Mozambique

Visas

All visitors (except citizens of Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Zambia and Zimbabwe) need a visa. While the US Department of State continues to advice getting a visa ahead of time, tourist visas are available on arrival at country’s airports and border crossings. After some confusion earlier this year, as of summer 2017 the visa on arrival process appears to be working properly. As per Expertflyer: “Visa Issuance: Visa required, except for Nationals of USA [and most others] can obtain a visa on arrival at Beira (BEW), Nampula (APL), Maputo (MPM), Pemba (POL), Tete (TET) and Vilankulo (VNX) for a maximum stay of 30 days. Some Mozambique consulates seem to be muddying up the waters around the issue by falsely advising people to obtain visas ahead of time as they stand to lose a lot of operational funding without visa applications.

By plane

Most international flights arrive from South Africa, although direct international routes also exist between Mozambique and Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Qatar, and Portugal.

There are several flights daily from Johannesburg to Maputo, operated by South African Airways (SAA) and the Mozambican flag-carrier Linhas Aereas de Moçambique (LAM). Federal Air fly daily direct to Vilanculos International airport. These and other airlines such as Kenya Airways, Swazi Express Airways, TAP Portugal, Qatar Airways also fly from Durban, Swaziland, Dar es Salaam, Harare, Nairobi and Lisbon and Doha. In addition, local carrier Air Corridor may start operating one or more international routes soon.

There are also regular flights to regional airports including Tete, Nampula, Pemba, Beira, Vilanculos and Inhambane from from Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, operated by South African Airlink (SAA), LAM and Kernya Airways. If you make a telephone booking with LAM and will not be paying for your flight until check-in you must reconfirm the flight 72 hours before departure or they are liable to cancel it.

Airport tax in generally included in your ticket at the time of booking.

A visa can be picked up at the Mozambique embassy in Pretoria or the consulate in Cape Town, South Africa, costing R750 for US citizens and issued the same day-often even within minutes. As of December 2016, the Mozambican High Consulate in Mbabane issues single entry visas for US/UK for E700/R700. One person from UK was told 3days however I received my visa same day. Posted hours are M-Th 9-1 & F 9-11. On the day I went they opened late (11am), but they stayed late. Also, they are strict about having printed confirmation of accommodation, so have at least something to show for your first few days in Mozambique.

If you require a Mozambican visa, you might be able to apply for one at a British embassy, high commission or consulate in the country where you legally reside if there is no Mozambican diplomatic post. For example, the British embassy and consulates in Jeddah, Riyadh and Al-khobar[2] accept Mozambican visa applications (this list is not exhaustive). British diplomatic posts charge £50 to process a Mozambican visa application and an extra £70 if the authorities in Mozambique require the visa application to be referred to them. The authorities in Mozambique can also decide to charge an additional fee if they correspond with you directly.

Land borders may also charge a stamping fee on entry, which is generally US$2, but is often waived if you buy your visa at the border. In addition, you must use the visa forms provided at the consulate or border as self-printed versions will not be accepted; at borders, these are free, but Mozambican embassies/consulates generally charge US$1 for the form. If applying at a British embassy, high commission or consulate, the application form is available free of charge from the UK Border Agency website [3].

A tourist visa is valid for 90 days after issue and permits a 30 day stay. Visas can no longer be extended.

There is a USD $100 a day fine for overstaying a visa.

Language

The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese, though many people speak English in the capital Maputo and in touristy areas. The further north you travel the less likely you are to encounter English speakers, and as you enter more rural areas even Portuguese is limited.

Swahili is useful in the far north of the country as you get close to Tanzania, especially along the coast, and Nyanja is spoken near the border with Malawi and Zambia. Some native words from the Shona language can be useful if you are traveling near Cabora Bassa.

Currency

The currency of Mozambique is the new Metical (Meticais Nova Família, MZN), plural meticais (Mts, pronounced ‘meta-caysh’), divided into 100 centavos. In March 2018, one US Dollar was worth about 61 meticais and one Euro was worth about 76 meticais.

Purchasing land or property

If someone offers to “sell” you land in Mozambique walk away immediately, it is a scam. Private ownership of land in Mozambique is impossible, all land is owned by the government and will only be provided for foreign use, under a 99 year lease, under very specific circumstances.

Security

Risks are much the same as many other countries in Africa (and significantly less than some, including parts of South Africa). Nevertheless muggings, robberies, rape and murder do occur, so the normal precautions should be taken. Women absolutely should never walk alone on beaches, in recent years, attacks on women have grown in tourist areas. In particular it’s worth checking with local hostels and other travelers as to where dangerous areas are.

But in general the Mozambican people are extremely warm and friendly and you will encounter far less hassle than in almost all of the countries surrounding it.

Climate

Almost all of Mozambique falls within the tropics and as such, Mozambique features a mostly tropical climate.

Along the coast, Mozambique has a warm, tropical climate. Evenings are rarely cold, except for a few nights in June and July and the rainfall isn’t too high. In summer, temperatures can soar and the humidity levels rise. Temperatures are typically higher in the north, around Pemba and the Zambezi.

The interior plains generally have a higher temperature than that of the coast and have higher rainfall throughout the year. The mountainous regions generally remain cool throughout the year. For up-to date weather forecasts and tide tables visit http://www.climateandweather.com/weather-in-mozambique