“You don’t have an e-visa?” Well, no we do not! “Well, you must apply for one. It takes 7
days.” We sit and wait. After much humming and haaring they decide to relent
and issue us a visa with no receipt. The cost is the same as an online visa so
we don’t care. Visas issued, passports stamped, car insurance purchased, road
tax and emissions tax paid and carnet stamped.
Sim card and kwachas (local currency) purchased. Phew! Welcome to Malawi
- “The Warm Heart of Africa”
We head out the gates with smiles on our
faces. The sun is shining and better yet the road is smooth. There are people
everywhere. The road is the main walking track, market area and meeting area.
Cars are secondary. We head towards Blantyre (the second largest city), but we arrive
at rush hour and get caught in long snarls of traffic. By the time we exit the
city it is getting late and with black clouds looming we shelve our plan of
camping at a tea plantation and stop at an Eco Lodge just out of town. We can
even eat in their restaurant – a totally vegan meal of course. Lots of
fascinating conversations with the people staying there. A school teacher
starting up a junior school and an engineer working on a durable housing
project which is very timely as thousands of homes have been destroyed in the
cyclone. Many simply washed down hillsides. And the rain hasn’t stopped either.
It continues all night and comes in patches the next day as we head towards
Thyolo in the heart of the tea growing area.
One of my very best friends was brought
up on Naming’ombra, one of the big plantations here. We locate it and talk our
way past the guard and head down the muddy tracks. At the main office we meet
the manager (the company is now owned by an Indian company) who arranges for
the engineer, Ison Ghione, to give us a tour. He has been with the company
forever and even remembers Helen’s father who back then was the chief engineer.
The tour is amazing. The plucking, weighing, quality control, grinding
conveyors and drying boilers are all the same as years ago. After a full tour
of the factory he takes us out to see Mr Barrows old house (he was the original
owner) and then into the fields to watch the pluckers at work.
From here we continue on to Mulanje
where we can stay at the Golf Club. Fortunately, the sky is clear and we can
see the Mulanje Mountain because in the morning it is totally clouded over
after raining all night. Everywhere is water logged and there are signs of
flooding beside all the rivers. We do not plan to head down any back roads as
they are mostly dirt and likely to be sticky and slippery, but there is another
main road back to Blantyre, so we head that way. After about 10km we reach a
long row of mini buses and lots of people. The bridge is washed away, so we
turn around and return to the main road. It is no hardship driving past miles
of gloriously green tea plantations again.
We reach Blantyre & Limbe again,
this time to explore. We drive through crowded streets, along fancy boulevards
and into the back streets to see the magnificent St Michael & All Angels
Church and then stop at a supermarket for supplies. Finally back out of town we
head to Zomba. The plan is to drive right up to the Zomba plateau in case the
weather gets worse. It is still cloudy as we head up the narrow, winding and
incredibly steep 10km road to the plateau, but when we come back down the sky
is blue and the views amazing. Up on the plateau the woodcutters are loading
their bikes to wheel loads of wood down the hill. Others are carrying long
loads on their heads. What incredible strength and stamina.
Back in town we find the Pakachere Backpackers
where we can camp for the night. In the morning the clouds have descended onto
the plateau and we are pleased we went up yesterday. We wander into town to
watch the mayhem and explore the markets. Then we hunt down some of the old
buildings as Zomba was the original capital of Malawi.
Late morning, we head out of town. Finally,
we have a blue sky. Not far to go today. We have been assured that it really is
worth stopping at Liwonde National Park despite the inflated foreigner prices. On
the way we pass lots more markets overflowing onto the road and lots of
potholes. We head out to the Liwonde Safari Lodge to camp. A lovely campspot
right inside the park. We enter through electric gates to camp in with the
animals. Sadly, we do not see a single animal when we sit at the lookout. And
then it decides to rain for the rest of the evening and much of the night. It
is no go for an early morning game drive as it is still raining. Much later we
head out on an extremely sticky wet road making sure 4x4 is engaged.
Again, lots of villages with markets
& people overflowing onto the road. There are also lots of Mosques and
ladies with head scarves. Then by mid afternoon we turn off the seal road and
head to Kingfisher Lodge to camp beside the lake. It’s a lovely place with a
swimming pool right on the waters edge. John of course swims, then we wander
along the beach to see the fishing village. Men have been rowing out in their
boats and dropping nets and now they are pulling them in from the beach. Other
men are mending nets, others repairing a wooden boat with new lengths of timber
and taring it, and the children are laying tiny fish out to dry on racks and
cooking some on a smoker. Of course, there are plenty of others simple lounging
around and watching.
We decide to use their restaurant and
John enjoys his fish. I bravely order a local dish – big mistake. The chicken
we discover is dubbed “road runner,” and for the life of me I can’t find any
meat on those bones! At least I can eat the beans, pap and salad.
It rains in the night and it continues
all day, so not many photos, but there is plenty of potholed road and massive
puddles. We turn and head out to the popular destination of Cape Maclear. We
aren’t too impressed with Monkey Bay, so we head back to our side track that
connects with the road to the Cape. It is bad, but we don’t have far to get to
the more main road. Hmmm, so much for the main road. It is wet and sloshy with
no gravel at all, but sandy so not too bad until we start heading uphill and it
gets sticker, muddier and therefore slippery. There is still a long way to go
so we concede defeat. Sadly, no boat trip and snorkelling at the islands for
us!
We continue north across soaked
countryside, rivers awash with muddy fast flowing water. Then we reach a row of
cars and numerous people. The road is flooded and the locals are helping push a
bus loaded with people. In Aussie we say “If its flooded, forget it”, but here
they say “Make a plan” So we make a plan. John checks out the water and we drive
to the edge. The bus is floundering so we hesitate, but then a small truck roars
past us, so we follow him. All easy peasy with a dozen guys yelling and
supposedly helping. We leave them behind in a spray of water! It has been a
long day dodging potholes so we are glad to reach Senga Bay and the waterfront
campspot right beside the posh Sunbird Hotel for a cool drizzly night.
We wake to monkeys playing all around
us. They are so much fun to watch, especially the naughty little ones. We decide to try out the breakfast at the
Hotel, but as it’s a buffet it’s a tad disappointing, but the view of the beach
is lovely. Then time to head off through countless villages and lots of people
heading to the Sunday service. It is Palm Sunday and we see large groups
gathering with their palm leaves and heading into church singing and dancing.
Magic. As we get closer to the lake, we see lots of rice fields and rows of tiny
fish out drying on racks. The roads are potholed and wet with one particularly
massive puddle covering the entire road. Then another muddy patch where locals
are shovelling so we give them some cash. It is expected!
It is early afternoon when we reach the
Nkhotakhota Pottery camping area, where we camp on a lovely grassy spot right beside
the beach. We do chores and relax, and decide to stay another day. It is an
unusual experience to be able to body surf in fresh water. It is also nice
chatting to other people and hearing their input about Malawi.
After our 2 nights we hit the road
again. Not too far to go as we have found another lovely waterfront camp to
stay at. The access road is very rough and narrow with lots of overhanging
branches, but we squeeze through to another magical beach front spot with
lovely grass and overhanging trees. We have our own white sand beach and the
water is finally clear and blue. John swims and snorkels and we decide to put
the boat in tomorrow.
A big thunderstorm with rain in the
night changes that plan. Everywhere is wet and the sky is still black. We head
up the slippery track and back to the main road. Today we will head up into the
mountains to Livingstonia. But first we head through a huge rubber plantation.
Guys wave us down. They are selling balls and we can’t resist buying one. Later
a quick detour down to pretty Nkata Bay where we stop for coffee. Local guys
hang around asking questions and excitedly locate the Malawian no plate on the
truck. Then it is further inland to the big sprawling town of Mzuzu where we
stop at the first Spar supermarket that we have seen in days. Time to refill
our nearly empty fridge. Then it is up to the mountains. And what a glorious
drive. The mountains are terraced and covered with crops. Tobacco and corn are
growing in profusion. Little villages and rows of sheds full of drying tobacco
are everywhere. The road is lovely brand new tarseal and twists and turns up
the mountains. Just magic!
We take a detour our to the town of
Livingstonia to admire the Church and Stonehouse Museum (which doesn’t seem to
be a museum any more), before heading down a disgusting dirt track to the Mushroom
Farm where we can camp for the night. It is a favourite backpackers destination
with quirky accommodation positioned right on top of an escarpment overlooking
Lake Malawi. We enjoy the vegetarian meal wile chatting with some travellers,
but sadly the weather turns again. Rain all night means a slippery drive out.
There is a much shorter route out down a very steep hair-pinned track, but we
have been firmly advised NOT to use it. The recent rains have made it even more
hazardous, so we backtrack over our glorious mountains. Pity about the rain.
Back on the main road means we are back
on potholes. It is hard to believe this is the main road in Malawi. It is not
helped by crazy oncoming trucks who want to hog the middle of the road. The
rain continues well into the day and we finally pull over to camp at the FloJa
Foundation camping area. They offer beach front camping and use the money to
fund a kindergarten for local children. As predicted by the owner, it starts to
rain at 8pm.
Fortunately, the day clears as we head
out and for our last leg in Malawi through countless rice fields and the men
are out ploughing the fields behind oxen. There are signs of flooding
everywhere. Interestingly we come across a large group singing and dancing.
They are a funeral procession and the coffin is made of woven reeds. Mid-morning,
we reach the border. Fingers crossed Tanzania will give us a visa. All the
reports make it look easy.
Perhaps the only negative we have is the
number of children & adults that have said “Give me the money!” But despite
that we have enjoyed our visit. Goodbye Malawi.
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