Mozambique Day 2 – The village people

Another leisurely morning wake up followed by a tasty breakfast. We discussed with Idris about going to visit the village in the afternoon.

We then sat about for the morning had some lunch and sat about in the afternoon until 3 when it was time to go and visit the village. The village of Guludo is the primary village supported by the lodge. It has provided the village with a number of wells, a new school and also provides jobs at the lodge for the villagers.

It’s about a 15 minute walk on the sandy road to the village along the way there are women getting water from the wells. We arrive into the village. It appears very basic. The houses built in a similar fashion to the lodges but lack the expensive materials that the lodge has the luxury of being able to afford.

Idris showed us around the village. About 1600 people live in the village of Guludo. He showed us the Cheif’s house, his parents house, the local school and also his new house. Idris has been involved with the lodge since in came about in 2000 and tells us he remembers attending the first village meeting to discuss if the village wanted to grant the lodge to be built. It was very interesting to hear first hand from one of the locals about how the lodge came about and the positive effect on the local community.

We finished the tour by visiting the locals who had produced a number of hand made items to sell to us. Ali bought a number of purple items. On the return from the village we heard further how the lodge had been able to help other local villages in similar ways, but also that the locals had learned new skills that they were able to take onto other villages to build new schools etc.

We then took a quick dip in the sea before dinner. Dinner was fried aubergine followed by a vegetable lasagne. Pudding was chocolate profiteroles. All of this washed down with a nice Chilean bottle of wine compliments of the lodge.