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DOCUMENTS
EU citizens need a visa and they can
get it at most of the entry points as airports or
crossing borders (but not in all). A single entry
visa 15 days valid is 60$ and it's a full-page nice
sticker + a stamp on another page
MONEY
The currency is the
Metical, the plural is Meticais (1€= 38 Meticais).
You can change almost everywhere against € or
$
HEALTH
I took Lariam against Malaria; having
a mosquito net, wearing long pants, long sleeve shirts
and abounding with insect repellent, you avoid the
famigerated Lariam profilassys, but you are always
taking a risk
Take into consideration to buy Malarone instead of
Lariam, although it's a daily dose (Lariam weekly)
and more expensive, it is said to not give the Lariam
side effects.
If you r gonna staying for a long period in the country,
obviously you have to do your counts on risks, money
and side-effects!
Morevoer I had the usual vaccinations:
Ephatite A, B, Typhus, Tetanus, Meningitis.
I hadn't any problem with the food or the drinks,
never drinking tap water, obviously.
GUIDE
BOOK
I used Lonely Planet 'Mozambico 2007'
(in italian translated from 2nd edition Feb 07). I
found it particularly shallow in the details of the
frequency of the public means of transports (especially
to reach the villages) and also giving the distances,
but it's still a helpfull travelmate
GENERAL
TIPS
- Train Cuamba -Nampula
This train leg will be for sure your
headache planning your trip if you cannot afford
to waste a day waiting for a train. Consider the
schedule are volatile since the operators seem to
change frequently, so check out on the LP
thorn tree for confirmation. However at the
time of traveling (Aug09), the trains Cuamba- Nampula
and also viceversa were daily except on Monday,
when no train was running in both ways. From Cuamba
to Nampula on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday also
the 2nd class is available, all the other days just
the 3rd one.
The ticket can be bought till the late evening
even the day before, if not full booked.
The departure is at 5.30 am, but I recommend to
be at 4.00am at the station.
Don't count too much on both the restaurant and
toilet, but at least you are not going to starve
since it's plenty of food vendors at each of the
several station.
The arrival is around 16.30pm.
Good luck
- LAM airlines
Don't underrated the convenience of
using the national flight carried LAM.
Its standards are European ones and the prices very
competitive.
Check the
LAM website.
- Policemen in Maputo
In Maputo while taking a picture to
the Eiffel house we have been stopped by a jeep
with 5 policemen.
They asked for our passport and we gave them the
photocopy saying the original was at the hotel.
they complained it was not regular since we needed
a stamp to authenticate it. This is actually true
and we knew it, but I would have never given my
passport in the hand of the first person with an
uniform stopping me. Hence we politely said we wanted
to go to the police station and call our embassy
for supporting us. We really stood the ground without
hesitating while looking for the embassy phone number
on the Lonely Planet. The began saying bullshit
like:' we want to close it as among friends'; we
didn't give up and at the end they left.
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