Zombie Cucumber in Mozambiique

After clearing customs and emigration and passport control at King Shaka Airport in Durban, after a short flight from home at Virginia Airport, our adventure had truly begun. We flew north towards Mozambique, following the KZN coastline.

3 Sling aircraft departed together from Durban, our mates Marc and Lee in ZU-SAA and Louis flying solo in his Sling ZU-JAL. We were to rendezvous with the other three planes which had come from Cape Town and Johannesburg and we eventually all arrived within 5 minutes of each other in Vilankulos, Mozambique. We had chosen Vilankulos as it is an international port of entry/exit and we could then fly east across the Mozambique Channel from there to Madigascar in a 5-hour crossing.

The flight to Vilankulos took 5 hours and we arrived there at about 2pm after a long day that had started with wake-up before dawn.

Our first taste of flying over the sea came as we bypassed Maputo and flew out 75 km seawards taking a direct routing that avoided following the bulge of the land. Accommodation for the night before our Channel crossing was at Zombie Cucumber and we stayed there again on our return from Madagascar. Exceptional host Elizabeth saw to our needs and transfers from the airport to the lodge on the edge of the sea. 

Daily News press briefing the day before our departure with the crew flying from Durban

Clearing customs and emigration at King Shaka International, Durban Fri 24 July, the start of our adventure

Life jackets on for our 220 km flight across the Bay of Maputo out to sea as we bypassed Maputo to the northern shores

Llewellyn (left) recently got his pilot's licence so was able to share some of the flying

The view forward as we crossed the Bay of Maputo

Mozambique landscape

We have the airfield in sight as we reach the Mozambique coastline again after routing inland to circumvent the bulge of Mozambique on a direct routing to Vilankulos

Vilankulo International Airport

Our arrival at Vilankulos

International Arrivals - we spent lots of cash at these places paying exhorbitant immigration, customs and landing fees

Parking and refuelling our planes

ZDL displaying our Sling Madagascar Expedition decals kindly organised by The Airplane Factory

Oom Louis as we affectionately called him with his decal on his Sling JAL

Marc in his Sling SAA

The Daily News report of our expedition

Enjoying TipoTinto (rum) and Morango flavour Sparletta only found in Mozambique - my favourite

Some Mozambiquan beach sand

Dave, Llew, Carsten (back), Louis, Marc and Sean on the beach at Vilankulos outside our lodge

TipoTinto and Sparlettas as we check the menu for dinner - Llew, Rae and Jacques

The pool around the bar at Zombie Cucumber

Day 1 of our Sling Expedition draws to a close

The tour group now all together for dinner at Zombie Cucumber in Vilankulos, most meeting the others for the first time today