The dam is subject to drastic water fluctuations throughout the
year. When water levels drop , locals move into the exposed
margins to plant their crops and kraal their cattle.When the dam
fills up again the flooded shores release vast quantities of lifegiving nutrients essential for aquatic life to flourish.
niloticus) Mozambique bream (Oreochromis mossambicus) and
redbreast bream (rendalli). Largescale yellowfish, and redeye labeo
(Labeo cylindricus) occur naturally.
As we pulled into the car park, we were welcomed by Kim
Pemberton. Kim and her husband, Sean, manage the lodge. Shame...
it must be terrible living and working on the doorstep of, what is
without doubt, one of the world’s premier bass dams!
We booked ourselves in, off-loaded the boat and all our kit,
then contemplated our next move. We had a choice: either get the
boat in the water and have a look at the dam, or head into the town
of Chimoio and grab a bite to eat. It was a tough decision. Given
that our short four-day stay would be taken up, in the main, by the
three-day bass tournament, it would be a pity not to use our one free
day to explore the environs of Chimoio. The idea of a plate of garlic
peri-peri chicken, washed down with a couple of ice-cold 2M beers
won - no contest.
Chimoio is a strange place - at first glance, for the outsider, it
is hard to believe that this chaotic town is at the heart of a massive
economic revival. Apart from the main artery roads, the rest are mostly
dirt and weave their way haphazardly through a hodgepodge of old
and new buildings. This must cause havoc during the rainy season.
In the old part of town, close to the railway station, we made our
way through avenues of old-style Portuguese government buildings.
Officialdom in Africa seems to have an obsession with whitewash - in
this respect Chimoio is no different. Stones, rocks and tree bases are
all liberally coated - but not the buildings! This is a common feature
with most structures in Mozambique - they are left unpainted - sad,
dull concrete grey walls stare out at the visitor. This, I am told, is
not because the locals couldn’t be bothered to paint their businesses,
it is because getting the necessary permission to paint anything is
both expensive and involves a lot of red tape. However, Africans are
resourceful. It would appear that if you’re an agent for the local cell
phone franchise you can have your dwelling painted - just so long as it
is bright yellow and blue! And there are thousands of vendors - maybe
that is why airtime is so cheap - market forces and capitalism in full
swing. Zimbabweans could learn a thing or two from these people.
P a g e 30
We bumped our way through the local market. Here you can
buy just about anything from television sets, clothing, shoes, to
stunning locally made, hand-crafted furniture - it really is quite
an amazing spectacle. Of course, one of the busiest centres in
town is Shoprite Checkers - so don’t worry about running out of
supplies, you can get everything in Chimoio - and it’s all relatively
inexpensive.
Having built up an appetite, we headed for the local Agricultural
Show Grounds. To my astonishment, within the grounds is a hive of
businesses, mostly restaurants. We pulled up outside, of all places,
“Arnaldo’s”. Any Zimbabwean who likes good Portuguese food
will remember the eatery of the same name in Harare. Well, it was
more than a coincidence. The proprietors of Chimoio’s establishment
are one-and-the-same! Here we met up with Ian’s brother-in-law,
Brendon, and his family. Ex-Zimbabweans, they moved to Chimoio
eight years ago and have never looked back.
The wonderful mixture of aromas pouring out of the kitchen had
me drooling within minutes of sitting down at our table.
“Cerveja?”” I blurted out to our waiter. Luckily, I am fluent in
two Portuguese words - beer and chicken (galinho)!! They’ve never
let me down.
Brendon came to my assistance rattling off our order in perfect
Portuguese.
The waiter replied in a string of unintelligible words all joined
together with jee’s and joo’s.
A minute later five 2M beers appeared at our table - great, big
brown 500ml bottles of heaven - they still had ice running down their
sides as the waiter put them down. I took a long, refreshing slug.
Beautiful!
There are three main dishes you need to experience in
Mozambique - steak, chicken and pr ]ۜˈ]