Flying Adventure: Southern Africa – Day 1 (FAWB – FAKN – FQVL):
Pretoria to Kruger
It is day 1 to our flying adventure into Africa. The weather in the early morning does unfortunately not look as great and clear as we hoped, neither for our planned route, nor the alternative. Low cloud and mist is hanging over both Kruger Mpumalanga and Polokwane airports. We can use either one of them to clear South African customs and immigration.
We decide to stick to our plan via Kruger and work out a few options to land on route, just in case we have to wait for the weather to clear. It turns out to be a good decision. The weather around Polokwane gets worse, whilst the clouds over the escarpment started to break up as we get there. We find a route through the broken clouds and land at Kruger for a hearty breakfast, customs and immigration.
Us well nourished and hydrated, the plane re-fueled and the forecast for Vilanculo positive, we are on the way for take off towards the Mozambique border. Well in time to reach Vilanculo in the early afternoon.
Kruger to Vilanculo
We continue our flight at low level to remain clear of the clouds still hanging around the escarpment. Maputo Approach is not reachable on the day, but we are handed over to Maputo Information, who clears us all the way through to Vilanculo.
The flat interior of Mozambique is vast and spotted with isolated rain and storm cells along the route. We can easily circumnavigate all of them without any major re-routing. Absolutely beautiful sightseeing of fascinating weather phenomena.
Flying still low level as advised by Maputo Info, we cannot get hold of Vilanculo Air Traffic Control as we reach their Terminal Control Area. Contact with Maputo Information is by that time lost since long. And the frequency of Beira Information remains unanswered to all flights we can pick up on the radio. However, the crew of flight Mozambique (LAM) 124, who happened to be in our radio reach, is friendly and helpful, as fellow aviators usually are, and relays our request and clearance from Vilanculo Control. We are set to approach our final destination for the day.
First things first, we fill up our tanks, whilst there is still some Avgas available. After that, we clear customs and immigration smoothly.
We enjoy a cold beer outside the airport whilst waiting for our shuttle to take us to Casa Rex Resort, our place to stay for the next two nights. The resort is centrally located at the beach and serves excellent tasty, fresh food.
The rest of the day and day 2 of our tour is set aside to explore Vilanculo. And relax for our next leg, up to Lake Malawi on day 3.
