Test Magazine fdsfds | Page 30

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]