When I was in South Africa, it wasn’t exactly the perfect time to visit. It’s been pretty cold everywhere, and the weather was mostly horrible down south. Since it wasn’t even winter at that time, i was hoping to hang out at the beaches in Cape Town— not really feasible when it was raining a lot. After 1 1/2 weeks in South Africa, I just wanted to head to a beach… any beach. And what do you know, Mozambique was right there— a country that’s known for its beautiful beaches. It’s also a great time visit around June— not too warm, and the weather’s pleasant all month. Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, is only 4-5 hours away from Nelspruit. I decided to change my plans. Instead of heading elsewhere in South Africa, I decided to head to Moz instead.

From Nelspruit, the cheapest way to get to Maputo is to take a bus. A single journey ticket only costs about 400 Rand (USD 22) on the average and these buses pass through the Komatipoort border. But first, you have to consider entry requirements… mainly if you would be needing a visa.

Several countries do not need a visa to Mozambique. These countries are:

• Angola
• Botswana
• Cape Verde
• Eswatini
• Kenya
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mauritius
• Namibia
• Seychelles
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

In most cases, if you’re not a citizen of one of these countries, you need to get a visa which you can get upon arrival. If you want to get a visa in advance, you can apply for an eVisa online at this website:

https://evisa.gov.mz/

This eVisa isn’t really a visa though so I don’t know why they call it that. It’s more like a pre travel authorization document— which doesn’t make much sense because you don’t need any authorization to travel when you can get a visa on arrival. You get the actual visa sticker after paying the fee at the port of entry. If you’re a citizen of one of these countries below though, you’re out of luck. You can’t get a visa upon arrival, nor can you apply for an eVisa online. You need to visit the closest Mozambique Embassy to get a visa:

• Bangladesh
• Ethiopia
• Nepal
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Somalia

If you’re applying for an eVisa or if you plan on getting one upon arrival, you need to submit the following documents:

• A copy of your passport’s ID page
• a recent passport size photo
• return ticket
• proof of financial means (i.e. a bank statement or bank certificate)
• proof of paid hotel reservation

That last one is quite tricky because you need to pay for at least one night in advance before hotels can send you one. It’s tricky because a lot of hotels only accept wire transfers which come with hefty fees. Some accept PayPal though, and some of the expensive hotels accept credit card payments online. A visa costs USD 160— that’s real hefty for a single entry visa. Whether you’re applying for an eVisa or getting one on arrival, you’ll pay at the port of entry. You can’t pay in advance. At least at the airports, they accept credit cards.

Now if you’re a citizen of the following countries, you’re in luck. You don’t have to spend as much to enter the country:

• Belgium
• Canada
• China
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Ghana
• Indonesia
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Ivory Coast
• Japan
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• USA

Since May 2023, citizens of these countries do not need a Visa. They just need to pay 650 Meticals (about USD 10) upon arrival. They won’t usually check for proof of accommodations or return tickets if you’re from one of the above mentioned countries, but have these ready just in case.

So yeah, initially my plan was to take a bus. It’s easy and quick. But then I’ve heard somewhere that these buses wouldn’t wait for everyone— they’d leave passengers if they’re taking too long. I asked several people about this, and everyone I asked said it’s true. It’s not a problem if you’re a citizen of Mozambique or even South Africa— you’ll be on a different queue. Everyone else— those who are getting a visa on arrival, those who already have an eVisa, everyone who needs to pay to enter, they’ll all be lining up in a single queue. They may open more counters, but I’ve been told that usually there’s only one because that counter also serves as a cashier. I checked out flights to Maputo. Flights from Johannesburg weren’t too expensive. One direct flight only cost USD 110 (usual prices seem to be USD150-180 so it appears I got lucky). That was within my budget so I decided to fly and not risk it. If you do decide to risk it, you better be one of the first people getting out of that bus so you’d be one of the first people lining up at the port of entry. If the bus leaves without you, I’ve been told there are taxis and “chapas” (mini vans) waiting on the other side of the border. You’d need to have Mozambican Meticals on hand though, these chapas won’t accept foreign currency.

So I took a bus back to Johannesburg, spent one more night there, then headed to O.R. Tambo for the short flight to Mavalane International Airport in Maputo. The flight only lasted for about an hour, and I thought I’d be able to get out of the airport quickly. We seemed to be the first flight to arrive that day. I was one of the first people to get out of the plane, and there were only a few people ahead of me at the port of entry. Upon arriving at the immigration area, the airport staff made all foreigners line up in separate queues:

• those who can enter without a visa
• those who already have a visa on their passports
• those who only need to pay 650 Meticals to enter
• those who already have an eVisa
• those who are getting a visa on arrival

It was here where I experience the complete lack of efficiency that seemed to be widespread in Mozambique.

Those belonging to the last three groups? Sure there were three lines but there’s only one lady behind the counters, checking all documents and handling all payments, so everyone needed to pass through her. So what started out as three separate lines turned into one huge line wherein the very end was totally disorganized because everyone was jockeying to be next in line. There’s no order at all. You basically have to fight for your place in line because no one would care if you got there first. There are airport staff near the counters, but they’re just standing there, looking at their phones. What were they even doing at the airport? At the very least, they could have kept the queue in order. Initially I was the 8th person on one queue, and it still took me almost 2 hours to get through immigration. And you know what made the entire process take so much longer? If you already have an eVisa they’d still check the required documents one by one which completely holds up the line. Pray tell, why even bother getting an eVisa when you’re basically gonna submit all documents again for inspection upon arrival. Might as well just get one when you arrive.

After that grueling ordeal wherein i almost got into a fight with several Chinese people who kept jumping the line, I went straight to the baggage claim area to get my bag. First order of business: I needed some local currency. There are several currency exchange kiosks as well as ATMs in the arrival area. I still had a lot of South African Rand left so I had those exchanged, then I went to an ATM to get more cash. Before I arrived I’ve heard that ATMs in Mozambique only accept Visa cards. That’s right, Mastercard doesn’t work. Nor do the other payment card networks. Only Visa. And as of June 2025, that’s still the case. Apparently there’s been a nationwide problem with the Mastercard network for more than a year now and they still haven’t fixed this. So before your trip, if you plan on getting cash from ATMs make sure you have a Visa card.

Once I’ve gotten cash, the next thing I usually do upon arrival is to get a local SIM card. There are several shops selling SIM cards at the arrivals area, but I chose to buy in the city center instead because I’ve heard it’s much cheaper. My hotel had a free airport pick up service anyway so I didn’t need cellular data to use a navigation app. Later that day, I kinda wished I just bought one at the airport. I went to several different places— a couple of makeshift stalls on random sidewalks in the city, two Vodacom stores and one Movitel store. It’s hard to communicate if you’re not fluent in Portuguese. An overwhelming majority of locals do not speak English at all. I thought I could get by with my Spanish and I was wrong. Portuguese is kinda similar to Spanish, but not really. And the Mozambican accent makes it even more difficult. Even those live voice translate apps are iffy lol. I was only able to buy one with the help of a Yango driver who I paid to drive me around and accompany me the entire day. He did all the talking while I just waited. Apparently Vodacom has the widest coverage in the country but the week i was there they weren’t issuing new prepaid SIMs for some reason, so i went with Movitel which is the second best. The third option, Tmcel, has cheaper plans but they have limited coverage.

So yeah, I decided to stay in a hotel for a night in Maputo and they had a free airport pick up service— which was surprising since I only paid 35 bucks for a night. If your hotel doesn’t offer this service, there are lots of taxis waiting outside. Unsurprisingly, they would charge a lot. Expect to pay 400-500 Meticals (about USD 6-8) from the airport to downtown. A cheaper option is to use the Yango App, which is basically their Uber. A ride to the city center would cost less than 100 Meticals (less than USD 1.50!). However, during my trip there seemed to be a problem with the sign up process. See, you need to enter a one time PIN that they send via text message. I tried signing up before arriving in the country and several more times while I was in Mozambique— using a South African number, a USA number, and a Mozambican number. I never got any one time PIN.

There’s actually a much more cheaper option to reach downtown from the airport. Head outside the airport, and on the main road there are gonna be chapas (minivans) passing by. You can’t miss these because they’re usually full of people. And when i say full, I say really full. They’ll keep getting passengers as long as people would still fit. Most people are gonna be standing. In one chapa that i took, there were 31 people inside. 🤣 Just ask if they’re heading to “Baixa” — pronounced as “bah-shah“, which means downtown in Portuguese. If they say yes, hop in— if you still can. It only costs 19 Meticals (30 US cents)… but come on. Even if you’re on a really tight budget, surely taking a Yango is still affordable? If somehow you can’t sign up for Yango like me, I guess taking a chapa makes more sense if you’re on a tight budget. But keep in mind that they’re gonna fit as many people as they can in there. And I’m pretty sure they’re gonna charge additional for every luggage you have cause you’d be taking up space that they could have used to fit in more passengers. Also, these chapas follow a certain route. Their routes may not be close to your accommodation, you may eventually need to transfer to another chapa or end up taking a taxi anyway.

As soon as I stepped outside the baggage claim area, I saw a dude holding a huge sign with my name on it. I rarely avail of pick up services at the airports, so yeah seeing my name on a sign made me feel kinda special.😹 I’ve heard of how bad the traffic could get in Maputo, so i was expecting the worst. Surprisingly, it only took about 20 minutes. Even when I explored the city, traffic wasn’t too bad even during rush hour. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve been to cities with worse traffic. The traffic situation in Maputo seems bearable in comparison.

After leaving my bags in my hotel room, I headed out and saw a dude selling prepaid SIM cards and top ups right outside the hotel entrance. That was my first unsuccessful attempt at getting one. He can’t seem to get through the registration process, and we tried with 3 different carriers. There was a Vodacom store a block away, and they told me i can’t buy SIM card. They didn’t even tell me why. I figured I’d head further downtown. Since I was pretty tired, I wasn’t keen on navigating the chapa system within the city yet. i headed back to the hotel and they booked a Yango for me. Luckily the driver spoke English— it wasn’t perfect English but we understood each other and that’s all that mattered. We went to the biggest Vodacom store in the city and that’s when I found out that they were having problems with the entire system so they can’t activate new SIM cards for tourists. So we went to a Movitel store instead. That problem that the guy outside the hotel was having? We encountered the same problem at the store. Seems the system can’t verify my credentials. Maybe it thought I was using a fake passport. Idk. Eventually after an hour they got it to work, and all that time it was my Yandex driver talking to the staff. i doubt i could have gotten a SIM card that day if it weren’t for this dude. Since I couldn’t register with Yango, i asked him if he could drive me around the city for the rest of the day for a fixed amount and luckily he said yes. He helped me buy a bus ticket for the next day, then took me to the attractions in the city that I wanted to visit. So I gave him 1500 Meticals (about 23 USD) at the end of the day, and I also treated him lunch. Yeah I’m aware that’s probably too much. A single Yango ride within the city only costs around 60-100 Meticals depending on the distance, but the dude also served as my personal driver, translator, and tour guide for the day. I was happy to give him that much.

I have to be honest here. Maputo is your typical capital city in Africa. Most of it is chaotic, but arguably that’s part of its charm. It’s a good mix of buildings from the colonial era as well as newer structures. There are lots of sketchy areas in the city, but just like any other city there are several “affluent bubbles”. Head to the coastal neighborhoods like Polana, Sommerschield, and Costa Do Sol if you need to get away from the chaos or if you wanna chill by the coast. The fancy hotels are also mostly located in these areas. Costa Do Sol is particularly popular for its nightlife. I never got to check out the nightlife in Maputo but I’ve heard good things about it. In fact, a group of Swazis that i met in a hostel told me they travel to Maputo whenever they want to party.

Most of the attractions are in the Baixa area. To get a glimpse of daily living, head to the Mercado Central. The Central Railway Station is well maintained and it’s worth checking out. Someone might try to scam you and say you need to pay them a certain amount to enter— ignore them, entrance is free.

Don’t miss the Fortaleza De Maputo, it’s one of the most iconic spots in the city. Built in 1782, it now serves as a small museum. It only costs 50 Meticals (about 75 US cents) to enter.

Is it safe in Maputo? Clearly many people aren’t well off, so crime does occur. Many tourists fall victim to pickpockets. I’ve mostly been walking around on my own and I never felt unsafe. Most of the locals are very friendly and they try to help you out even if you can’t understand Portuguese. Granted, I never walked around late at night. I’ve been told that violent crimes aren’t common. There was this one time though when I was on a chapa and one dude on the street started shooting at another guy who was running away from him. This happened a few feet away from me, I was so shocked I just ducked— i didn’t even think of bringing my phone out to record what was happening. 🫠 What’s funny was, after those two had passed, everyone around me just went on with their lives as if nothing happened. 🤷🏻‍♂️ So is the city totally safe? After seeing something like that up close, I’d have to say no. But after i told the staff at the hostel about it, they assured me that it was a rare occurrence. I’m taking that with a grain of salt. Just look at the travel advisories posted by different countries. I know that these travel advisories tend to be overly exaggerated so as to err on the side of caution, but these advisories are still based on facts. The reality on the ground seems to be somewhere in between.

One thing I’ve noticed while exploring the city— there are so many mosquitoes. No wonder malaria prophylaxis is highly recommended prior to arrival. In all the hostels I’ve stayed at in the country, mosquitoes were such a big problem. Mosquito nets are a necessity in order to get a good night’s sleep. Since heading to Mozambique wasn’t part of my original plan, I had to buy meds in South Africa. Of course, even if you get bitten by a ton of mosquitoes, that doesn’t mean you’ll get malaria. Malaria has a very high incidence rate in Mozambique though and I didn’t want to risk it. Malaria isn’t something you’d want to get while travelling. It will completely ruin your trip.

One more thing: if you’re departing the country from Mavalane International Airport, keep your eye out for the Airport Mafia i.e. the airport security personnel. They completely soured my impression of the country. After checking in, I was about to head up to the departure area when two airport security personnel blocked my way, saying stuff in Portuguese. I told them “eu não falo português“. They said wait for their “boss”. I turned around and saw a fat dude approaching us. This dude spoke English, and he told me point blank that i cannot pass through unless i gave them 100 US Dollars or 100 Euros. I was like, WTF. Such audacity. These guys were basically robbing me in broad daylight in a very public place. Yeah they were legit airport security personnel. They showed me their IDs, and other security personnel who were passing by were acknowledging them. I told them i had no Dollars or Euros on me. They said they would accept the equivalent amount in Meticals. I said I don’t have that much money left since I was flying home. They asked how much do I have left. I did have some Meticals left, but i did not want to give these crooks any of my money. I said I had no cash left, I spent it all. Then the “boss” said they’ll take me to the nearest ATM so I could withdraw money. And let them empty my bank account? No way. I looked around and i saw that other security personnel were doing the same thing to two other solo male travelers. They were letting solo female travelers pass through, as well as those traveling in groups. I was like, screw this, there’s no way I’d let these thieves steal money from me so blatantly. I waited until a crowd of people were near us and i raised my voice. At the top of my voice I said “why do i need to pay you 100 dollars just so I could pass through when all these other people are able to pass through without paying anything?! Are you trying to scam me?! Is this how you treat tourists?!” Guess they were so shocked when i did that, they didn’t even block my way when i started walking away. 🤣

I’m used to airport staff in developing countries who discreetly ask for money, but this was completely different. It’s outrageous how I was blatantly getting robbed by airport security personnel. Several travelers I’ve met who rented vehicles and drove around the country had similar experiences from authorities. Many times they’ll get stopped by the police for some vague traffic violation, and they’ll only let them go once they give them money… and they ask for a lot. Whenever i was on buses or chapas as I was traveling between towns, I noticed that the drivers hand out cash to the police on every stop. It’s not just tourists they’re taking advantage of. They’re also taking advantage of their own people who are barely able to get by.

Seriously, how messed up can your country be when you can’t trust the authorities, when the authorities themselves are such shameless crooks. I know that Mozambique is a poor country. I know that the civil war just ended in 1992 and there are still regional conflicts going on in the country. These aren’t valid excuses for this kind of behavior.

Most Mozambicans are nice people. I’d say I’ve made a lot of beautiful memories during my time in the country. When you have to deal with the authorities though, expect the worst. They’re either lazy or corrupt, you’d be surprised if they weren’t. Arguably, they represent the worst that this country has to offer. Mozambique is beautiful. If they only manage to get things in order, this country would surely be one of the top tourist destinations in Africa.