Jon's misfortunes in Malawi

Swollen, smashed thumb

I have thoroughly loved Malawi, but I'm not so sure the feeling is reciprocal.  Since coming to Malawi I have suffered one thing after another.  On Chizumulu I started feeling a sore throat.  We moved to Likoma and things started.  I tried riding a board like a surf board that had a spot for my rump and straps for my feet so I could sit while I paddled.  This was hard.  Not even one minute in I was thrown by a wave and put my hand down as I was falling.  There I smashed my thumb on some rocks.  The thumb became swollen and I might still lose half of the nail. 
Not long after this the sore throat developed into a cold.  A cold in the summer is not fun.  I am still recovering from this.  After the cold was confirmed I woke up one morning and had spider bites on my neck.  We killed the spider and I woke up with more bites the next morning.  Thankfully the third morning revealed no more bites.

Spider bites

The next thing I noticed was a rash in Cape Maclear.  It was on my back and most likely from not changing into fresh clothes frequently enough with the hot, humid weather.  This was minor and was fixed with a shower and a change of clothes.
On a matola ride between Cape Maclear and Liwonde I stood up so someone could take their tin roofing out of the back of the truck and they pulled it across my toes.  I had cuts on one big toe and two large cuts on the other.  They were gushing blood and I had to clean them and tape them, holding up the truck.  I sat in pain the rest of the rides and still struggle to walk without a limp as they heal.
Liwonde got me with one of the meals I ate at the lodge.  I started to feel bad two days ago and then yesterday it became worse and worse.  I took a pill that we have for just such an occasion and struggled through a painful night as I was nauseous and sweating through the night.  My fears that I might have malaria (from the stomach pain, nausea, aching, and fever) were relieved when I woke up feeling decent this morning and had an appetite.
Hopefully Zambia will be nicer.

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.

Zanzibar

We made it to Zanzibar.  What a place.  An island paradise is one way, albeit cliche, to describe it.  Today we did a Spice Tour.  Here are just a few photos from our island adventure.  More to come.  Starfruit, Nutmeg, and a view from the ferry from Dar es Salaam of Stone Town.  The ferry took us about two hours or so from Dar (as everyone calls it) to Zanzibar Island out in the Indian Ocean.  On the Island and in the heart of Zanzibar Town lies Stone Town.  It is a maze of roads not wide enough for cars.  You can try to find your way on foot, occasionally dodging bikes and mopeds and others who know their way better through the streets. 

Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater

The Serengeti!  What a place.  We were worried a bit because with how expensive it is to get a vehicle and a guide and pay to go into the Serengeti--and Ngorongoro Crater--that we could only afford a day in each and that we would miss some of the animals.  This turned out not to be true.  As soon as we entered the gate we started seeing animals.  There were wildebeest and zebra herds interspersed with many impalas and Grant's and Thompson's gazelle.  We even saw a hyena within the first five minutes.  We could barely make out its face in the tall grass and then she stood up and walked into some bushes.  We knew this would be a great adventure.
We went in the wet season.  This didn't exactly mean it would rain the whole time, but it was overcast in the mornings and it did sprinkle on us a couple times.  What the wet season meant was that the grass was taller and the animals would be harder to see, especially the carnivores that need to hide to catch and kill their prey.  But the prey, the herbivores were widely dispersed and we saw many of them.  We did a count and by the time we had left the Ngorongoro Conservation Area we had seen 30 different animal species, not counting any birds.  For herbivores that meant Grant's and Thompson's gazelle, impala, hartebeest, wildebeest, topi, reedbuck, dik-dik (I think the smallest antelope), eland (the largest antelope--bigger than a buffalo), warthog, water buffalo, zebra, giraffe, and elephant.  I may have left some out accidentally.  We went to the Grumeti River and saw the water species; hippo (also a herbivore), crocodile, and a monitor lizard.  We went to the central part of the park near Seronera and saw leopard and lion.  In the east, we saw the wildebeest migration--largest land migration in the world--with hundreds of thousands of wildebeest with many zebra and gazelle along.  Lazing around, probably fat from feasting were two hyena.  There were animals everywhere.
We left the Serengeti and entered the Ngorongoro Crater and saw a cheetah.  The grass there was shorter and we stood in our pop-up-top vehicle watching it as it contemplated running after some gazelle.  They either caught wind of what was going on or luckily stayed too far away for the cheetah to chase them.  We traveled around Lake Magadi in the crater and saw the eland, which we were told was the largest antelope, weighing in at more than a water buffalo.  Lastly, along with all the other game animals in the crater, we saw black rhino.
So everybody wants to see "The Big Five" when they come to these parks/preserves.  "The Big Five" are water buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard, and lion.  Of course we wanted to see "The Big Five" but unlike other people we weren't just driving around looking for them, from one to the next.  We were excited with every animal from the largest elephant to the tiny dik-dik.  Early on within the park we saw herds of water buffalo.  We had seen them before, but there were some large herds here, and they are such large animals that it is nice to see them but from a safe distance.  We later saw a large, lone bull elephant.  He happened to just be off a side road and our guide, Vincent, drove down it near him (first photo).  He was not as excited to see us as we were him and he charged a bit at our truck.  Vincent took off.  We had also seen elephant, but it was amazing to see one so big and so close.
When we made it to the central part of the park Vincent spotted a leopard in a tree.  It was napping and with our binoculars we could see its coat and tail.  It was facing the other way so we went around to the "road" on the other side of the tree, where we had a better view and could see its face.  After watching for a bit another leopard came down from a higher branch where we could not see it before.  It stopped by the first and then found its own branch before walking down the large, broken branch to the ground, where it disappeared.  Vincent told us it was rare to see two leopards together like that.  We eventually left and drove not more than 100 meters down the road and stopped to look where we had seen some vehicles stopped earlier.  There was another leopard in a tree not far from the road there.  We watched it for a while and then moved on.
Vincent then took us toward some rock outcrops and we drove around in the setting sun looking for lions.  At the third or fourth outcrop we spotted two lions (one with a collar; photo) lazing around on some rocks.  As it was nearing the end of the time we could be driving around we looped back around to some other rocks and there we saw a male lion lying on a rock.  Vincent also said that was rare as the males are usually not out in the open as much as the females.  We had had a great day and had seen four of "The Big Five."

The next day we were up early for a game drive before heading to the Ngorongoro Crater.  We saw some large families of elephants.  One family was quite close and we saw two young elephants.  They are so neat.  Tiny little packages of their giant parents.  After that we drove around a bit without seeing much.  On our way out of the park we saw another lion on a rock near the road.  Then we made it to the gate, still 18 kilometers from the border of Serengeti.
In the area between the gate and the border we saw the migration.  There were literally hundreds of thousands of wildebeest with so many zebra and gazelle.  We stopped to watch as a large herd crossed the road in front of our vehicle.  It was incredible to witness.  The photo and anything I could write would never do it any justice.   

After seeing the migration we drove for a while and then entered the Ngorongoro Crater.  I had heard of this place and was excited to see it for myself.  There were animals everywhere.  Like I mentioned, we saw a cheetah.  Then we carried on around the lake and we saw two lions.  One was watching some wildebeest and was crouching, trying to sneak up on them as they rested.  Its efforts were thwarted, though, by a hyena, who thought she would try her luck just approaching the wildebeest.  This was unsuccessful and one easily chased her off three times by lowering its horns and charging.  This roused the wildebeest enough that the lions gave up.

Continuing on around the lake we saw the eland.  Vincent again said how lucky we were as people don't normally see these large antelope.  Little did he know how lucky we were about to be.  Further around the lake we saw the black rhino.  It was the last of "The Big Five."  Not only did we see one, but we saw two.  They were lying down together.  As we looked more with the binoculars, Vincent said something about the three large animals just a little further.  He couldn't tell if they were buffalo or more rhino.  I looked with my binoculars, and sure enough, it was three more black rhino.  We watched them all for a bit and out of a depression came two more rhinos we didn't see.  There in front of us there were seven black rhino, possibly just under half of the endangered population in the Ngorongoro Crater.  It was incredible. 

I could go on and on about all the amazing things we saw and add photo after photo, but this will have to do.  You can see more on your favorite nature show, or better yet, plan your own trip and book your flights.  You will not be disappointed.