We were staying in Ponta do Ouro and decided to take a day trip to Mili. We left early Monday morning 11 Jan on what we thought were going to be about a 2H30 min trip. The road explained to us would take us to Ponta Malongane and then on the old Tar road to the Maputo road that led to the Westgate entrance off the Reserve. This turned out to be the worst part of the road leading to Mili. We could seldom drive faster then 40 km/h.
We have prepared to stay the night and return the next day after exploring the area. Fishing rods, bedding, gazebo, no tent and some mattresses. And then some food. Which we thought was for us. We got to the gate 2 hours later only 43 km's.
And then the surprise. We were shown to a little office to pay our entrance fee and 1 night accommodation camping in the reserve. The very unfriendly lady gave me a register to complete and told me to look at the english when I asked her a question. She wrote out a permit and told me that it would be R1266. This was for 2 vehicles and 5 adults and one night camping. But I was determined to go to Mili so I payed it with a fake smile.
Permit in hand we started our trip through the bush and savanna leading to Santa Maria. I must admit the overly expensive rates at the gate was soon forgotten. What a awesome park. We saw the first game about 500m from the gate. Deep sand made the going slow but we didn't mind this is not a place to race. The birdlife and game were awesome to see. Driving through thick overgrown bush we saw Kudu, Red Duiker, Reedbuck, Nyala, Giraffe, Zebra and when we got to the floodplains the Elephant. When we got to the lakes we saw Hippo and flamingo feeding in the shallows. The fish eagles were everywhere. Then we got to the clearly marked signs showing the turnoff to Mili.
After some high dunes with deep sand at place we arrived at Mlil and the most used road took us straight to the beach entrance for vehicles and boats and also the little cabin and tent camp of the locals. What an awesome beech. But more later. I don't want to spoil it now.
We decided to look for a camping spot and drove about 400m north from the beech entrance. At this time we were all hungry and decided to braai some good old Boerewors. The ladies started walking around and found a place where walking to the beach was only about 20m away. After a late brunch we move to the campsite they found and started unpacking. The next focus was getting a line in the water as the tide was starting to push. Just some scratching. Using some pink prawn every throw produced a fish and the children were loving it. Some wave garrick, stumpnose and tobies. I didn't bother the go to the bay. That was something for the next morning.
My son went back to the campsite to fetch something and came across one huge mess. The monkeys decided that we brought them some food so the took everything except the meat. That night we had a geat braai. On the menu meat and meat as all the fish were released. Nothing worth keeping for the braai.
The next morning we decided to pack up early and drive to the beach entance and then take the walk to the point. This is a awesome plays. being there at high tide, baitfish was is throwing distance with a net ant deep water leading to a shallow reef.
And now for the bad part before we returned home.
The beach was scattered with all kinds of debris. Not washed up from the sea. The campsite and bungalow where the locals stayed look like a scene from a JHB squatter camp. I could write a lott more about there miss use off there privilege to be there but I don't want to spoil the experience.
