Trinta e seis anos

There are worse places to wake up on your birthday than Niassa Reserve. Its vastness is awe-inspiring and it was a tranquil moment being awake before others on the deck by the river, staring out for wildlife before the sun beat down relentlessly.

At breakfast Alison produced large volumes of snacks she'd squirrelled into her baggage in the UK and a card signed by friends in the office in Cambridge. Matt presented a bottle of gin he'd picked up in South Africa, infused with flavours from their famous fynbos floral kingdom. Earlier this week I'd been banging on about the global gin craze and encouraging Niassa to get on board by infusing gin with local forest products, and marketing it. Easier said than done when the nearest rations are a 500km drive away.

Rainclouds loomed in the distance and the pilot ferrying us to the northern city of Nampula arrived early to beat the weather, describing his difficult journey of 'much scudding'. Aviation terms are thrown around a lot in places like Niassa as you meet lots of people with pilots' licences and enthusiasm for flying. I usually nod and pretend I know what's going on.

As we took off the pilot briefed us, and added, somewhat bizarrely: 'everyone would be disappointed if I became incapacitated'. Well, yes. Yes we would feel somewhat inconvenienced if we were dead or maimed.

The journey to Nampula, flying low, reminded me of those Earth from the Air books by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Endless stretches of miombo woodland and scrub with very isolated villages almost totally off-grid. Abandoned artisanal gem mines litter some of the small dried up waterways.

From Nampula we hopped to the second city of Beira, where we had a long wait and some time to devour the Party Rings and Kettle Chips that Ali had stashed in her luggage for this very purpose.

Eventually back in Maputo by evening, my baggage had been successfully stored and retrieved by the hotel, and we grappled with the desk staff over broken windows and reasonable security concerns. They made amends by bringing a croissant with a huge red candle sticking out of it.

Our body clocks have adjusted to bush time so by the time we headed for dinner we were whacked, but it was nice to sample another of Maputo's restaurants as there are some great places tucked away.