Do and don't in Mozambique

Not many.

There are five links to blogs on living in Moambique on this site. Visit those and you can get a feeling of what their lies is like.

Mozambique is a vast country basically joined together by the Portuguese language. In my experience people are quite friendly and try to be helpful but if you don't speak a latin language then nothing is easy.

I speak very little Portuguese and have no clue what is going on most of the time. Unfortunately I don't have much sparetime to learn the language. I've been her for 4 months and probably have 10-12 months left before I finish my contract. The country as such is nice enough I suppose, but I find there is not much to do - unless you live in Maputo. Maputo is basically like any other major city.

In any case tell me what you plan to do here and then I can probably tell you a bit more.

Relocation to where exactly - which town?

Cost of living vs. Salaries... Yes, well which kind salary do you expect getting? Minimum wage for 48/hrs per week is less than 100 USD/month. If I was paid 100 USD/month I would die within a few days.

The language barrier was the biggest surprise - and the lack of an expat community in my area.

I wouldn't know. I don't what the prices are like in Maputo But I would guess that you can get a decent albeit small apartment for say 1500 USD/month. The infrastructure in Maputo is fair - not good but fair.

I would guess a good bookkeeper can get around 1000-1500 USD per month. I hope you speak Portuguese because the paperwork here is ridiculous. If not you'll need a good experienced assistant running the show and that will probably cost you 1000-1500 USD.

Assuming that you are Mazungus I'd guess you can live for around 1000 USD per month (food only) as couple. If you have kids then it'll obviously be more expensive. Schools I have no clue about. Utilities are fairly cheap.

A driver costs around 200-300 USD/month.

Note that you'll need workpermits and getting those is probably a hassle as well.

I hope you realize that people tend not to paint buildings here - they don't have the funds for it. So you'll need to make sure you have done your market research well and make sure that you can get into the segments that actually paint their buildings.

Where do you live now?

I work for a contractor and I doubt that we will get work in this region again (not much development going on here). I might accept staying in Maputo, but Beira is not much fun. I would say that I've done my time here...

RSA is like going to tinseltown compared to this place.

I'm Scandinavian.

It is a Portuguese speaking country, so there is a language barrier unless you make an effort to learn Portuguese. It's easy to find a teacher and get some lessons and people are really happy to make an effort to understand you if you try to communicate. I don't think anyone should think about relocating without first having work lined up - it's not legally possible to live here unless at least one person in the family has a job.
There is a lot of information available about work and investments on www.acismoz.com and there are about 200 companies listed on that site, with contacts, some of whom would be able to help with relocation and employment issues.
Pricing is difficult to guess, it really depends on what you want and where. The days of massive salaries are definitely gone and the cost of living here is among the highest in the region. Maputo has some decent property agencies that would help with finding property reliably.