Malawi Pictures Here:
Zambia Pictures Here:
Week 13 Update:
Day 85:
Although we were in no great rush to pack up and leave, we still managed to pack everything away, pay our bill and have a chat to the owners of Crock Valley Camp before 9am. We filled our water tank with their well water which was clean and tasty and hit the road. The top tip we got from the owner was to visit the butchery by the fuel station in Mfuwe. “This butchery gets an assignment of really good meat once a week. If you can find out when this happens, it is really worth going there and filling your freezer! The meat quality is fantastic and the prices really cheap!” was his advice. We followed it and were really impressed! In the butchery we found Pork Fillet which looked really good and a few other bits of meat we could spend our remaining Zambian Kwacha on.
The road from Mfuwe to the border town of Chipata was horrendous! Not unexpected as we were told that the 130km would take us about 3 hours or so. The flood damage to the road was very clear, but to be fair to the Zambians, they had been busy tarring the road and have come quite a way with the preparation process. It was due to be completed in September 2010, but we though that December 2010 was a more realistic time frame. As we came down a long hill we saw a few of my countrymen approaching from the front, obviously on their way to Mfuwe. Three vehicles had already passed us by the time we rounded a long bend and met number four he got such a fright at the sight of us that he completely over corrected his line by steering his Land Rover Discovery’s left hand wheels into the tall grass next to the road. As we passed him a strange movement caught my eye. I saw him hit something in the tall grass and looking in my side mirror I saw him on two wheels swerving. I immediately stopped and reversed, surprised, but pleased to see him right side up next to the road. I walked over to ask if they were OK and saw that they had completely busted the two left hand wheels hitting a rock or something in the tall grass. Understandably, the driver and passenger where both a little shocked from the experience and white as ghosts.
The fifth vehicle in the seven vehicle convoy arrived at that time and I decided to move Maggie out of road and help them change some tyres. When I turned the key in the ignition nothing happened though and I immediately knew exactly what the problem was as this was not the first time. From the really rough road one of the battery poles came loose and there was no power reaching the ignition. Annoyingly I did buy new battery poles in Cape Town on week two, but never put them on. Knowing that this was only a small issue I jumped out, opened the bonnet and put the pole back on the battery promising myself to change the poles the next day. I walked back to the drivers door which had blown closed in the wind and to my surprise I could not open it. I tried the other doors and they were also all locked. When I looked through the window at the ignition, I saw why and immediately awarded myself the prize for “The strangest thing that has happened to your car” for the second time in two weeks: The immobilizer locks the central locking when the ignition is turned on, and unlocks it when it is turned off. I had left the ignition on when getting out to put the battery pole back and as soon as the power came through, the central locking locked the car… with the keys inside. At this point you may think that I surely had spare keys, and you’d be right. I did. I gave them to Catt before leaving home and she put them safely in her handbag, which was safely in the car at this point. Funny thing is that this was the second time in our travels together that he had managed to lock both sets of keys inside the vehicles. You’d think that we would learn.
So… while half the men were tending to the tyres of the discovery, the other half were trying to help me get the car unlocked. In theory I though that if I could take the power away from the ignition, the car would unlock, so I managed to get the bonnet open and undid the battery pole again to no effect. We then thought that we could push the central locking button with a piece of wire that we could sneak in through the door. We tried and failed as the wire was too soft. The next idea was to hook the keys in the ignition with a wire which I managed quite easily and then try and turn them by winding the wire up, which I was working on. It was a lot harder to turn the key than what I thought it would be and at some point I even tried to yank the key out of the ignition. This only managed to bend the key ring open and send the other keys flying across the car. I was still fiddling with the concept when Catt announced with some surprise that she was inside the car and she could open the door for us. It seemed that in the yanking and twisting I had moved the key just enough to unlock the passenger side door. We were back in business! All I needed to do was clean my hands and we could drive off, slightly embarrassed at my stupidity. When I tried to open the barn door at the back it wouldn’t budge though. Closer inspection showed a broken door handle. This was obviously done by either me, or one of the friendly helpers who tried to open the rear door when the car was locked. I needed to somehow bend a piece of wire to catch a little clip to pull on to open that door as well. BOLLOCKS… was about the only thought I could manage.
It took around 45 minutes from the time we stopped to help someone to the time we had discovered the broken handle, bypassed it, cleaned my hands and were on our way again. Our next obstacle being another African border post, I was not what you would describe as “a bundle of joy” to be around. The fact that I had to also deal with a horde of moneychangers at the border to pay for the Malawi entry did not help my mood one little bit. At least I had found out what the exchange rate was the day before and I was determined not to get taken for a ride.
At the border we were immediately approached by six money changers. I opened the window slightly and explained that if one person approaches me when I had parked, I would deal with him. If all of them crowded me, I would deal with no one. They obviously did not understand this as when I parked all six of them and another couple stormed the car. I refused to deal with any of them and reminded them of my condition for doing business. With that Catt and I walked inside to do our paperwork. Leaving Zambia took less than 5 minutes which included a friendly chat to the customs guy who filled in and stamped the Carnet. Outside we were approached by one money changer, with seven looking at him, but quiet, so I decided to deal. I asked his rate, which was really good and agreed on an exchange of $100 at MK165 per $1. He gave me MK10 000 to count which I did. He then gave me MK650 to count and I stopped, catching his scam and correcting his match to MK6 500. He apologized and handed me the MK6 000. I asked for the rest and he handed me MK50, which should have been MK500, but to let him save face I let it slide. Besides, the official exchange rate of the day was MK154 per $1, so I was scoring big time.
Malawi side was next and I did not really expect any trouble. We did immigration which was free. Then we got the Carnet filled in and stamped and asked what else we needed to pay or do. The customs lady shook her head and said: “Nothing, with your Carnet, you are done, provided that you have insurance” We had Comesa, so we were done. The complete border crossing took us less than 30 minutes and cost absolutely nothing. I could tell that I was going to like Malawi a lot.
The drive to Lilongwe was easy and even at the national speed limit of 80km/h we were making great time, reaching town before mid afternoon. We needed some cleaning things and toiletries so popped into the Shoprite to get that. It was well stocked in deed, but we almost popped arteries at the insanely high prices they charged. We bought as little as we could make do with and left in search of accommodation.
Much has been written and discussed in the forums we read about accommodation in Lilongwe without a clear conclusion. There was a Golf Course which offered camping, but apparently this was expensive with terrible facilities. Eric from Land and Lake Safaris referred us to Sanctuary Lodge, but we could not find it on any of our maps. We went into their office which was easy to find and got some directions and prices. We were also told about the Mabuya Camp by him and their prices were half of the golf courses. As I had also read some positive things about them on the internet, we decided to go there thinking that at $4.80 per person, we couldn’t really argue. Just inside the yard we were met by Janey, the owner and she pointed at places we could camp. The place was clearly a Backpacker’s lodge complete with bar, swimming pool and pool table, but with nice lawn, friendly people and dogs and fast internet at very reasonable prices. We decided to stay for three days.
A quick chat to Janey revealed that Shoprite was NOT the place to go and it was agreed that she would point us in the right direction the next morning as we had a week’s worth of food to buy as well as finding a place to rotate our tyres and swop some rims and rubber around. We pitched our tent within throwing distance of the bar in the best place available, dealt with dinner swiftly and went to bed happy with the prospects of exploring our fourth African country.
Day 86:
Some time in the early hours I woke up from the sound of a squeaky female voice followed by the grotesque sound of someone throwing up and the slurring encouraging words of the person who was holding back the hair of the projectile vomiter. I instantly remembered why I did not like backpackers Lodges or hostels, but decided to let that one slide and not be bothered by it. By 7am we were up and ready for a hot shower and to start our day. The hot shower was cold, but adequate, the basins were disgustingly dirty as the other guests had never learnt to rinse them after using them, but I did not let that get me down either.
By 8:30 we had had a chat with Janey who referred us to a place called “Foodworths” for meat, the market for vegetables and fruit and a suitable tyre place with car wash for the vehicle needs. We decided to shop for meat first. Foodworths was right next to the Wilderness Safari office and right around the corner from Sanctuary Lodge. We popped into Wilderness to get see info and see about bookings before braving the food store. We were helped by a young man with a vast knowledge of the country and the accommodation offerings and got really sound advice. Deciding to wait for Pete and Annie (Catt’s parents) to arrive the next day before making bookings, we thanked him and walked to the shop.
Although small, the shop had all the things you’d expect from Woolworths in South Africa or Mark’s in the UK. Looking at the prices, we were once again speechless! It was ridiculously expensive. Our conclusion was that Malawi’s groceries simply were that expensive as surely the owner of a Backpacker’s would not send us to the most expensive place. We ended up buying the cheapest cuts, but an ample amount to see us through the following six days.
Next was car stuff. We found the tyre place and explained what we needed doing. I asked a price which was met with a “we’ll talk when the job is done”. Remembering my welding experience in Monze a few weeks before I smiled and insisted that we agree a price before any work could start. Price agreed we got the two best rims and tyres as the rear wheels, the next two best combinations on the front and the worst combinations as spares. I felt that that should see us through the next three months of our trip. The car wash, after no allowing them to wash the car before agreeing a price wanted to charge MK4 000 (about $26) for a chassis and engine wash which after recovering from my hysterical laughter, I declined and left.
We battled traffic towards the market next. Lilongwe seemed to have three of four main roads linked by round about that does not really work. It took us over half an hour to travel 8 kilometres before reaching the absolute chaos of the paid car park by the market. We barely managed to squeeze into a space which seemed half the size of the vehicle and fell into the stream of traffic of the over crowded typical African market. We entered on the hardware side. Our little play in the mud had cost us a rear red reflector, so we were in search of reflective tape rather than another reflector. My math was still very new to the lack of zeros in the new African currency, so after bitching a little at some traders for their prices for the tape, Catt reminded me that is was only about $1.25, which was about 10% of what the same thing cost in South Africa. I had to return to one of the vendors with my tail between my legs and buy it at the end. Only this guy decided to up his price by 400% in-between my two visits. I walked away, got followed, we bargained, and I ended up with my white and red reflective tape at the original price of MK200. We also managed a week’s worth of really good quality veggies for four people for about $8. What we did find very expensive was fruit, so we settled on some bananas and Paw-Paw and left the expensive Oranges there.
Back at Mabuya we told Janey about the car wash rip off and she offered one of her staff for a tip, rather than a fixed price. She suggested about MK500, which I felt much more realistic. We also massaged to organize a laundry service with the lodge. The man behind the bar told us that they charge MK1000 for a big bag of washing, but as they were out of bags, we could bring our own. I asked him if a pillow case sized bag would constitute a big bag, to which he nodded “yes”. We stuffed the pillow case quite full, but managed to get all our laundry in one bag. We also subscribed to their WIFI at MK500 for half a day. This was the fastest and most reliable Internet we had managed to find since leaving South Africa as well as the cheapest by a mile.
The early evening was marked by backpackers getting sloshed in the bar and watching a random World Cup Football match and the latter part of the evening was dominated by the same people, by then barely conscious, shooting some pool. We were happy in our little camping spot doing our thing though so there was no real disturbance. We had pitched our ground tent that afternoon as we were due to pick up Pete and Annie from the airport the next day and that would be there accommodation while in Malawi. This offered us the rare luxury of sleeping on the ground, and not needing to take down our roof tent before driving the next day. It did not take us long to fall asleep at all.
Day 87:
I was woken up at 4AM by a few loud people scurrying around the camp site and at least one vomiter amongst them. NICE, I thought as he was dry heaving after emptying his stomach, this really was a place to recommend for the seeker of quiet travel. I eventually dared go outside our tent around 7AM and decided to hit the showers straight away. The theory was that neither the Pool legends nor the 4AM vomiting party would have had time to sober up enough to actually work a tap by then, so the hot water should have been plenty. Wrong! The area around the basins was, once again, filthy. To clarify though: It’s not like they were not being cleaned 10 times a day by the staff, they were just being misused faster than they could be cleaned. The shower was cold… again, which I found slightly annoying, but reminding myself that we were paying less than $5 pp a night to camp, I let it slide…. Again.
We had a lazy morning in the garden before setting off towards the airport. On the way out we stopped by the Metro Cash and Carry to try and find some pillows which the parents had requested but had no luck. We did however have a quick look in their butchery and found the same quality meat as what we filled our freezer with at 2/3rds of the price we had paid the previous day. I was not completely over the moon, but so you learn. We did manage to find some pillows in another shop and reached the tiny airport complex at the time the flight was supposed to get in.
Whether the flight did land on time or not we could not tell as they had no information boards up. The airport seemed to be undergoing some renovations to the arrivals area and as this was boarded up, the information was a little scarce. Pete and Annie did however make their appearance before long, was met by the car hire agent (Maggie only has two seats), got he hire car sorted and followed us back to Mabuya. As this was a Sunday the traffic was non existent, so it took us no time at all to get back.
After catching up for an hour or two and discussing our plans for the next few weeks, Pete went to the bar to watch the England V Germany world Cup match. The bar was packed! A heap of people drove to the lodge to come watch the game and all the guests were keep as well, so within 10 minutes of kick off, there was standing room only and a blue/black cloud of cigarette smoke was billowing out from every door and window the bar had. The concept of people still being allowed to smoke in public places was almost strange to me, but being a former smoker myself I had no cause for complaining. I, not being a football fan despite understanding the “Off Side” rule, was still in the garden relaxing while being able to tell the scoring by the noises coming from the bar. By half time we had a rough idea of an itinerary for our time with the parents and I had even managed to score a glass of ice for some G&T and a couple of beers for myself and Pete. By the final whistle the bar was quiet and the score was England 1, Germany 4. I have to sadly admit that roasting a whole Pork loin in the Cobb held my interest more than the match. The loin took an hour to roast and was INCREDIBLE!
Day 88:
It was a surprisingly quiet night at the lodge which I could only contribute to the result of the football match. We were still up fairly early and excited to move on and even had one more attempt at a hot shower. The though of “3rd time lucky” was swarming around in the back of my head. Needless to say that even at the third attempts I had failed to get any notion of warmth from the shower and the basins were even dirtier, which I would have thought to be impossible. Our laundry did come back smelling clean and fresh and folded nicely, so that was bonus and improved the mood a little. After a mug of fresh Malawi coffee I wandered over to the bar to pay our bill. The lady behind the bar gave me a total amount which I paid and then asked for a breakdown of the amount, just for our records. While writing this down I noticed that we were charged for two bags of laundry instead of one. I also noticed that we had MK2 000 more on our bar account than the drinks that we had. Letting the laundry amount slide because of the way we stuffed our bag, I tried to argue the bar account, but was simply met by a “We mark them down as you drink them, and that is what the paper says…” I was a little pissed off to say the least, but learnt my first lesson of Malawi: “NO ACOUNTS EVER AGAIN”. I vowed to open my wallet every time I needed something and pay an agreed amount upfront, regardless of the service or place where it was purchased from. I found this a sad lesson as I value honestly a great deal and didn’t even consider the possibility of being over charged by a bar at a stand up establishment like that. I left in a foul mood adamant to warn the independent traveller’s world about this place.
Catt went with Pete and Annie to chat to the Wilderness Safari guys while I went to Toyota to try and find a new back door handle. The thought: “Bollocks” still running free in mind about that little incident. Toyota Lilongwe did not have one, but managed to get Blantyre to send one on to Mzuzu’s branch for me to collect two days later. I deemed that a great success. I also tried to get some trim clips to re-enforce the “Tupperware” on the wheel arches of Maggie and found them at Nissan after a hot tip from a mechanic. I then joined the gang at Wilderness before heading to the bank to get some money to pay for fuel. Annoyingly, Malawi banks will only allow you MK20 000 at a time. That’s about $130. At their fuel price I needed three times that to fill the car’s long range tanks. No one in Malawi seemed to take any kind of credit card for payment either, so swiping the VISA was no good.
On the way to the bank we drove passed Sanctuary Lodge. This was the place recommended to us by Eric from Land and Lake Safaris who we had met in South Luangwa. That looked incredibly nice and peaceful and I really wished that we had stayed there rather than Mabuya Lodge. I decided to recommend that to people I met from there on as the best place in Lilongwe to camp.
With a little fuel, and a fresh coffee we headed north. Our destination for the day was the Luwawa Forest Lodge which we had phoned ahead to and established that they could offer us camping for a couple of days. The going was really slow. Although the national speed limit in Malawi is 80km/h, it drops to 50km/h in villages and built up areas. The road we were driving on seemed to be a perpetual village and every time you managed to accelerate to 80km/h, the next village would slow you down to 50km/h again. The advantages of the speed were that it did wonders for our fuel consumption and we managed to window shop as we drove passed endless informal and colourful markets. The only things we were seeking were tomatoes and charcoal. The tomatoes were sourced easily enough from a young entrepreneurial farmer by the road side. The cost was MK2000 ($1.50) for about 12 massive fruit. Charcoal we found almost at the turn off to the lodge and paid MK6000 ($4.50) for a bag which stood a meter and a half high and had a 30cm radius. We had no space for it, so wedged it onto the roof, deciding to deal with it at the lodge.
We left the main road with 10km to go and I suddenly worried that our advice of not needing a 4x4 for Malawi was correct. The dirt road was damaged a bit by the wet season and the ruts were often deep enough to warrant a closer inspection before driving through. Pete did a sterling job of negotiating the sedan through the ruts and mud puddles and we reached the lodge with a sigh of relief about 45 minutes later. We were met by Peter, the owner who pointed us to the camp site and told us about their activities on offer.
The camp site looked like it catered well for small ground tents and the pitches were level and spacious enough for that. We found a suitable place to park Maggie and set up base camp for a few days. Peter had told us that we could use some of the bunk beds in the backpacker’s accommodation if we found camping too cold, which concerned me a little. As this was in a forestry area though, fire wood was not a problem at all and we were applied with off cuts of timber to make a fire for warmth. The water boiler had no shortage of fire under it either and after pitching camp I decided to try out the showers. They were heavenly! The water pressure was fantastic and the water was hot enough to ad a healthy lot of cold water to the mix. It was the best shower I had had in over two weeks, so I did get a little stuck there for a while.
We spent the rest of the evening cooking a Bobotie, planning our next day’s hiking and trying to figure out the most efficient way of distributing the charcoal. We filled the bags we could carry in the car, used a lot for the fire we sat around and overfilled the Cobb for the Bobotie. We still had 3/4s of the bag left. We even offered some to the other campers, but they already had their bag to deal with. We went to bed a little sacred of the possibility of freezing to death, but were pleasantly surprised by the comfort the zipped up canvas tent provided and the effectiveness of our bedding arrangement.
Day 89:
I think it was week 4 that we came to the obvious realization that the tops of mountains were inherently cold and windy and forests were inherently wet. It came to no surprise to us to wake up to a windy and misty start to the day, but the incredible warmth of the fantastic showers more than made up for that. By 9am the clouds and mist were gone and the temperature pleasant and we decided to embark on the first of two walks for the day.
The trail led us through some indigenous forests and impressive pine plantations to the highest point in the area and the sight of a ruined fire watch tower. The information at the lodge said that it should take about three hours to complete at a medium pace. We were in no great rush and were thoroughly enjoying the physical activity and phenomenal views from the higher ground. At some point you could see far in to the neighbouring Zambia in the west and almost to the Lake in the east. The return trip passes some impressive ferns and streams and passes their local lake which is boasted to be well stocked with Wide Mouth Bream. The GPS measured the distance at 10km and we managed it in just less than 3 hours.
Lunch was a massive heap of left over Bobotie followed by a well deserved siesta in a hammock. We were the only people in the camp site, so it was stunningly peaceful and quiet in the forest which we loved. Late afternoon saw the arrival of a group of 16 campers from South Africa. They were friendly and easy going and while they were setting up their camp we decided to do another walk. The trail for the afternoon was said to take about two hours and took you through the indigenous forest part of the property. I found the trees smaller than what I would have expected, but impressive none the less with masses of “Old Man’s beard” type moss hanging off them. We found a sign telling us that it was the home of Bushbucks, Pigs, Jackals, Rabbits, Hares, “Dikers”, and birds, Monkeys, Baboons and Leopards. I wasn’t too concerned until we found a heap of fresh Leopard poo complete with the fur of the Rabbit that it had for its previous meal. This was followed by me wondering about the pleasantness of “coiling one out” with a fur covering… On the way back to the lodge we were passed by a man on a bike on a very rough and narrow trail. He had a 20kg sack of something on the back and was eating a piece of sugar cane with one hand while steering with the other. We stood aside to let him pass.
Back at the lodge we asked for the Sauna to be prepared for us. This sauna was made from local timber, could take about 16 people at a guess and was heated by a log fire, in a boiler made from old truck rims. There was a chimney to lead the smoke outside, some volcanic rock on top and a couple of pine cones to pour water over. It took about an hour and a half to heat up, but once hot, every bit as effective as the best saunas I had ever experienced. There were no lights inside, so we had to use a head torch to shed light on the situation every time we needed to ad some water. We had two sessions in the heat, split up by a freezing bush shower outside. After the second session I decided to walk back to the camp site in my shorts to cool down, and then have a nice hot shower when I got there.
This idea was soon shattered by the fact that the hot water was gone. It was not that the water was cold, rather that the reservoir was empty. I had a walk to the tank and heard some water tinkling in, so a little patience was all that was needed. It was obviously the result of a group of 16 campers arriving just before evening shower time. The other small issue was that in the two hours that group had been there, they had managed to completely block one of the toilets. I did not envy the poor soul who had to clean that up!
Another comfortable fire for warmth and a magnificent steak dinner (Our first in over a month) marked the end to a fantastic day’s activities in a magnificent mountainous place in Malawi.
Day 90:
We had decided to leave early and make our next stop over place before lunch. Alarms woke us up to a misty and cloudy morning on the wrong side of 7Am, but the temperature felt reasonably mild. We jumped out of bed, made the coffee, broke down camp and had one more of those incredible showers before paying up and setting off. The cost for our two nights and one sauna came to a total of $25. We cold not really argue with that!
As we drove out I remarked that the lodge almost offers too many activities. They offered: Hiking, mountain biking, climbing, abseiling, archery, fishing, sailing and the sauna, team building and orienteering and a squash court from what I could remember, but did not really seem to specialize, or have preference to any one of them. For me the place offered a great opportunity for hiking and I think mountain bikers would really enjoy it. The lake was very beautiful, so if the fishing was good, that would be added to my list as well. The sauna was quirky, but not really an activity as such.
The road out took a while as Pete still had to negotiate the ruts and mud holes with the hired sedan, but once we hit the tar, we started making great time. The road surface was good and the traffic non existent. Our journey led us through the highlands and mountains of the interior which I never knew, or considered existed in Malawi. Breathtaking views were found around every bend and as the sun struggled to break through the misty mountain clouds, the indigenous forests and far off valleys often got bathed in its rays.
We reached Mzuzu and found the Toyota dealership without any trouble. I walked in and asked to see Gift, the person who I could get the door handle from. I have to admit that I was surprised at their efficiency as Gift had been expecting me and had my door handle on his desk. A small issue was that not even Toyota Malawi had a credit card facility so I had to have a whip-round with the family to scrape together enough cash to pay for it. After a quick stop at the local market and acquiring some tonic water at $0.30 per 200ml bottle, we hit the road towards the lake. Mzuzu is still high in the mountains and the slightly potholed road wound down the hills and through the valleys through some rubber tree plantations where local kids were making and selling footballs of various sizes. Their advertising was to bounce the balls on the road surface as you approached to show of the performance of the rubber. I was impressed! We also passed large patches of farm land where the soil must have been very fertile. All the fruit and vegetables we saw were bigger and nicer than anything we had seen in the previous two months. Sweet potatoes were round and larger than tennis balls and bananas were sold in massive bunches of mentionable size fruit. Our stores were unfortunately full, but we made a mental note to stock up in the area on our return a few weeks later.
By mid day we reached the Chintheche Wilderness Lodge which we had chosen as an overnight stop. The property was also run by Wilderness Safaris and offered camping at $10 pp which was within our budget. We were shown to the magnificently lawned camp site under huge shady trees on the edge of a pristine sandy beach on the lake shore. We thought we had found Utopia… again… It was a fairly windy afternoon, but a paddle in the water and a well deserved lie down on the sandy beach was still a fantastic way to spend it.
It was noticeable how little insects were around that evening. We chatted about the last time the four of were together in the bush which had been Botswana two Decembers previous. We also remembered the insane amount of insects that congregated around the same lamp during that time and honestly didn’t miss the perky little buggers too much. After a scrumptious dinner, an ample amount of wine and good company we retired to our comfortable palace on the roof while Pete and Annie took refuge in their ground tent on the beach. It seemed a hard life…
A few hours later I woke up from Catt closing the flaps on the tent. A massive rain storm had hit us in the night which was a very unexpected, and our first rain in about two months, but at least we knew by then that the tent was fairly weather proof. Pete and Annie’s tent was however still untested at that stage, so we could but hope that they would also stay dry and comfortable.
Day 91:
It was cold and cloudy when I stuck my head out the tent and an hour later than we were used to getting up by then. It wasn’t exactly what I had envisaged “a day on the beach in Malawi” would look like either. Our hammocks and towels, which I left out during the night was absolutely soaked and the glass I had left on the table was half full with water. This meant that it rained at least 175ml during that storm!
We had planned a morning of relaxation on the beach before moving on and not even the weather was going to stop us from achieving that. We did however keep the relative comfort of our lawned campsite rather than venturing onto the water’s edge. Endless mugs of hot coffee and good conversations later we were all suitably relaxing into a world of beach life on the lake shore. It was after lunch by the time we decided to move on. We only had a couple of hours to drive, so there really was no rush.
We joined the tar road south and I was absolutely amazed by the sheer amount of people, bicycles, potholes, busses and trucks on the road. It took a vast amount of concentration to avoid all these moving obstacles and we almost got hit head on by an oncoming cyclist at least three times in the endless villages that marked the road side. Our aim was to reach the Pottery Lodge at Nkhotakota that day. This was the accommodation in that area recommended by Wilderness Safaris a few days earlier and we were told that we could leave our vehicles at the lodge when taking a ferry to Likoma Island the next evening.
Arriving in Nkhotakota we tried to find the port where the Ilala sailed from and after failing at that decided to fill up with fuel, find the lodge and get some information there. The only fuel station in town was dry though and the next available fuel stop was 110km away. I estimated that we had about 90km of fuel left and Pete about 60km… They did assure us that they were expecting a consignment of fuel the next day, so we were not too stressed… yet. Something I did not realize at the time was that the Pottery lodge was 15km south of town and it was not marked on any of our maps. It was however very easy to find and we stopped at the reception around 16:00 realizing with clear certainty that we would not be able to leave the vehicles there and make the ferry port on foot. I desperately tried to get hold of Mango Drift for advice. That was our chosen accommodation on the island, but every phone number published for them was wrong. After the fourth number I tried, I had to give up.
The lodge’s camp site was basic, but cheap, neat and clean and we were the only people there. There was also a pottery shop which the girls browsed through, a restaurant we could sit in, discussing a plan of action while being treated to a gallon of the local coffee. It was really good, very strong coffee and both Catt and I realized the error of having that so late in the day. We still had it though. I asked a few strategic questions at the reception desk and was give the phone number of a lodge in town, right by the ferry port, which was run by Sig, a fellow South African. A quick phone call established that they offered double rooms at a reasonable rate and that we could leave our vehicles at the lodge while exploring island life provided that we stayed at the lodge on our return day.
By 17:30 our mission was accomplished. We had a place to camp for the night, a plan for the vehicles and the ferry and a place to stay on our return. We pitched camp in our usual efficient way got the fire going to tend to dinner. The camp site caretaker lit a fire for the boiler while I was pouring G&T’s and life on the beach was once again good. Pete and Annie pitched the tent on the sand, anticipating a breathtaking sunrise over the lake. Our view was the same with Maggie parked about five meters away.
Bed time came surprisingly quickly and after the wind subsided the temperature was warm, humid, but comfortable. Within half an hour of ascending the ladder to the tent it started raining again. Not a storm, but enough water to force us to close the flaps of the tent. Sometime in the middle of the night the wind came up and became stronger and stronger to the point of tucking at the rain cover so much that the sounds woke me up and kept me awake for a while. Catt and I peered out the window, concerned about the state of the ground tent, only to find it missing altogether. We got up, had a walk around and found that Pete and Annie were forced to move the tent from the romantic setting on the beach to behind the building we had spent the evening in to avoid getting blown away. It was a long, windy and noisy night in paradise.
If I had to do it again:
Mabuya Lodge and Camp in Lilongwe was a mistake. Although Sanctuary Lodge would have been twice the price ($10 pp), I think it is in a much nicer part of town and a much nicer setup. I would seriously rather use them if I ever find myself in Lilongwe again. Equally, shopping for meat at Foodworths was an expensive error. I think the lesson I learnt there was to compare at least two shop’s prices in a new country before making a big purchase. It was also the last time in Africa I would agree to having a bar tab. Stuffing a few notes in my trouser pockets and paying cash for all drinks would be my way from now on.
Luwawa Forest Lodge was great and two nights were a perfect amount of time there. Chintchetche Lodge was really nice and deserves at least two nights. The offered boat rides to a nearby island for snorkelling which we did not do. If the weather had been nice I would have considered it.
Pottery Lodge and camp site was interesting, cheap and a good choice for a one night stop over.
The rest of our travels for the week were easy going and comfortably successful.
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