Can a Brit Drive in Mozambique? — Yes, Left-Hand Traffic, IDP Recommended

Mozambique rewards drivers with a long Indian Ocean coastline that buses can’t reach, and for a British visitor there is an immediate comfort: it drives on the left. The licence and the side of the road are the simple parts. What shapes a Mozambican road trip is the checkpoints, the surfaces and the discipline of finishing before dark.

Driving in Mozambique on a UK licence

You can drive in Mozambique on your UK licence, and an International Driving Permit is recommended to carry with it. Here the IDP earns its keep: Mozambique has frequent police checkpoints, and a recognised permit alongside your licence and passport makes those stops quicker and smoother. Sort the IDP at a UK Post Office before you travel. Our Mozambique driving guide covers the destination rules, and the Driving Permit Checker confirms what to carry.

No side switch — Mozambique drives on the left

For British drivers, this is the easy part. Mozambique drives on the left, the same as the UK, so there is no mirror-image relearning at roundabouts or junctions and no wrong-way glance to unlearn. The car is laid out as you’d expect and your instincts are right from the start — which lets you focus on the genuine challenges rather than your own reflexes.

Checkpoints, surfaces and the alcohol rule

Police checkpoints are a routine feature of driving here. Keep your documents accessible, stay calm and polite, and have the originals ready — an IDP helps. The roads themselves vary enormously: the main EN1 corridor is largely paved, but secondary routes turn to potholes, gravel and washed-out sections, and stopped vehicles are often unlit. Limits run to roughly 50 km/h in towns, 80 km/h on rural roads and up to 100 on the better highways, but the surface, not the sign, sets your safe speed.

The drink-drive limit is 0.06, just under the UK’s 0.08 — close enough that the honest advice is simply not to drink before driving, given the lack of margin on dark rural roads. Avoid night driving where you can. The emergency number is 112, and fuel runs around $1.12 a litre; fill up in the larger towns, as stations are sparse between them. Check posted limits against our Speed Limit Map before each leg.