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MalawiEntering Malawi is painless… there’s no visa fee and insurance (the only cost) is $35. I head straight for the lake, to Chitimba Beach Lodge – a lodge recently taken over by 4 dutch friends. It’s a beautiful beach, and run by great people. A few drunken evenings, livened up by the resident grate dane and Darren – a larger than life Australian driller looking for uranium in Malawi.
The campsite is a stop off for overland trucks and backpackers… Meeting with two Israeli girls - Michal (a girls name in Hebrew) and Tal, we agree to head to the Nyika National Park together – a reserve high in the Malawian mountains.
It’s beautiful weather here – winter’s just ended and the days are warm and sunny. Nights are freezing cold – the huge campfires are not only welcome, they’re essential. The campsite here has the best hot showers I’ve come across in Africa, getting out of them however is painful…
The campsite here is the Hyena’s kitchen, they’re known for stealing your dinner the second you turn your head… It seems though it’s too cold for even them at the moment, in the three nights we spend here – we don’t see a single one… Our first meal of “chicken surprise” which we tried to cook the traditional way, with banana leaves and covered in hot coals:
Friday 24th August 2007
After cooking an incredible lunch, in a truly stunning location:
we find one of my new favourite places in Africa: Jalawe Rock – a beautiful spot in the north of the park. The views are outstanding, the rolling hills of Malawi and Zambia stretching out in front of you for as far as you can see.
I already love Malawi – it’s been one of the countries I’ve most looked forward to seeing in Africa. Ever since one of my first school teachers (who’d taught here for 35 years) told me about the country, I’d been enchanted – photo’s on the projector brought to life one of Africa’s best kept secrets. Take a tour around the view from Jalawe – you can scroll around this photo – and use ctrl and shift to zoom in and out…. It’s just a small taster of what it’s actually like!
The drive down from the national park takes its toll on M. one of the heavy duty springs on the rear drivers side wheel has nearly sprung out of its seat and the front shock absorber tunnel has broken once again. Neither of these issues are a real problem anymore – I have all the necessary spares and manage to fix both in under an hour… I’m getting good at this mechanic’s business… Once all the repairs are made (with the help of the lights from the BP garage) we’re on our way again, heading in my natural direction – south. The next stop is Mzuzu, a small town, which serves as the gateway to Nkhata Bay, and the coast road which follows the lake.
The zoo is the second home to all ex-pats in the area, there’s always a few here having breakfast, lunch or drinking until dawn. Gerrard, who likes a drink, has been drinking solidly now for 4 days, and it’s starting to show… His staggering greeting handshake came with an apology that he’d just spilled coffee on himself (which was about 90% whiskey and 10% coffee). We spend a couple of relaxed, humorous days before heading off towards Nkhata Bay. The zoo is full of scrawls from fellow travellers – apparently it’s easy to get stuck here, locals tell stories of people stopping just for one night, who end up living here and writing a book. I can see how this might happen – and if I didn’t have a deadline now to be in South Africa, I could see myself spending a fair amount of time here. It’s a place full of joy, Gerrard, a true hedonist is a charming, hilarious and welcoming host.
Monday 27th August 2007 Persons who will remain un-named made their own contribution, moving a postcard from an opposite wall to complete the picture.
And say goodbye to the zoo.
We arrive in Nkhata bay just in time for the ferry – it’s the busiest day here, with the market in full swing for the trade that comes with the weekly ferry.
Still nursing a hangover from the zoo, it’s getting dark now, and after chatting with some people from our lodge, I’ve decided to check out the SCUBA centre… The cost to do a PADI course here is the cheapest in the world (or not far off) at $260. For this I’ll get 5 full days training, including 6 dives, videos, a PADI course book and lectures. Steve De Pooter, our Belgian instructor is safety conscious and a self confessed perfectionist – he looks like he’ll be a great teacher. The next course starts tomorrow morning, it’ll be a week of early starts (alarms at 6:45) a full days instruction and then some homework… it’s been a while since I’ve done a full weeks ‘work’, but I have a feeling I’ll enjoy this a lot. Tuesday 28th August 2007 The first morning’s videos and lectures are a little repetitive. The video goes over what we read in chapter one last night, and Steve then goes over it again in a lecture… It’s slightly annoying, but I can understand that for some it’s necessary – mistakes and lack of knowledge when SCUBA diving can be very serious – so I’m glad for the thoroughness. After lunch, we’ve learned how to assemble our gear and we’re in the water for the first time. It’s a strange but exhilarating feeling to breathe underwater, and surprisingly it comes fairly naturally, we’re lucky as a group that all of us are taking to it fairly well, Steve’s last group had a girl who was afraid of fish, and of being underwater…! The first day completed – we’ve spent a couple of hours underwater, at a 2-3m depth, as the course continues we’ll gradually go deeper, until our dives start at 10m, continuing to 18m within a few days. You’re not supposed to drink much when diving, a couple of beers is fine, but having one too many isn’t good for your bloods nitrogen levels… I play pool sober, and against the best players I’ve found in Africa. The Mayoka lodge, on the south side of the bay is a great traveller’s hangout, a little expensive, but nicely done, it’s a luxury to have my own room for 1200kwacha (about £4.50) per night.
The girls are busy wood carving whilst I do my dive course – learning the skills from Massai, one of the many local carver boys.
I’m amazed that all the carving boys still have all their toes. My weeks SCUBA course is great – we’ve settled into our week of village life effortlessly, I love Nkhata Bay, even when unwelcome lunch guests drop in
No – I don’t mean Keira and Jenny, I mean the monkey. One of the highlights was the show put on by a travelling Rastafarian from Tanzania, who put on one of the most hilarious shows I’ve ever seen. His acrobatics seemed to me the kind of tricks amateur gymnasts (aged 12) would do for their family at Christmas, the best part by far, was the fire eating, which involved the three performers placing paraffin soaked torches into their mouths – the only problem being the cotton was about 8 inches long – burning violently, and not one went out… I wonder who taught them the trick.
Saturday 1st September 2007
By breathing out you can sink to within a few centimetres of the lake bed, between the rocks, breathing in again takes you out of the hole and then you can continue the dive…
It’s a great feeling to be weightless and free – it’s probably the closest thing I’ll experience to true weightlessness felt by astronauts and I’m sad when our last dive together ends after 45 minutes.
Steve was a little tired after the 45 minutes, so I pushed him the last few metres to the boat…
He’s been a great instructor for Aqua Africa – I’d highly recommend them to anyone wanting to do a PADI course. Their standards are extremely high – and I think I’ll be glad of that in the future. I’ll definitely keep on diving; maybe I’ll even start to think about further qualifications... Becoming a Divemaster gives you the chance to dive for free and have all accommodation and transport paid for – a nice way to travel! That evening, after a week of no-drinking we’re on a mission… The sun was already up by the time the party stopped and my bar bill is probably horrendous, but it’s been a great day. Our departure south to Cape McClear will have to wait a day! Monday 3rd September
We’re off to Cape McClear, just north of Monkey Bay right at the southern tip of the lake… There we’ll meet up with Jenny and Keira, who left a day ahead of us. I’m disappointed by the Cape – the beach boys and carver boys are far too aggressive, turning to insults when you don’t buy anything and the general vibe is a really negative one – if you’ve only limited time to spend in Malawi don’t go to Cape McClear, head north, to Muzuzu and Nkhata Bay – it’s a much better atmosphere, and in my opinion, more beautiful too… Wednesday 5th September 2007 I’ve been told about a shipwreck here, 28m below the lake – so after agreeing a price with the local dive centre, I’m up at 6am to start the dive at 7. It’s a lot deeper than my PADI qualification allows (18m), so I’m taking an ‘adventure dive’ which once completed will allow me to dive at depths of upto 30m. Before leaving Cape McClear, I ask Michal and Tal to give me a demonstration of how Israeli’s are taught to fight… They’re both army trained (as the majority of Israeli’s are), and I’m guessing I’ll be in trouble… It’s goodbye to this place, and the hoards of kids and aggressive beach boys, at least the young ones are still charming.
We’re heading south, the short drive to Liwonde National Park, where we’re welcomed by Benson, by far the most comical park ranger I’ve met on my travels. Once we’ve paid the $5 per day entrance fee, he opens the gate, stamps his foot and salutes us as we enter the park.
The chiguni campsite is spectacular, with views down to the river and marshlands below – it’s late now and after cooking up a feast we’re having an early night.
The next day we spend watching the hundred or so elephants grazing in the marshland below, before taking a drive north, seeing a huge croc surface and having lunch inside the park. On our way out that evening, Benson gives us one final sauté and we’re off to Blantyre. Blantyre’s a pleasant city; our campsite for the duration of our stay is Doogles – frequented not only by travellers, but by many of the locals and ex-pats here in the city. We’re invited along to a birthday party in town and dance the night away with the locals and some volunteers we last met in Nkhata bay. Sunday September 9th 2007
We drive into the park, on a bumpy off-road track, normally used by the hikers to the waterfalls a few kilometres up the mountain, there’s a forest fire raging just 500m away, which we keep an eye on whilst cooking. None of us is comfortable with it by the time we’ve eaten so decide to descend to the campsite below and to re-visit the waterfalls (which we’d not yet seen) in the morning, before heading back to Blantyre.
We were half expecting to see our campsite which we’d considered staying at the previous night burned to a cinder, but its fine. The fire didn’t progress much during the night, but it is still burning.
After chilling for a while we’re once more off to Blantyre, to see Keira and Jenny who we met in the north and last saw in Cape McClear.
They’re both now qualified SCUBA divers and will probably join me on the journey south through Mozambique to South Africa. We all head out to dinner – and it now looks as though I’m travelling with my personal harem… which greatly amuses the waiters…
They have good curry here apparently – which was indeed good, but no desert. Instead they bring a bowl of cumin seeds and aniseed balls… an odd choice, which brings mixed reactions from Michal and Tal
Tomorrow, after completing a whole load of chores (washing, Mozambique visa, car repairs and oil change) we’re all off to Zomba for sadly, our last evening together. Tomorrow Michal and Tal leave me, M, Jenny and Keira and head to Lilongwe to catch their flights back to Israel. Tuesday September 11th 2007 It’s only a scratch, and although I felt a bump I’d assumed it was the kerb I was climbing and I’d not even noticed – the driver of the bus had to find me in the garage before having to unload a busload of very unhappy campers. They’ll have to find other transport for the remaining 3km. I’m not the most popular person in Blantyre right now. $30 later, and without the tiresome, drawn out process of traffic police involvement I’m off (managing to change the oil in whilst negotiating the $30 bucks). Not so bad. Tonight we all go to Zomba for the night, a plateau 2000m above sea level, just north of Blantyre. So it’s bye-bye Blantyre, and all the colourful memories we have from Malawi’s ex-capital city.
Tal has fallen ill – which is a nightmare given that she has to travel by bus tomorrow to Lilongwe. She’s resting whilst we all setup camp, high on the plateau and cook our last meal together.
In the morning, after the girls give me a great ‘M’ keychain they carved for me as a goodbye present in Nkhata Bay and a ‘clean husband’ soap box (so I no longer carry my soap around in its leaking plastic wrapper), we drop Tal and Michal off at the bus station. We’re all hoping Tal will make it OK without being sick too many times. Keria, Jenny and I will continue south towards Mozambique. I’m really sad to say goodbye to my new Israeli friends, we’ve had a lot of fun together – I’ll be keeping in touch, and will make it to Israel soon to see you both! Safe travels and I’ll miss you! XXX |
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