Sitting in Hotel Tofo Mar feeling the colonial vibes with a Bloody Mary, some Iggy Pop, and the sea breeze. One swell down and one on the way- AVG, Lyle Meek and Frank are on their way Thursday- good timing methinks… We’re going on a boat called the Barco Onda as soon as they arrive a hundred or so nautical miles up the coast goosechasing some slabs and an endless point that’s been calling for years- we living in the sticks proper- i hope the accommodation suits our pro’s- living off the fire and no running water… We’ve been loitering between sessions on our friends balcony overlooking the line-up- the best of both worlds i guess- there’s nothing like a shower after a surf the sand’s been so hot on the run down and back from the beach we literally cook our little footsies!!

The other day a giant Rock Salmon swam past us on a local’s head so we bought it- easiest fishing in the world! We cooked that guy, braai’d him, fried him, sashimi’d him and there was still heaps left over. We then hit the beach for a good old fashioned beach party- i strummed till my fingers bled and we sang ourselves raw- Pura Vida, with a little too much Tipo Tinto rum in between…

I was talking to my brother Sean about the Malaria here- apparently, in the Tradisionale which are the traditional healers of this country there is no known cure which hints at where the Malaria came from in the first place- us?

Mozambique got it’s name from Moa Al Habiq one of the foremost Arab settler/invaders who resided on Mozambique island as Sheik. The Arabs only came as far as Inhambane- which is where we are now, before the Arabs the Chinese were here way back around the twelfth century. After the Arabs came the Portuguese who have their own bloody history- the big question is: who brought the malaria?

“Having once been robbed by a gang of christian marauders, one is not so timorous of the heathen.” David Livingstone, March 2, 1856, Tete, Mozambique

These days its the South Africans who lead the charge in the re-settlement of this fine land, and the government has realized they’re good for something- development! Whole tracts of land along the coast have been hung, drawn and quartered in the name of tourism. Everything from eco-lodges to square mansions all on top of the poor sand dunes! The other presence to be noted here are the Chinese- who are back in force, they offered very kindly to fix the roads, provided free electricity for the people, (who the government promptly started charging everyone for) all in return for fishing concessions of course! Nothing for mahala hey but still, the seas blue, and the waves keep on waving, the people of Mozambique are the friendliest people i’ve encountered and Afrika our mother just keeps on keeping on!

all photos by Dantrona, stay tuned for a slideshow and movie from the last swell…

Eish I finally make it home- 10 flights, a busride or twelve, and plenty roadtripping – all for what? A few shots in some magazines and some half-hearted scrawls in my blog and maybe an article or two in a couple magazines? Time to shake things up a bit- not to mention the fact that my sponsor’s budget is already dry and now I have to wait for the mags to go to print before any photo incentives or articles are invoiced and paid for!

Now lets not take this rant of mine as a complaint, but I have to say as an aspiringly-conscious person approaching a new-era on our planet- lets face it- flying is so ‘last year’ every time I get on a long stinking flight I ask my self- “Why am I doing this?” Smelly feet, cramped seats and disinterested air hostesses hopelessly unaware of how ‘thirsty’ I can be on long flights- only to arrive somewhere and climb into a air-connditioned taxi and drive through Carbon Monoxide infested streets, arriving at the beach with trash all over- (in the line-up and on the beach) Am I really living the dream? Or is the only option left a Donkey cart with Bruce Gold rolling nowhere slowly but at least stepping out of the melee that modern society has left us living amongst- I mean aren’t we as surfers supposed to be the ultimate escapists?

yet we are so embroiled in society’s toils and ignorant of the environmental pressure pushing this planet past the point of recognition- the world as we know it has changed completely- not only is everything so damn expensive it’s borderline ridiculous! Living the life of a freesurfer I get to see and feel the extent of the pressure we are putting on this fine earth- be it ignorance of plastic on far-away islands, conveniently swept up with the coconut husks and natural fibres then chucked in the sea- out of sight out of mind- or the pressure of traffic on the Island of Bali- how many scooters with dodgy two-stroke engines, trucks with dodgy exhausts, people puffing cigarettes everywhere! What are we actually dealing with? Well, on the busride with Bruce Gold from East London yesterday, I decided to get to the bottom of it all- and calculate my own carbon footprint after four countries, ten or so flights, a dozen bus rides and who knows what else- all for a few waves shining glossy at you in a magazine..?

Well, all that carbon-footprint kak is hella confusing so I did my own bita math- Durban-Indo-Papua New Guinea-Indo-Joburg-Cape Town- East London those are just the flights! A good 30 or so thousand miles as the crow flies – never mind driving all over Bali, I mean all over! Missions by scooter, truck and bus all over Papua, and of course all the food, plastic wrappers, and life’s little luxuries in between- HAIBO! That’s a lot of junk to have accrued, a bunch of miles to have traveled and a loada crap to have left behind! So the bottom line then? I really don’t know- how much is enough? We are fed images of empty line-ups advertising easy holidays – easy for you maybe- but what about ya kids or their kids? Will they be able to hit the Mentawiis on a luxury boat trip? I think we all have to slow down a bit- maybe the donkey-cart ain’t such a bad idea? Maybe set-up shop closer to home and be on it when the waves arrive rather then chase them all over the planet? Or move to Indo with a wad of cash, a taste for Indo-women and village life? Chuck it all and bail to some poor country and try do something positive maybe? The bottom line then is to make the effort to be that little bit more aware? Think twice, make a sacrifice and you may not feel it straight away but like the ripples of fresh swell those thoughts might eventually gain enough momentum to give someone else a ‘ride’ further down-the-line?

Thanks to google for the hopelessly confusing search on various sites pertaining to the calculation of one’s carbon-footprint(whatever…)

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