How to get there:
This peak is in Mosambique, near the town of Gurue.
I had contacted Cotxane in Gurue, he organized the details.
His email is: cotxanaddams@gmail.com and his Whatsapp is: +258-840391776.
We arrived by car from Malawi. From the border crossing near Milange, the drive to Gurue via YYY takes
about 6-7 hours.
From Gurue, there is a pretty rough 4WD road that connects you to the trailhead. The trailhead is
called The Queens House. This location is S15.335876. E037.082788, with elevation about 1275 meter.
One should allow about 2 hours to drive this road, you need a good truck and a skilled driver.
Route description:
From the Queens house, descend a small trail to the road, then cross the bridge and locate a trail that
runs uphill in the farmed fields. This trail continues uphill slightly higher than the land that has been cultivated.
It then traverses right and runs fairly horizontally along good terrain in order to connect with the broad, gentle
slope from the peak that connects with the local hill that we just bypassed on its right side. There is a short,
slightly steeper section just right of a gully that comes down. One can ascend on the slab rock with friction when dry,
it is also possible to ascend on small grass footholds on the left side of this small ridge. Next, continue uphill
on gentle, grassy slopes to the characteristic tree that
grows just below the steeper slopes of the upper mountain.
From here, ascend on the right, then gain elevation tending left.
The next section is to ascend on slabs and local
patches of grass that provide footholds, following the best possible line in order to get up to the right side of the
beginning of a very characteristic crack that runs uphill to the left.
First pass through a neat little tunnel, then ascend to the entrance of the crack. One must climb into this crack, then exit
onto the rock on its left side higher up. A long piece of wood extending down, has been attached at the upper end
in order to provide a handhold. This is the crux of the climb, a couple of (YDS) class 4 moves.
Comments:
We had climbed Sapitwa in Malawi. After descending from the hut on that mountain,
we had arranged transport to the border the next morning.
The car arrived as agreed at 0630. We drove to the border and met our new friends in Mosambique. To cross the border
turned out to be a somewhat complicated procedure. First, everything worked just fine on the Malawi side.
They stamped our passportss, then we walked across a small bridge.
The Mosambique immigration turned out to be more complicated. It is clearly stated that citizens from the USA and
Norway may enter Mosambique WITHOUT any Visa, just travel with your passport. The immigration guy wanted a confirmation
from our hotel in Gurue. First, the idea was to have them send this by Whatsapp, however the hotel did not have Whatsapp.
Plan B, was to have a friend of Cotxane take a taxi to the hotel, take photos with his phone of the reservation, then
Whatsapp this to us at the border. However, they now complained that the reservation was in hand writing and not typed.
After some more arguments, they decided that all would be OK if we paid approximately USD 10 each. This "alternative" did
not surface during the first hour of discussions! OK, so we paid USD 10 each. Now what? Well they needed to stamp a document
and the stamp was not in the immigration office. Somebody needed to go and get this stamp. Another 30 minutes, but then,
finally, all in "good order". Normally one says that a Visa (on arrival) is required if a country wants payment for immigration.
That a payment "would solve the problem" after one hour of discussion related to our hotel in Gurue, certainly makes this
look like corruption by the border officials. Finally, they wanted to search through our baggage, that also took time.
This step escaped my attention, I had walked directly to the truck with my hand baggage, then waited for
the others to emerge from customs.
Such hassle do not speak well for establishing a tourist industry. Well, all done and we were on our way. We stopped for lunch
along the way, then arrived in Gurue around 1600. OK rooms, shared bathroom in the hallway. The rooms had AC and even a small
fridge. The fridge used the only available power outlet, so computer charging needed to be done with the fridge disconnected.
We had pizza for dinner at a restaurant near the local airport. One table outdoors, it did the job for us.
Agreed on breakfast at 0530, with departure around 0600. Plan A is to climb the peak on Saturday. If there is rain
on Saturday, then Plan B is to stay up near the trailhead and climb the peak early Sunday morning.
The forecasts sort of
agree that Sunday morning will be nice and sunny. There is less agreement concerning Saturday.
The next day, Saturday Nov.11th., we left Gurue around 0700 and drove up to the Queens House. Rough and narrow road,
just passable by our 4WD truck. The drive took 2 hours. Arriving there, it was fog and misty,
we decided to start our climb early Sunday morning.
A pretty relaxed and nice time followed. I explained lat/lon to Cotxane, we went down to the local school and
saw the local boys playing a football game.
Lunch was chicken and a local speciality called Xima of Cassava. There were some brief moments of sunshine, but also light rain
and drizzle. We would sleep in one of the rooms of the local school next to the football field tonight. We aim
for an early start tomorrow.
We had planned to travel back to Malawi and fly home from Blantyre. This option looked better than
flying out of Mosambique. We travelled to the city of XXX in the afternoon on the day of our climb.
The next day, Monday, we continued to the border. The crossing turned out to be more complicated
than our initial arrival (by air). We still had to pay USD 50 each for a transit visa. I first gave them
3 USD 20 bills, but they did not have change. Next, we tried with 2 20usd and one 10usd, but they did not
like a small dent in the 10. Third try was to use a 5 and 5 one dollar bills, however this faild as well as
they found some small marks on two of the ones. A final try was to let them take a 20 bill and drive a motor bike to the nearby town and have it changed into 2 tens. However, the guy came back and said the bank
had complained about a tiny mark on the edge of the bill. This was getting completely ridiculous.
I then went back in and asked if they would take the 20 with no change. The respnse was to see if
they could look at all available money. OK, so again looking at the one dollar bills. This time they
decided to accept the small bills while still refusing the USD 20. Complete reversal, but case finally
resolved. I guess local officials in Africa still has a long way to go before they start behaving
in a more rational way.
