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Published: November 15th 2010
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The trek from Cape Maclear to Mpulungu is a tough one. First destination Lilongwe. I am told there is a minibus to Monkey Bay at 5:30am which meets the 7:30am bus to Lilongwe which takes 3.5hrs, once again it was pointless asking as it's nonsense! At 6:15 the minibus still hasn't arrived but luckily some of the day staff have so one of the men signals to a pickup truck and that takes me instead. Slightly worrying that it only has 4 people on it and is larger than normal so could take forever to fill up, luckily they only drive round the town once and then leave. So we have tons of room but also means we go very fast so a greater chance of falling out. Even the locals sit inside the back this time rather than perching on the edge. We arrive at the junction with the main road and a few small buses and pickup trucks are waiting, one man insists that I've missed the Lilongwe bus and need a pickup to get to the next town to catch another bus. As I'm discussing this, my pickup drives off with me still in it. He doesn't stop
no matter how much I shout and the bloke in the back won't give me any change for my 500Kwatcha note! We stop in central Monkey Bay and the driver explains all; there are buses to Lilongwe, he didn't want me to be conned by the pickup driver. So he sits me waiting in the right place and gets me the right change from the loading bloke, how nice!
After short wait the Lilongwe bus arrives, it's a large one, so I expect more comfort but am mistaken. Everyone runs for the door, and I can see why, the bus is packed. Luckily the ticket lady wants people travelling the furthest first as she can make more money, so I get on first. My bag is placed in a pile at the front and then I get to stand in the aisle. I am right by the door but we still manage to fit about 20 more people on, with luggage! Luckily it's not long before we stop in another small town and lots of people get off so I get a seat. There is no chivalry here, many men are seated while women carrying children stand up. I chat
with the woman next to me, but she soon moves to another available seat, it may have been my answer to the 'Are you Christian?' question, she couldn't believe anyone could go through life with no religion. After a very long 6 hours we arrive in Lilongwe. As it's Sunday it's too late to do any of my shopping tasks, so I check into the Mufasa hostel and have a Nando's!
Next day another early one with little to no direction, I have once again been told 3 different answers as to how to get to the border and then Lusaka, there is no direct bus on a Monday. The first option of a minibus to 'Crossroads' doesn't work as there are no local minibuses at 5:30am. So a man on a bike says it's straight up the hill and I should walk. After 30mins of very slow walking with 30kg on my back, a man stops to help! He says he's going that way so he carries one bag for me. Once there, we find a few minibuses stopped but they aren't going the way I want and are empty. A few minibuses to Mchinji, the border, pass but
won't stop for me or the local man, it seems this is not the place to catch them! Not to worry, the man won't leave me stranded so he flags down an HGV, this is the perfect solution. I get my own seat in the cab with tons of legroom. My bags go in his sleeping area, so safe and it's free! Also the route would have been, minibus to Mchinji, pickup truck to border, walk across border, taxi to Chapata, bus to Lilongwe. As the truck driver is going to Lusaka, he takes me right across the border. We have to wait briefly as the guard hasn't opened the gate for trucks but still much quicker than all the alternate travel options. Also gives me plenty of time to negotiate a good exchange rate for dollars to Zam. Kwacha. As we go through the border gate, an official guard steps up to the window to check the papers and the driver hands them over with 10+ dollars, not sure if his papers are incorrect or this is just the norm...
To the cheers of other drivers, my driver smiles as he's seen with a female mzungu, white person, we
then pick up 2 of his mates who sit on his bed as I have the only other seat. After about an hour we drop those men off and pick up 2 women. The drive is going very fast according to my guide book map reading. We drop the women off after an hour and unfortunately after another hour the driver is getting tired. He doesn't want to slow my trip though so he waits till he meets one of the long distance buses, he hails it down and then I transfer over so that he can stop for a nap. Over 2 thirds of the way to Lusaka so still pretty good going for no money and actual comfort for once. The bus has one spare seat so it's also quite comfy from then on too. We stop a couple of times for refreshments, random food purchases and pee stops (in the bushes of course). We arrive in the Lusaka central bus depot at about 17:30, so hours before my calculation if I'd done the standard minibus/taxi/bus route. Seeing as the ride has been so comfortable I try to go directly onto another bus to Mpulungu. After much traipsing
about and question asking I discover there are not 4 buses a day, as printed in the guide book, there are 4 companies but they all leave at the same time and are all full for the following day. It takes me a while to even get this information. At the Germin's kiosk I ask a man when the next bus leaves to Mpulungu, he says it's full. So I ask again what time does it leave, he says it's full. This goes on for some time with chat about the day before yesterday, which I take to mean there is space the day after tomorrow. I ask about the names of other companies and he says they are full too, basically a very unhelpful man. Finally a man at Juldan's takes pity and says he can squeeze me on the next day's bus leaving at 15h, perfect!
One night's rest in Lusaka, a few admin tasks in the morning, including getting the tablets to cure the water bug from Lake Malawi. Not sure I have the bug, but apparently most people do catch it as it gets through the skin not from drinking the water, so better to be
safe than sorry, although the tablets are supposed to come with vicious side effects so not advised to take all at once...
Andrew has just text to say he's nearly at Lusaka on the morning bus from Livingstone, so now I need some more charm to try and also get him a seat on the full bus. Luckily it's the same man on duty so he says it won't be a problem. After an hour and a half loading the luggage under the bus, 5 people have not checked in so we get to move to their seats. We leave 30mins late and then stop at the head office to pick up more people, there is chaos due to us and others being in the wrong seats but somehow everyone gets a seat in the end, and we're away!
Loud music, even louder local films and many stops later we arrive in Mpulungu at 8:30am the next day!
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