Chapas are not my favorite mode of transportation, as they can be pretty uncomfortable. The weather in Tofo, Mozambique is very hot and humid. It is also very uncommon for chapas to have air conditioning so it gets incredibly hot riding on a full chapa during the day! Although the chapas can be a bit crowded, they run regularly and are a very affordable way to travel longer distances.
Chapas are a common way for people to travel around in southeastern Africa. They have different names in different countries but the concept is still the same. In most areas where you find chapas, there is no public transportation option like a city bus. Sometimes there are chapas in bigger cities that do have city buses, but the chapas are much cheaper.
In cities, if the chapas did not exist in my area of Mozambique people would have to spend much longer traveling. Most people would have to walk everywhere, which would make life much harder. Can you imagine having to walk 30 minutes to school every morning?
I do not have a car in Mozambique so the chapas are an important mode of transportation for me!
