect, in fact, he was concerned about Rob's dad catching up to him and tailgating so he had accelerated to open the gap again). I moved to the side of the road to allow space to overtake, and then hit a series of big potholes - which pitched me forwards over the handlebars and onto the road!! My bike was a little mangled so it, and I, continued our journey in the back of the Landrover, and the vehicles made sure they kept well back from the bikes.