Via Mozambique: Malawi's Capital to Zimbabwe's Capital

We unzipped our tent to the bright light of the waxing full moon. Some clouds of the rainy season had parted while we slept and thus the moon was in full force as we made our way a short distance from the frontier ring of tents to relieve ourselves. Our tents were in a frontier ring for safety and security because last night was the first night that we had camped by pulling off the side of the road (they call this bushcamping). Up to this point, our campsites had been at various lodging facilities including lodge/camp areas on beaches, a family farm, and by shady hotel rooms out the back of a gas station.

To find our bushcamping spot in Mozambique, we turned from the main road, drove down a dirt road for twenty or so minutes and found the first un-cultivated clearing as far from people as possible. The un-cultivated clearing made me nervous because of the history of the region that we were driving through. We drove through Mozambique's "gun-run" corridor. This is where much of the fighting occurred in Mozambique's decade+ long civil war. It is also the only way to move goods from from Zimbabwe to Malawi, so during the civil war, trucks would drive as quickly as possible through the approximate 300km gun run corridor in attempt to not get caught in the crossfire. The real fear of landmines kept trucks and their passengers on the tarmac, as it was too uncertain and risky anywhere on the dirt either side of the road.

Mozambique's civil war had been between FRELIMO -- the socialist/communist styled popular government who backed the anti-apartheid efforts of the African National Congress in South Africa -- and RENAMO -- the western styled rebels many of whom were mercenaries paid by the white-african governments of South Africa and the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to disrupt a black african-led FRELIMO, and consequently Mozambique.

It is estimated that 900,000 people died from what became a proxy war between the West and Communism. Many deaths and injuries were caused by landmines planted during the civil war, estimates go up to 5 million casualties total. In high school, after I watched a NOVA program about this subject, I raised money for the Red Cross's Anti-Landmine Foundation. I think that the Red Cross's efforts, and other efforts like those supported by Princess Diana removed many of the landmines in the area but it still felt a little freaky to camp on an irregularly shaped un-cultivated island surrounded by farmland with a few square holes found sporadically around the 'camp' off an anonymous dirt road.



The day before in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, we had learned that Malawi avoided what could have been a conflict this past April, when its president died. We had a coffee with a foreign service officer from the U.S. Embassy who told us that the U.S. Ambassador had worked tirelessly after the former president's death to advocate that Malawi follow its own constitution and progress through a legal succession. Very thankfully, a constitutionally-legal non-violent succession occurred and Malawi now has its first female president, Joyce Banda. From what people told us, President Banda seems to be making positive steps for Malawi. Great news for a country that did not allow women to wear pants 25 years ago.

We left Lilongwe late yesterday because our visas for Mozambique took an extra day. As a result, our bush-camp spot was much closer to the Malawi border then our tour leaders would have liked. So at the bushcamp, our tents needed to be packed up by 5:30 am to make the 670km to Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, tonight. As we speed along the former gun run, the topography has changed from carefully hoe-cultivated dark soil fields and distant mountains to rocky secondary forest with yellow grasses. The houses made of mud seem more rudimentary than in Tanzania and Malawi. We haven't seen any water projects and life seems harder here. Looking out, we wonder what stories of war, survival, and grace are found in the humanity that we pass.