Let’s Go To Tete, Mozambique: Part 1 Of 3.

During our annual stakeholder meeting with my partner one of the agenda items was to go somewhere new at least once a quarter. In 2023 we did have a lot of fun and experienced a lot of newness together and we loved it for us. In 2024 we wanted more so we had to do something for Easter – but also because it was a hip hip hooray for loving each other for three years.

We agreed to do a road trip from Blantyre to Tete because it was such a short distance and we thought it was gonna be fun, an improved version of last year’s, cross border road trip.

As the person responsible for itineraries in this relationship, I had to do my research (why I don’t have a PhD in this, I don’t know).

I have split this blog into 3. To make it manageable for you my dear beloveds to read it. Short and sweet is the theme.

Things we did before the trip.

Joined several Facebook groups on things to do In Tete, how to get to Tete.
Watched YouTube Videos. If you search in English, they will be few results. I recommend searching in Portuguese (that is why there is google translator).
Went to Consulate Office of Mozambique to ask.
Contacted the consulate of Malawi in Tete.
My dearest Tutty-Fruity.
I would say, blogs, but there wasn’t much hence prompting me to write a very well detailed blog about this trip.

Requirements

This is what you MUST have to drive to Mozambique. There are several border posts between Malawi and Mozambique. You can cross a through Mwanza, Mulanje, Dedza and Mangochi districts. Initial plan was to use Mulanje-Muloza boarder so that we go to Quelimane, bask by the beach, enjoy the salty ocean waters, but I wasn’t looking forward to being on the road for more than 6 hours.

Valid Passport. If you’re Malawian, who has no passport and not going past Tete, I think all you need is travel permit. Also check if you need a Visa if you’re non-Malawian.
Valid Driver’s License.
Yellow fever card (to avoid unnecessary drama)
Interpol Clearance is K5,000.00. If you’re in Lilongwe go to Area 30 Police, and if in Blantyre, the Police offices between Polytechnic (MUBAS) and the High Court. You need to go with your passport, License and Bluebook
A road worthy car. Have your spare tyres (I had 2), fire extinguisher, your triangles, I even had my engine oil. I was ready.

At The border.

On the Malawi side you will first go through the Malawi Revenue Authority office where you pay K30,000 for export permit. To be honest, you don’t need middlemen for this.
After MRA, you get your passport stamped by immigration. Then you get back into the car, and head out for the gate.
We drove for like 10 min through a town called Zobue, where we found the Mozambique immigration. This was a new one for me, because, Zambia/Malawi is a one stop boarder, but this was something.
At the Mozambique boarder side, youre given a palm sized form to fill. Please have your own pen and make sure you ask from the immigration guys. There is a guy who wanted to swindle us by selling the form to us and wanted a tip for briefly using his pen.
After filling the form, we handed it over to the immigration officer who seemed to be having a bad day because weeeeh mandem threw back our passports. Not even a look up. The hostility was through the roof. Pretty privilege didn’t work here. This should have been hint one.
For the car clearance, we were charged $50. $10 for transit fee, $40 for insurance. He demanded a tip, for what? I don’t know. He gave us the option of paying in Kwacha, USD, rands or Meticals.