Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far through Africa - MALAWI, May 2007.
Malawi
Viv in negotiation with the 'beach boys' (official guides) for a boat trip the next day on the lake.
The boat trip and visit to the fishing village and village market were great .
Relaxing after a hard day by the front bar of our stay at Cool Running in Senga Bay .
Elephants walk alongside the floodplains of the Shire River in the NP.
AFRICA TRIPMid to late May 2007 - MALAWI
ZAMBIA TO MALAWI
Before leaving Zambia we stopped at the small art art-craft-fabric set-up in one of the local villages just outside Luangwa NP. Called Tribal Textiles ( www.tribaltextiles.co.zm ) it's a small factory outlet producing a range of cotton fabric pieces hand painted & decorated with African themes, some traditional type art, wildlife figures, kids designs, plants, village scenes and themes from other places in Africa such as Morocco. Established in the early 1990s by a white woman who got together a few local artists, the factory now produces an unbelievable amount of individually designed and hand painted work (around 40,000 pieces a week), which includes wall hangings, bed spreads, pillow covers, bags, table cloths and more. They use a flour paste as their base and for the outline of the paintings while they mix all their own paints. There's over a 100 people who work there all the time and in peak times around 200 people work there. They export to the USA, Canada, Europe and other places in Africa. Needless to say we did a tour of the place and then Viv and the others bought a bit of gear – in all we dropped about US$800 into their coffers. It all goes to a good cause as they have built the local school and continue to support it, while the whole operation is good for the local people and their economy. It's a great success story.
Enter Malawi
Went through the border routine which was a lot more pleasant that the arrival scenes a week or so previous. The first thing we noticed as we drove into Malawi wasn't the increase in the number of people but the slightly better houses – many made square from ‘normal bricks' instead of the round traditional style and the seemingly better kept school and school grounds. There were people everywhere as well and the land seemed to be much more heavily farmed and this became more pronounced the closer we got to the capital.
Got to Lilongwe and drove straight thru town to the Golf Club where we camped for the night. The club is close to the centre of town and offers a small camping area with a bit of shade, some lawn, a security fence and guard as well as running water, (a choice of potable and non potable water) hot showers and toilets – both of which are pretty old but reasonably clean. Price was Kw420 per person/night (about A$4.50).
Next morning we all went down town; Viv and I did a big shop at the local supermarket, (Carlsburgh beer was A0.70c/stubbie)and then went to the internet café to check emails and try and upload to our web site, which was only half successful – the electric power dropped out for an hour or so (a common occurrence). Fuelled up – the price being about A$1.40/litre and a bit cheaper than Zambia.
Senga Bay and Lake Malawi
Then it was off to Senga Bay on the shores of Lake Malwai. Followed the signs to Cool Runnings camp (GPS 13°42'50”S 34°37'09”E) which leads down through the local village, along narrow dusty streets that turns this way and that and seen very few cars (there was absolutely no tracks of any vehicles – just footprints and animal tracks). Got to the camp, which is located in the back of a house that fronts the lake. A shady grassy area of about 1 acre is basically surrounded by other houses or the village, but it is rustic and pleasant. There's running water, showers (hot if the electricity is on) and flushing toilets, all which are old but clean. A bar and restaurant (the best food on the lake by all accounts) are located at the front of the block, the bar having a good outlook over the lake.
Price is just US$5/person/night and Samantha, ‘the mad lady of the village' is the host. She is an ex Zimbabwe woman and a born and bred white African and she is an absolute go getter who runs, amongst other things, a range of community services as she is a nurse. By her account 80% of the population has AIDS/HIV (even if it is half that in the 18-25 year old group, it is still terrible); other medical problems are acute; drugs are non existent in the health centres, but you can buy anything in the shops or on the black market if you have the money; trees are being chopped down very quickly in the surrounding country. But can you blame them. Most of the population is just trying to survive; what it is going to be like in another 50 years is anyone's guess.
Like many local white people, Samantha thought the NGO's are a bloody pain and she does not particularly like them, thinking that they drive around in brand new vehicles, have too many meetings and what they are there for (to help the local people) gets lost in the process! We'd have to agree at least partly with her. Another person who thinks much the same is the American writer, Paul Theroux – read, ‘Dark Star Safari , and you'll get his often strong views on the subject.
Next morning we took a walk south along the beach. People were washing clothes, dishes and themselves along the shoreline. It was quite busy and we only went a few hundred metres but most didn't hassle us at all, but some didn't want their photo taken, asking for money if I did.
Peter, Michael and ‘Tall' Peter – local guides who have the blessing of the tourist association - picked us up and loaded us into one of the fishermen's 16-18 foot wooden boats, powered by a relatively well running 15hp Yamaha outboard motor and we headed out to Lizard Island, just offshore. The wind had dropped considerably and the lake was fairly calm. The island has a large breeding population of pied and black cormorants, which were on the rocks as we approached but they quickly evacuated. We landed in a small indent on the rocky, steep-sided shore on the north side and from here we went for a few short snorkels and swims. Not much to see although there were about 10-12 different species of fish – nothing big - the largest being only 12” long or so. Still there were some colourful ones – the best being some bright blue damsel like fish. There was no life at all on the rocks apart from a carpet-like covering of brownish moss.
Then our guides took us for a walk thru the fishing village, which was excellent. With a packet of smokes, which I provided, Michael went about yarning, laughing, scolding and joking with many of the people and offering selected ones a smoke. Down on the shore the boats were pulled up while back from them the nets were being mended. A line of shops selling everything from bread and tomatoes to smokes and offering engine repairs lined the upper reaches of the beach with a narrow dirt street between the lines of mud built shops.
Long 4-foot wide drying tables made from rattan cane were behind the shops and extended over quite a large area, taking up when you counted the other side of the creek, probably a couple of acres in area all told. A small number of these tables were covered in drying fish from the previous evening's catch. The small thinner sardine like ones take a day to dry, the shorter fatter ones, two days. In all, there were only about a dozen fish I saw over 3” long. One bloke, who I photographed, was busy turning over the fish and he was a fish buyer from out of town who had bought the table of fish and was looking after his purchase.
Then we walked through the upper village which is set back from the beach but joins with the beachside village. There was a maze of small/tiny shops and huts and gardens with people going about their everyday lives. Shops selling meat, packaged food, local take-aways, bike mending shops, medicine sellers, peanut and nut sellers; all the things a native village requires. The local school is a big one with over 1800 kids taught in three shifts because of a lack of teachers. The footy (soccer) field was a bit rough and dusty but the older kids were training for a weekend match. Went passed the local pub which brews its own hooch – the noise and music indicating as Michael said, “It's a place for drunkards!” so we never went in.
The next day we headed south towards Monkey Bay and travelled the M10 , which is a pot-holey dirt road – it may have been blacktop in parts, once upon a time, but now it is dirt. For a short time we left the near continuous line of huts and villages and people behind and passed thru semi-wild country, but not for long. In most places a line of people peddling bikes or walking were on both sides of the road and rarely was there a view of the road without a cyclist in sight. Some of the wood carriers are unbelievable; the amount of firewood or charcoal they carry on the back of their bikes is unreal.
Cape Maclear - Lake Malawi
Took the road to Cape Maclear and got to Eagles Nest (GPS 14°00'45”S 34°51'02”E) and checked out the campsite, which is small but right on the beach. There's clean toilets and showers with hot water, a lodge with bar and restaurant right on the beach along with a dozen or so chalets. It has a terrific view overlooking the water and a few offshore islands and is the most northern of the camps/lodges with the village strung out along the bay to the camp's immediate south.
Liwonde National Park
Fred and Neil and Helen had to head to Blantyre the next day to pick some repair parts up so we stayed an extra day at this delightful place before heading south to Liwonde NP and then to Chilunga Hills Camp within the park. This is not on the main tourist map and is a little run down. Situated on the edge of the hills it overlooks the Shire River floodplain, although you can only see the rich green of the floodplain from certain areas. The camping area consists of about 6-8 campsites while the showers and toilets have hot water and flush toilets.
Went for a short game drive in the evening and were surprised at the number of waterbuck we saw and the number of elephants. Some were carrying fair size tusks but what was different is how upset they were. By all accounts what has upset them of late is the low rumbling from the grader/dozer fixing the main north road thru' the park as well as the fact that a mob of about 70 elephants were recently re-located, so with helicopters, trucks and jeeps there was a lot of activity aimed towards the elephant mobs. Whatever! They were a little upset at our presence and made their feelings obvious by doing a few false charges and one or two more determine charges at us. There were a couple of very small ones amongst one herd and they encircled them and set off leaving a couple of the young bulls to put on an ear flapping and charge display. It worked - we retreated!!!
Chiponde - border Malawi & Mozambique
We met up with the rest of the crew in the nearby town of Liwonde and headed north through green rolling hills which were heavily cultivated, the road lined with villages and mud huts, to Chiponde and its border control through to Mozambique. The road (or track more like it) that is the border road was a little difficult to find initially, but we eventually worked it out. This was very low key and once through the Malawi border we drove the km or so to the Mozambique side to run the gauntlet of their paper work. Little did we know that we were to be rescued by an Aussie missionary, but that's the next installment.
Return to main Trip diary page
Lake Malawi in the late afternoon, the kids having fun off the boats .
Fishing in the main industry around the lake and there are lots of fishing villages .
The kids loved having their photo taken then looking at it on the digital camera - Neil with a small group .
Some of the local kids posing for the camera .
Our fantastic camp at Cape Maclear, further south down the lake .
Viv in the local market buying some fresh bread rolls .
