No one had ever told me that Maputo has a sort-of Cuban feel… It’s humid and tropical; filled with interesting, often crumbling, old buildings; and, for locals, music makes everything all right. Many streets are named after political figures (Marx, Lenin, Nyerere, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Il Sung and, yes, Fidel Castro). All that’s missing is the retro cars.
On arriving in a new city, I like to take a tour (the hop-on, hop-off bus kind) to get my bearings and a glimpse of areas that appeal most. Maputo has no such tourist bus service, but I had a great half-day out with Dana Tours.
While getting interesting nuggets of info about the history and current lifestyle (and tip-offs about what I was not allowed to photograph),…