The riveting conclusion to our Tanzanian visa saga and final post from our month-long visit to Mozambique.

Our final days in Moz, and the last-minute discovery that Tanzania may deport our butts back here if we can’t obtain one last very elusive visa requirement…

Hanging out in this rather inconsequential, albeit quirky, port town for longer than any other backpacker in the history of backpacking.

We find ourselves held hostage by the beauty, isolation and insane prices of a “bush camp” in the north of Mozambique and attempt to escape before the money runs dry.

Exploring evocative Fort São Sebastião, the oldest standing fort in Sub-Saharan Africa and home to the oldest European structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

The rest of our stay on the island and Lori’s attempt at an important job interview in one of the world’s forgotten corners.

Ilha, strange and wonderful and not-ready-for-primetime Ilha.

We thought we were cutting Lori’s interview close on a travel day…until we screeched to a halt in Nampula FOUR HOURS EARLY.

Quelimane’s a great place to lay low while waiting for impending doom to sweep a nation…it’s also got some other redeeming qualities as well.

Navigating the emotional and material complexities of returning to a former Peace Corps site, eight years later (Continued…)

Navigating the emotional and material complexities of returning to a former Peace Corps site, eight years later.

We brave the dreaded Save-Machungue gap and make it safely to Mozambique’s seedy yet ever-fascinating Second City.

I followed an old friend through the bush — back in time and back to basics, enjoying reconnecting and reconciling with a past that wasn’t quite through with me — on a forgotten piece of paradise.

Sometimes I wonder whether I dreamed up certain places I’ve been to or if they actually exist. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Linga Linga is very real and very much the same as I left it.

There is little reason why Inhambane City should still exist today, and yet it has endured the tides of change with quiet dignity, as the fickle goddess of progress giveth and taketh.

Maxixe. Mind blown. Pavement, strip malls, trees. For me, Maxixe once represented a gateway to the outside world. I was eager to introduce Lori to this dusty, bustling transit hub. Only problem–I hardly recognized it.

Maputo — capital of Mozambique. It’s great to be back. Our week in Maputo proves an ideal introduction to Mozambique for Lori and reminds me why I always enjoyed visiting this unique place.

After a month driving around South Africa, and eight years away from Mozambique, we finally cross the border into another world, both familiar and foreign.