Safari - Part III: Livingstone to Lake Malawi

---

February 4, 2006 - New Group

We left Livingstone with our new group, a great bunch of people from Australia, England, New Zealand and the States. We had 8 people from our original group continue on, and added 10 from another group, and 2 new girls who joined in at Livingstone. It seems like an excellent group, a great group of people to travel with! Other than getting to know each other, we had a relatively boring day, driving from Livingstone to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. We stopped in Lusaka for a few hours, to shop for groceries for the next few days, and use the internet and get supplies (like mosquito repellant!). It was surprisingly developed...there were really nice shops, tons of tubabs everywhere, and really nice facilities. I was surprised by the level of development, and wondered for a minute why we didn't spend our three months in Zambia instead of Senegal! Anyway, after our outing in Lusaka, we headed to camp to quickly put up our tents, because it was going to (of course) rain again. It poured and poured while we sat and waited for dinner. Luckily the fly sheets are good on the tents, and we once again avoided a Noah's Ark incident with our sleeping bags and backpacks. We realized that night, however, that Danie and Lucinda (our guide and driver) run things a little differently than Charlie did. While Charlie did most of the cooking, with Lucinda, we all have teams that rotate through the duty roster. We have just about every other day off, luckily, because we're such a large group, so we really can't complain! The duties include cleaning out the truck everynight (changing the bins and sweeping it out), washing up (doing the dishes, which is the worst job by far) and cooking. Cooking is generally pretty easy, but it can get tricky cooking for twenty people (including two vegetarians) with just two hobs. Lucinda is really good about helping out though, which helps a lot!

February 5, 2006 - A Stuck Truck

When we arrived at the campsite the night before, we had to take a back route into the area because the real road was having concrete put down. We had a hell of a time getting it in, knocking down trees and poles all along the way. In the morning, after all the rain, we got about ten feet before the truck got stuck (really stuck) in the mud. We all piled off the truck, and the guys started helping Danie try to push it out. The truck weighs 15 tons. Not even our 8 guys could get it out (imagine that!). The mud covered about 3/4 of the trucks wheels, and it only got worse the longer it stood. The guys dug all around the wheels, tried to pull it out with a pick-up truck (which they had all the girls jump in the back of, to add weight....which we found offensive), used steel grates to try to add traction and a winch and a jack to try to get it moving. During the two hours it took to get going, it (of course) started raining again, only making matters worse. Finally, a huge six-wheel Russian truck came and got the truck out. We had to wait for all the guys to shower before we could get on our way though, because they were filthy.

After we finally got moving, we were all a little gloomy, knowing that we were supposed to have a really long day of driving, and that our morning adventure had only made it worse. We made up some time though, and camped that night at a campsite close to the border.

February 6 - 7, 2006 - Salima, Malawi

We crossed the border into Malawi, which, as usual, was somewhat of a process. We drove to Salima, where we stopped in town for supplies before continuing on to the campsite and setting up camp for the night. The next morning we visited a craft market nearby. The crafts were different than the ones we had previously seen, and were all handcrafted by the people selling them. They were delighted to see our big overland truck pull up, and a bunch of tourists pile off and into the stalls. We spent over an hour looking around and buying up everything we could fit into our lockers. Afterwards, we headed back to the campsite where we spent the rest of the day laying on the beach, playing volleyball and swimming. The lake itself was beautiful. It was quite clear, and had beautiful white sand. It was nice to swim in, because it's freshwater. The area where we were staying was quite open though, so the wind made good size waves. It was like being at the ocean, without the salt water. Apparently it's safe to go into the lake at these beaches, because the parasites that are a problem in some of Lake Malawi only exist in areas where the water is still.

February 8 - 9 , 2006 - Salima to Kande Beach

We drove from Salima to Kande Beach, which is another beautiful beach on Lake Malawi. The campsite was beautiful, and there was a small island off the coast of the beach. John, as well as a bunch of others, swan out to the island one afternoon, and spent some time jumping off the rocks into the water. The scenery was incredible and we spent a lot of time on the beach and in the water on our first day at Kande.

The next day we had our village walk at Kande Beach. As soon as we left the campsite, we were targeted by the locals selling their crafts. There was one local artisan for each of us, and they walked with us during our walk to the village, chatting with us about Malawi and where we came from. They had all adopted funny names, probably to help tourists remember them, since a lot of the traditional African names are hard for us to pronounce and remember. My 'friend' was named Tin Tin, and John's was "Sweet Banana". We also had "Julius Ceasar", "Andy from Kande" and, my personal favourite "Sex Machine". They walked with us all the way to the village, and then waited for us until we were finished to walk us back. Then of course, we were expected to visit their stall, and buy something. Tin Tin taught me how to play the Bao Game, which will be helpful, because I want to buy one. We bought a few little things from him, but I'm sure he was disappointed for how much work he had put into the sale!

Anyway, we walked to the village visited a local house, where we met our guide for the day, the chief's son. He explained to us that he will be the next chief even though he was the fourth child, because he was the oldest to have finished secondary school, which is a requirement for chief. He took us to the local clinic, where we saw a woman with a newborn, the facilities and met the local doctor. The doctor himself had only finished four years of medical school, and had two left to go, but was needed and so was the only practicing doctor in the village. He works seven days a week, and seems very overworked!

Next, we headed to a secondary school, and sat with the students in the school room. It was one room, and quite run-down. Each student has to pay school fees, because it's a private secondary school. The teacher explained to us that it is very difficult to be accepted into secondary school, there are exams and a student must score 90%. The school we visited is a private school and was set up to accept students who didn't achieve the 90%, to give them a chance to finish high school. We met some really nice kids, who all gave us their addresses and asked us to be pen pals. Next, we headed over to the primary school, which was total chaos. We met the headmaster in the school library first, and he told us about the school. The library was a small room that was filled with books, but most were ripped or filthy, or falling apart. The headmaster said that the school also had 30 orphans (AIDS is a big problem in Malawi) who stayed at the school fulltime. They accept donations, but require that the donor accepts a receipt showing what the money was used for. It is mostly used for the payment of orphan's school fees, new supplies and books. We then had a chance to look in at a classroom. There are 200 students per teacher at this school (and most in the area), and it was total chaos. There were kids everywhere, and I can't even imagine how the teachers survive the day. After taking several pictures of the kids (who loved getting their picture taken and then seeing it on the screen), we started our walk back to the campsite. The landscape in Malawi is by far the most beautiful so far. There are hills, which are covered in lush, green trees and bushes, and of course, the lake. Words can't do it justice, so the pictures will have to do! The walk back to the campsite was breathtaking.

That night we had dinner with the chief's son at the chief's house. We had rice and beef, cassava (kind of like a potato), beans and spinach. After dinner, the local kids performed for us, singing and dancing for over an hour. They sang several local songs, and danced for us, then with us. It was awesome. The kids were so happy to be performing and we were all loving the show! It was so nice to see the kids so happy and excited, as we usually see them much more somber and on the street. It was an excellent way to end our time in Kande Beach.

February 10, 2006 - Kande Beach to Chitimba

We had a long drive from Kande Beach to Chitimba today. We had to drive most of the day, and we only stopped quickly to get some supplies. In the afternoon we did make another quick stop at a local clothes market. We were having a dress-up night that night, and we had all picked a name out of a hat and were required to spend 500 kwacha (about $1) on an outfit for that person. The clothes in the market were all donated from places like Goodwill and Salvation Army, they were meant to be donated to the people of Malawi, but because of corruption at the docks, it was taken to the market to be sold to people. The clothes were horrendous looking. They were from the 80s and just the ugliest things you could imagine. We easily found stuff for the 500 kwacha, and we're on the truck again in no time. Danie had warned us that we had to keep our money in our hands while in the market, and to only take in the 500 kwacha. One girl, Cat, put her money in her pocket and was promptly pickpocketed. Luckily, it was only $1.

The party that night was hilarious. All the guys were dressed up in beautiful dresses. The girls were dressed up like old grandmas. John had a silky hot-pink number that looked hilarious. The pictures will tell all. Everyone had to decide who looked the funniest, and then that person had to buy whoever bought his /her outfit a drink. John won the competition and had to buy Dutchie a shot. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur.....

The next day we were scheduled to leave Malawi. I was a little disappointed to be leaving, it was by far my most favourite country so far. The landscape was beautiful and the people were amazing. Even the long drives were enjoyable because of the beautiful scenery. Onto Tanzania now...and Zanzibar and the Serengeti!

---

Photos

Dinner with the Chief's Son
The kids sang and danced for us