Beach workshop in Mozambique and Surprise Party

The last two weeks I spent in Mozambique. That was my first visit ever. The airport at Inhambane was one of the smallest ones I ever landed, same size as those in Madagascar that I visited in the years before.

We started off with workshop in Tofo, a small fishing village with excellent scuba dive sites. Tofo is known as the place where you can see Humpback whales, Whalesharks and Manta Rays, almost all year round. And many Dolphins to swim with. I was lucky and swam with about 20 dolphins during a snorkeling trip.........Tofo ist bekannt als Tauchparadies fuer Rochen, Walhaie, Delphine und Buckelwale. Video:
http://youtu.be/WjZTHdwEHPM

We were a group of 8 researchers from all over the world. We rented a nice house overlooking the Indian Ocean. As it turned out, an excellent spot for watching the Humpback whales jumping and flipping the fins. Amazing sites every day from our large balcony. We were quite distracted many times. Even Eagle rays were jumping backwards, never seen that before.

Buckelwale und Rochen waren am springen und haben ihre Flossen auf Wasser geschlagen. Jeden Tag kamen ca. 15-20 Wale vorbei.
Video: http://youtu.be/OYh05aoxssg

Tofo has a few tourists around, mainly for diving and surfing. The village is small and many little bars and restaurants with Mozambique food. Was a real treat, mainly excellent seafood.

We had a simple breakfast with a mix of western and African food, scrambled eggs, potatos roasted, ham, bread, and a huge fruit salad every morning.....







Young local artists sell their paintings at the beach. He and his brother made those.

After Tofo, I went to the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association conference in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Maputo was actually interesting, looked a bit like my old country East Germany in places. A mix of socialist architecture and Portuguese. Everybody speaks english there, that was surprising.

While I was in Mozambique, I had organized a birthday party for Andrew's special birthday. Luckily it was a real surprise, Andrew had no idea. Sam and Kevin invited Andrew for dinner to their house, yet instead he found himself at his birthday party. 25 people turned up, friends and people we regularly meet at the weekly dinner in China Town called 'Duck Night".

Ueberraschungsparty fuer Andrew zum 50. Geburtstag. Da ich nicht da war, habe ich mit Freunden eine Party organisiert. Unsere Freunde haben ihr Haus zur Verfuegung gestellt, ich habe drinks und die Torte beigesteuert. Sam und Kevin habe alle heimlich eingeladen und niemand hat es verraten.