The history of migration between rural South Mozambique and South Africa, from colonial times to independence and post-apartheid, shows how migration patterns of rural families deeply evolve over time. Shifting and relatively complex combinations of drivers, rooted in the regional political economy and a range of more local and social factors, result in a strong and sometimes very quick adaptation capacity of rural migrants. In the last 15 years, renewed migration drivers and patterns have resulted in a growing differentiation of rural livelihoods.