Malawi

Wow!  Already in southern Malawi.  It has been a whirlwind.  We were in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania staying with our new friends from this trip, Jamie and T.J.  We left them on the 15th at about 6:00 a.m. and caught a taxi to the Ubungu bus station, where we boarded our bus at 6:30 and left by 7:00.  It was then 13 hours later when we arrived in Mbeya, Tanzania.  We bought bus tickets and got a place to stay just across from the bus station.  

The next morning at 5:45 a.m. we boarded the bus and started making our way to the Malawi border.  There had been some misunderstandings between us and the guy who sold us the tickets, James Blunt as he called himself.  We thought we would get off the first bus and meet someone who would walk with us to the Tanzanian Immigration to get our exit stamps and then across the bridge to the Malawi Immigration for our entry stamps and then on to the next spot, near immigration, where a bus would be waiting for us to take us down to Mzuzu, Malawi.  We made it to the town nearest the border and met many people trying to change our Tanzanian schillings into Malawian kwacha, but we did not meet anybody to take us to the bus on the other side of the border. 

We walked to the two immigration posts and realized on the Malawi side that there would be no bus waiting.  There had been a misunderstanding, or we had been ripped off.  We called the numbers James gave us and one was the wrong number.  The other was a guy who called a guy who met us at immigration with a bike.  He walked us to the spot where taxis were lining up to go to Karonga, where he said the only bus heading to Mzuzu would be.  He was able to get in touch with James through his friend and James told me we would not have to pay any more and the guy with the bike, Jeoffrey, would take care of everything and (we hope) be reimbursed by James or his friend.  

Jon on the hill on Chizumulu

We were very disappointed, of course, for letting down our guard and falling for what we believed was a lie.  We had nothing else we could do now but to believe Jeoffrey and get in the taxi heading for Karonga and hope that we would still make it to Mzuzu and then further to Nkhata Bay to catch the ferry leaving that evening by 8:00 p.m.  We packed into the taxi and flew down the road, passing three or four police checks.  At one point the driver flagged down a bicycle and had one of the passengers get out and onto the bike until we were through the check and then he paid the bicyclist and took the passenger back in the car.  Eventually we pulled into Karonga and the taxi driver said the next bus through Mzuzu wouldn't leave until after noon.  We knew we could get there faster if we took a minibus.  That is what we decided to do and the taxi driver paid the minibus guys and we boarded and waited for it to fill up.  The minibus was like all we had been on in Africa.  It was basically a minivan licensed to carry 14 passengers and it didn't leave until it was full with nearly 20 passengers.  Needless to say they are cramped.  

Carrie with the children on Chizumulu

Once filled, overfilled, we took this cramped minibus down the road paralleling the shore of the mighty Lake Malawi.  It was a beautiful, albeit, painful ride.  Part-way down the lake the road left the lake shore and climbed up into the hills.  On the climb we saw a few yellow baboons on the side of the road and the driver and a passenger had bought some small mangoes to throw to the baboons.  They would pick a mango up and chase the minibus up the road running on three legs.  It was quite a sight.  A bit further on we ran into some very heavy rains.  There was water all over the road and mini rivers, full of mud, crossing the road.  The driver even stepped out and tested one before driving through it.  Before long, the rains passed, and we made it safely into Mzuzu, where we stopped for something to eat.  

After some food, we caught another shared taxi, tearing through the hills back to the shores of the lake at Nkhata Bay.  The ferry was there and we bought tickets and boarded and celebrated our nearly impossible feat.  We expected with the uncertainties of Africa that something would go wrong during one of the long days of transport or that the ferry would have left early or be leaving on a completely different day altogether.  The ferry left nearly on time, sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. and we took it to Chizumulu Island.  

St. Peter's Cathedral

Before getting there, the rain started and being on the top deck we became quite wet.  Then our stop came and we prepared to get off around 1:30 a.m.  We proceeded to wait for at least two hours before they let anyone off and we eventually climbed off the large, swaying boat onto a much smaller rocking boat in the wind and rain.  It wasn't as bad as we had anticipated, though, and we were quickly to the shore and set up our tent in the dark and rain by 4:00 a.m.  We had pulled it off.  We had made it to the island from Dar es Salaam in 45 hours.

The next few days on Chizumulu were great.  We mostly read, wrote, and rested (a common theme for our time on the islands).  There were a couple small villages on the island and we could walk from one side to the other in about 40 minutes.  There were no cars and the pace of life was slow and refreshing.  We contemplated snorkeling but there had recently been a crocodile shot nearby as it had killed a dog.  Nobody was sure if the right crocodile had been killed and we didn't want to take the chance.  Instead, we climbed up the only hill on the island and spent the rest of our time relaxing.  We also managed to walk around the village and find many children playing football (soccer).  We stopped and played with them.  I impressed them by spinning a ball on my finger, which they maybe hadn't seen before, and Carrie sparked their interest by drawing some hopscotch in the dirt and jumping around with them. 

View from our campsite on Likoma Island

After a couple days on Chizzie, as the people at our lodge called it, we took another small boat through some large wave over to the larger, Likoma Island.  There we stayed on a very nice stretch of beach right on the lake.  We spent much of our time on Likoma relaxing as well, but we did do the 45-minute walk to the other side of the island to the main village there to get food, to watch a girls' netball game--much like basketball--and a football match, and to see and go to a service in the large St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral.  At the service all seven of the azungu (white people) were called up to be introduced.  Somehow Carrie and I were lumped in with the girls from Belgium there to help in the schools and we didn't have to talk in front of the large congregation.  We didn't understand much of the service, but the singing was very beautiful and moving. 

The ferry we took, the Ilala

After a few days on Likoma we walked back to the village and boarded a small boat, which took us out to the ferry (it made the trip down the lake once a week).  By noon or so we were on our way south, heading for Monkey Bay.  That trip was great.  We were again on the top deck.  This time we set up our tent, and that is probably the reason that it didn't rain.  We slept one night on the deck and pulled into Monkey Bay around 2:00 p.m., 26 hours after leaving Likoma Island. 

From Monkey Bay we caught a ride in a matola (pick-up truck), which was very overloaded, to Cape Maclear, where we camped for two nights.  It was beautiful but we didn't stay for quite as long as we would have liked to.  There was a cyclone hitting Mozambique and we were experiencing some wind and rain associated with that, and worse than the weather, the "beach boys," who will not leave you alone, trying to get you to go on a boat ride, snorkeling, a walk...  It gets tiring.  We wanted to go for a walk in the Lake Malawi Marine National Park, but they kept telling us we needed a guide so we wouldn't get lost or robbed.  When the rain picked up, we left instead of walking and made it to the more relaxing and much more remote Liwonde National Park. 

A male bushbuck in Liwonde National Park

In Liwonde, we camped a couple of nights just inside the park at a remote and mostly empty camp/lodge.  During the day we could see warthogs, vervet monkeys, turtles, monitor lizards, and slender and banded mongoose around camp.  At night we could hear large hippos thundering past our tent.  It was a wild place.  On our last day we went on a game drive into the park.  We were a bit disappointed to not see the elephants the park is partly known for, but we did see many other animals, including almost 30% of the park's population of the large and colorful, ground hornbill.

After seeing Liwonde we traveled to Blantyre, Malawi's second largest city, where we are now.  We will catch up online, recharge our batteries (literally and figuratively) before heading further south to near the tip of Malawi to climb in the Mt. Mulanje massif.  We are excited for this and hope the weather will hold nice as it has for the past couple days.