Walking through Maputo: a living museum
Mozambique’s struggle for independence is the theme of a commemorative walking tour
"My mom tells me they would queue for hours just to get a loaf of bread," says Edilson Manjate, talking of the Mozambican civil war, as we cross Maputo’s Avenue 24 de Julho on a Saturday afternoon. It’s late winter but I’m in a summer dress. Such is the "cold season" in Maputo. Bougainvillea tumbles along fences that run in front of Art Deco buildings in need of some love, and cars and tuk-tuks weave around each other on the wide streets. I’m walking with the 22-year-old on his newly launched Liberation Tour. By day he’s an electronics student but in his off time the charming and smart youngster is a rising star of the Mozambican tourism scene. After attending English classes and undergoing tourism training, he set about developing a tour that would highlight the names and places that punctuated his country’s fight for independence from the Portuguese. "I spoke to everyone, from veterans of the struggle to grannies, to get a sense of what happened," he explains. Manjate’s walking to...
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