Ideal beach holiday destination

That is if you dare take your eyes off the road. Precariously laden bicycles wobble towards you with their huge loads of wood or charcoal and teeter their way around the edge of the huge potholes.
A four-wheel drive vehicle is advisable and we left ours, just on dusk, in the guarded car park and crossed the estuary by motorised dhow as the sun dipped behind the palm trees.
We didn’t have to camp for two nights without camping equipment this time, but they had messed up our booking again and I was relieved when we decided to eat at the restaurant. We wouldn’t have to try to find things to cook in our temporary accommodation.
The World Cup fever mounted on the television and a party of young people from a local NGO gave a festive atmosphere.
“Those Dutches will win,” said the waiter.
The restaurant is set in a well-established coconut grove which is situated between the river estuary and the sea. It’s very basic with a palm thatch roof with the odd coconut palm sticking through the mangrove pole frame and simple wooden tables.
It offers a limited menu of prawns, fish, chicken or steak all served with either rice or chips. There are no puddings and coffee would probably be inadvisable.
Brian and I ordered prawns and Pezanice had fish, at 300 meticais apiece. I felt the prawns were disappointingly dry as though they had come out of the deep freeze and I almost regretted that I hadn’t ordered a prego steak roll. But the flavour was good and a garlic sauce helped with the dryness.
I tasted the fish, we were told it was sawfish, but it could have been anything as it was so dry and over-salted.
The following day we bought three kilos of prawns off a fisherman at 50 meticais per kilo and had a far better and cheaper meal. And the day after that we bought a garoupa which put the sawfish to shame.
You wouldn’t travel to go to the restaurant at Rio Savane unless perhaps you were stuck in Beira with nothing better to do. But if you like the sea, endless beaches and no tourists, it’s the ideal beach holiday destination. And after a long day’s journey, a cold drink and no cooking is most welcome.
After our meal, we walked back along the estuary to our chalet. It was a dark night and the stars were brilliant; the milky way arched overhead like a rainbow above our heads.
The tide was just starting to go out in the estuary and it had left behind minute phosphorescent sea creatures in the sand. They twinkled as we walked and if we kicked the sand thousands of tiny lights momentarily flared.
We walked up to the edge of the mangroves and saw that the mud skippers, those extraordinary fish that leave the water and sit on tree roots, were also luminous.
Then too tired to do more than fall into bed, we fell asleep to the sound of coconut palm fronds clacking in the breeze.
 
Bookings for Rio Savane:
OCEAN SAVANNA
+263 333581-4 or 304971
Mobile : 0914 073 186
Mobile : 0733 400 496 (pm)
4 David Morgan Crescent
Avondale, HARARE.