July 2, 1997

Subject: Belated news
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 97 22:09:40 UTC
From: MPilert@MAF.Org


Greetings to all of you! Things have been busy the past few weeks, and I finally have some time to sit down and fill you in on what has been happening out here in Mozambique.

I have moved from up north in Quelimane back down to Maputo, the capital city. I'll be taking over the position of chief pilot for the country of Mozambique. Our main office is down here. Things have been quite hectic in this transition period. We've had new pilots to train and install in Quelimane, and I've had a lot to learn about my new position. I will be flying the King Air more now, (it is based here in Maputo) I'll still be flying the Cessnas, but it will be mostly instruction, check rides, and fill in for vacations, etc.

My last weeks in Quelimane were good. The dry season is upon us, and the weather had been cooler, and the increased visibility made the flying really enjoyable. I've had some especially nice trips up to the mountains.

Lichinga is a pretty little spot in the mountains near the Malawi border. A few weeks ago I flew over there from Tete, the route took me over Malawi, and right over Lake Malawi. We crossed at Monkey Bay, and I could look back up the coast to Salima, and some of the spots that I has visited on my road trip in 1991 with Steve Church. The lake is crystal clear, and one of the largest lakes in Africa. Everyone had a good time on that flight.

I go to Lichinga mostly for Halo Trust, a non profit de-mining organization. Halo has a base in Lichinga, and they serve a large area from there. Sometimes I stay in Lichinga for a few days at a time, flying out to various smaller villages from there. One day we went up to Cobue a gorgeous village right on the shores of Lake Malawi. The Halo crew has been working on the strip there, and nobody had used the place for 20 years. The crew had done a fine job on the strip. There is a big minefield right across the road from the school in Cobue.

Once a had a whole day off in Lichinga. Bob back in Quelimane had told me that if I asked around I could find some good goat cheese. I found out that I'd have to walk a few kilometers in the woods to the goat ranch. I had the day off, so it was a nice to have a mission. The trail through the trees in the mountains was beautiful, and when I arrived at the cabin, I was surprised to find it was a log cabin just like you would find in the mountains of Colorado. It made me kind of homesick. Got some really good cheese, which is really hard to find in Quelimane.

Walking around the wide well laid out streets, I wonder what this place was like in the colonial days when it was functioning, and brand new. Just outside of town there is a dam, and hydroelectric plant that wan blown up during the war. South African farmers are beginning to move in and start some organized farming, growing wheat, corn, and several other crops. I met one South African woman, who had some undeveloped land in the bush, and forest. She had a lot of wild life, elephants, zebra, lion. She had plans to develop a game reserve. I hope that is possible. Mozambique could use more people like her, a very interesting woman.

I was surprised to find the remains of a crashed DC-3 in the town park in town. They had hauled it in for kids to play on I guess. I tried to find out where and when it went down, but nobody seemed to know. My Portuguese is not so good. Knowing some Spanish helps, but only to a point. Sometimes it seems that I really haven't learned much Portuguese, and have forever ruined my Spanish, I suppose that it will get better.

We took one trip to pick up my neighbor Nick who heads up the Halo operation. We flew up to a very short strip an Namaroi up in the mountains. Nick was loading up his stuff, and asked if he could bring back a land mine that his team had brought in. He showed me that the detonator was removed. We told him that as long as he put it under his seat it would be O. K. We all laughed and back to Quelimane we flew with the mine under Nick's seat, really no hazard with the detonator removed.

So now I have an apartment in the Capital where I can get all kinds of good food. A good variety of fruits and vegetables, that just aren't available up country. Easy duty for now.

Thanks for all your letters. I'll try to be more prompt in the future.

Mike