"A wonderful place high over the Niassa... " a Lichinga Travel Page by lichinga

Lichinga was conceived as a military camp for Portuguese invading troops far in the North. At that time Portugal and UK were "fighting" a geographical race: who will be the first to link North to South (the UK) or East to West (Portugal) of Africa? The UK won, but Portugal was not so far behind. Lichinga was originally name after famous explorer Cabral: Vila Cabral, i.e. Cabral City and the name changed soon after the independence of Mozambique in 1980.

Important note - My pictures are old and discoloured slides, difficult to scan, but I wanted to give you an idea of how Lichinga is looking like and I found those three pictuers on the web. Thanks to the unknown-to-me author!

The map of the city is similar to an incomplete web, with three circles sharing the same centre: Praca da Independencia, where the Regional Governement, the Bank, the Church and the main military HQ's are situated. The Concelho Municipal is right behind the Regional Gov.nt palace.

The "Pousada", i.e. the "Inn" has been for a lomg time the only place where one could stay when arrived at Lichinga. During my period there, it was a dauily miracle for the manager of the "pousada", Mr Anwar Fazal, to find something to offer his guests for breakfast or lunch. Even water was not so easy and they have almost always been able to bring the guest a 20 litres hot water early in the morning.