Guest Bloggger - Nkhata - Mzuzu

---

Sat 26 May

Off to catch the evening boat (the Ilala - it’s the only one) to the Malawi mainland at Nkhata Bay.
The ferry journey was 'an experience'. We actually had a nice cabin. But
loading from Likoma where there is no jetty was like a war time evacuation.
Lots of overloaded small boats carrying goods and people in the dark out to
the ferry where we clambered up a ladder. And the arrival was a stampede to
get goods to market - and trying to check tickets as people got off seemed a
bit late in the day.

Sun 27 May

Reached mainland at Nkhata Bay and much to everyone's amazement the
hire car I had booked in Lilongwe (a big Mitsubishi 4wd ) was there. Minimal formalities and I paid cash as it was much cheaper than Visa, and no deposit was asked for. We had a day to ‘waste’ as Tamsin wanted to go shopping on Monday with Jonathan and Cecilia from LMP who had accompanied us from Likoma, in order to buy stuff for the schools with money collected by Nayland School in UK. So we spent the afternoon at an idyllic 'backpacker hostel' on the lake shore. Canoeing, snorkeling, nice food, demo of local
dancers. Rather strangely one wore a Dennis the Menace scarf and another an
'England' scarf - both worn as sashes draped across their chests. Met one English fellow cycling his way up Africa so of course I pretended that I was in the same league !
I left UK with good intentions of having minimal contact with the lake water, as I was on a short trip and tend to be susceptible to stomach diseases. And the lake is full of malaria (which I took pills against) and bilharzias (which one can only cure after one catches it). However the lake became a bit of a holiday romance - seduced by its beauty and the attraction of its clear non-salty water at ideal temperature, and the empty beaches. And I’ll see in 6 weeks time if the bilharzias has got me.
Early evening drive to Mzuzu - quite a large town and if you think the name is funny - well the backpacker lodge is called Mzoozoozoo. Dropped off Jonathan at a cheap hotel and Cecilia at her brother’s and then driving through a very ‘ethnic’ area back to our hotel (the local Travelodge equivalent) our car (the tough go-anywhere 4x4 ) ground to a halt in the middle of the street. A helpful passer by diagnosed loose battery terminals so, with a wallop to them, we were on our way.

---