Tag Archive for 'Malawi'

Down to our last £1.90

Published on 9th September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: .

Bhav and I had intended to get up early with the aim of getting to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. We’d planned to get the direct bus but we’d heard some bad things about it. It was after lunchtime before we arrived at the bus station in Muzuzu but the direct bus didn’t leave till midnight and wasn’t cheap. We decided to try the method everyone had suggested; by getting a series of minibuses the over 1,000 km distance. The problem we discovered at Karonga, 50 km south of the Tanzanian border was that it closed at 5 pm, it was by then after 6 pm. Bhav was all for getting a bus to the border town but I felt it would be easier to get food and accomodation where we were.

Considering the previous nights accomodation had been MWK 1,700 each, we only paid a bargin MWK 400. It had to be as after paying the other bill at Mayoka Village I was almost out of money to the point that we had to share dinner and couldn’t afford a Coke. It wasn’t the best place I’ve ever stayed but it was the cost that was important. I left Malawi with MWK 500 (about £1.90) and Bhav didn’t have any money left.

Natures fish tank

Published on 8th September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: .

I’d booked a dive starting at 9 am since I hadn’t been able to tag along with Craig for his night dive the previous evening. The last time I’d dived was in Australia a year ago and this was to be my first experience in freshwater and at altitude. It was a nice relaxing dive and we got to see many of the unique fish of the region including a family of fish called cichlids which shelter their offspring in their mouths at the first sign of danger.

When you consider that the majority of fish that people have in their fish tanks (except the ubiquitous goldfish) are from one of the African Lakes and that diving here is so cheap you’d be surprised at how few people dive into natures fish tank.

A stay in paradise

Published on 7th September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: , .

I slept on the bench come bed that I’d used my bags to claim for the grand total of about 3 hours. Second class had got more busy and added noise and people (including a woman that fought her way onto my bench) made any hope of sleeping after that impossible.

The boat arrived at Nkhata Bay, our departure point, very early although it was delayed by a few hours. It must have been about 5:30 am when we finally got off that wretched boat. Craig had told us where to find him and we were escorted there by a few of the locals out to earn a finders fee. Mayoka Village described as paradise by Craig, and once we were shown to our water front chalet we had to agree! It would be all to easy to stay there for weeks.

Nkhata Bay itself is a small fishing village on the western shore of Lake Malawi/Nyassa. It has a completely different feel from Senga Bay just down the coast. Senga Bay is more of a traditional lake side holiday destination consisting of a string of hotels and lodges where as Nkhata Bay is a backpackers retreat or should I say paradise?


Our waterfront chalet at Mayoka Village

MV Ilala

Published on 7th September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: , .

I now no longer have anything nice to say about the MV Ilala, the decrepit Glasgow made ferry. I can only assume it features on the list of Malawian highlights because of the frenzy it causes when it comes into port. It’s a complete free for all with people pushing their way and manners forgotten just to get off as quickly as possible.

Our day was largely uneventful. We eventually sneaked up stairs to the first class deck and spent much of the afternoon there. This offered the best views and a welcome relief from the overcrowding of 2nd and ordinary class (and a welcome break from the horrible stink of dried fish).

This afternoon we docked off three Mozambican villages (only 2 places on the entire lake have docks) and picked up a kiwi guy called Ashley. He’d been travelling the world for the last 8 years and this was him working his way up the east coast of Africa having gone down the west coast already. His attitude to travelling was rather different to ours and he found it both amazing and funny that we only had two months to see 8 countries and that we were on course to do it. It would be easy to envy his lifestyle but to me it’s more of a curse. In response to my question “Where out of all the places you’ve been would like to live” he said no where and that he’d just get restless and bored. I couldn’t imagine being on my own with no friends, support network, very little money and and no home. My attitude to travelling is completely different. Sure I’d like to visit almost every country in the world but not in one go. I like having fixed dates for arriving and going home so I can make the most of the time I have and not just day dream through it. Not many people look forward to going home unless they’re not enjoying themselves but I find that when I’m abroad I do look forward to going home as well as wishing I didn’t have to. It’s good to have a break but I get really motivated to get on with things on my return. Being in a different country/culture also makes me appreciate the UK more. We’re lucky people, many of us just don’t realise it.


Looking into “Ordinary Class” (3rd)


One of the 2 boats ferrying people ashore

Zomba Plateau and the journey to Blantyre

Published on 3rd September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Breakfast was edible but still pretty horrible. It consisted of buttered bread, “chips”, a fried egg, sausage (which Bhav didn’t get because they’d ran out) and what can only be described as a salad. The chips, if you can call them that, had been boiled in oil which is quite popular in Malawi and were dripping with the stuff.

After breakfast we explored the town and I bought my first souvenirs, a pair of feet shaped candle stick holders and a giant letter opener. I’d so far resisted the urge due to the added weight to my bag but they were small and light. Bhav came away with an elephant calendar and handmade postcards.

We wanted to head further south that day to Blantyre so we had to fit our trip into the plateau in before lunch. Our one way taxi ride up the hill cost MWK 3,000 (1,000 more than the previous nights accommodation!) so we were keen to try and walk or hitchhike back down.

Our guide (we were told there was a path but they encourage people to take a guide as the paths aren’t marked) also sold souvenirs but promised he could get us round in 3 hours so we weren’t running behind our self imposed schedule. The walk was pretty strenuous to begin with but got a lot easier, the cool climate helped. We soon discovered that our Queen (Elizabeth II) and Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie were driven up in Land Rovers during their visits. Both had vantage points dedicated in their honour. In my opinion Queens’ View is the most impressive, although with the low mist covering the town below they weren’t as impressive as they could have been.

When we were walking onto Emperors’ View we realised that we were the only people there, except for a guy trying to sell gem stones and minerals mined from a nearby hill. He was one of a number of people waiting in random places trying to sell things (the others mostly selling locally grown fruit like yellow brambles, strawberries! and mulberries) there problem being that we were the only tourists. After our trek we bought some strawberries, mostly because of the novelty of being able to.

Our walk started off at the hotel and went in a loop via the dam of the artificial lake that supplies the town bellow with water and back to the hotel. The luck we’d been using up obviously hadn’t run out as Andrew, the Sri Lankan owner of Carolinas (the hotel we’d eaten in at Senga Bay) drove straight past us. He ended up buying us lunch in the hotel restaurant and driving us to Blantyre and dropping us off at the door to the hostel.

We decided to do a bit of exploring before it got dark as near the hostel is potentially unsafe at night. Blantyre’s City Centre isn’t very interesting and felt more like a town. The city did give us our first experience of street kids, with 2 of them quickly latching on to us and murmuring something (probably “give us money” in Chinchewa). After 10 minutes of trying to shake them off they started walking into us and blocking our path. This continued for a while until the larger of the 2 suddenly kicked me in the leg. After running off they quickly reappeared with rocks and started throwing them at us. Bhav was hit in the shoulder and decided to point her finger and tell them off. It wasn’t until a local came to our aid and threatened them that they went away.

Since we arrived back at the hostel in the dark and that it had a reputation for attracting wealthy locals and expats to its bar we decided to eat there. Big mistake, after a 2 hour long wait (long even by Malawian standards) for our food and trying to talk to the manager about it we were treated very badly. If you’re ever in Blantyre don’t go to Doogles.


Bhav and Sostein (our guide) – Tired from climbing Zomba Plateau.

From Senga Bay to Zomba

Published on 2nd September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: , .

For some reason we both slept in but since we had nothing booked or anywhere to rush off to it didn’t matter. The lake was quite rought so we were glad we hadn’t booked to go snorkeling.

After a late breakfast Wendy kindly drove us to the market where we could catch our minivan to Salima, then another to Balata and finally to Zomba where we arrived just before sunset.

Zomba used to be the capital of what was then called Nyasaland back in the days when it was a part of the British Empire. It was choosen because of it’s cool climate, which was one of the reasons I wanted to visit.

When we arrived we didn’t have any accomodation booked (can you see a patern developing here?) and only had the name of somewhere that seemed cheap. Whilst eating dinner we found out about a hotel that was almost directly behind which was cheap, so after eating our dinner partly in candle light (not intentionaly romantic but the daily power cut) we stayed there instead.

The price might have included breakfast but it was basic and reminded me a bit of Nelson Mandelas prison cell on Robben Island, except bigger and ensuite. The bars on the windows were a nice touch.

Relaxing in Senga Bay

Published on 1st September, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Lake Malawi was almost completely calm on our first day at Senga Bay. It was just Bhav and I since Craig had headed north. We’d arrived at Murandy Lodge in the dark the night before having used up quite a lot of our luck. Our room was in the main bungalow with the veranda where they served meals just outside. From the veranda you could look down the garden to the lake. On closer inspection there was maybe 10m of sandy beach in between.

Not having had my lazy Sunday by the pool in Lilongwe I was keen to have a relaxing day. For lunch we ventured about 45 mins up the beach to a place called Carolina Lake Resort. There were very few tourists about.

We were running a bit short on cash so decided to take a minivan into town to go to an ATM. We can tick another means of transport off the list; bicycle, at least we sat on the back whilst someone else peddled.

It was dark by the time we got back and to make matters worse it was during the near daily power cut. We decided to go back to Carolina’s for dinner since Andrew, the owner had been so nice to us and had given us a lift part of the way to town earlier that day despite the fuel shortage. We were in need of some local knowledge (since we didn’t have Craig’s Lonely Planet) and some company so we invited Wendy, the owner of the Murandy Lodge along.

Wendy is a white Zimbabwean and has experienced first hand the problems of both her home and adopted countries. Lately she’s been suffereing from some staff problems, something a lot of the local bosses we talked to seemed to have.

Local artist in Senga Bay, Malawi
Local artist in Senga Bay, Malawi


Canoes on the beach


Cows on the beach


Drying Kapanga in the sun

Welcome to Malawi

Published on 31st August, 2008 in Africa. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

On the 30th Bhav and I traveled to Lilongwe in Malawi, meeting up with Craig that evening in our backpackers. The next day was spent catching up on the internet and in the end I didn’t think Bhav wanted to leave. Craig on the other hand was eager to head north to Nkhata Bay for his PADI open water course and we decided to head  east to Senga Bay. It was one of those last minute decisions made on the street quite late on in the day. We were very lucky to make it to Murandy Lodge.