From the Mountains to the Lake

---

Last weekend was fantastic! Emma had meetings in Zomba (“big city” in the south) and Mangochi (right on Lake Malawi), and she took us with her. The drive took about 5 hours, but it was incredible. I finally saw the Africa that you see in the movies. For about 1/3 of the journey, Mozambique was to our right. Apparently the road was the border, so we had to stop at about 5 border town checkpoints. The landscape was incredible. You’d look to the right as the sun set behind the distant mountains and think it was the most amazing sight you’d ever seen, then you’d look left only to discover that the way the shadows and changing colors of the sky accentuated the hills and valleys of Malawi blew your mind. I tried to draw an analogy for my travel companions that may have only been understood by one or two people. It’s like the Beach Boys-Beatles competition. The Beach Boys release Good Vibrations and everyone thinks it’s great. Then the Beatles blow them out of the water with Yellow Submarine. Same thing with the view. Looking left, you think it can’t get much better ‘til you look right and discover it’s even more spectacular. Only that went on for about an hour!
The earlier part of the trip reminded me of the boat trip Lisa and I took down the Mekong in Cambodia, from Siem Reap to Batambang. There, we saw water villages – entire villages built on the river. As you move further from Siem Reap, the housing conditions of those villages deteriorates. Similarly, the same thing happens the further you drive from Lilongwe. The houses went from decent sized abodes with proper roofs to tiny 1-room sized houses with grass-thatched roofs. Occasionally you’d see a couple goats in the doorway of the house. There were typically 5-7 in one little area, with the next little village about 100 yards away. There would be 2-3 such groupings before you might go a mile or two (3-6 k) until you reached the next. It was in those areas where you’d note the lack of shoes.
We traveled with a woman who works with Emma and goes home to her family in Zomba every weekend. Along the way, we’d stop at a roadside stand so she could pick up food for her family. At one, no one got out of the car – you simply opened the window a crack to negotiate, then Richard would roll down his window to bring the food into the car. Women and children came out of nowhere with trays of beans, buckets of potatoes, and bowls of onions. They’d scramble on top of each other to have Mercy (pronounced May-say) choose their goods.
When we finally reached Zomba, Mercy’s husband picked her up and we began our long ascent up the mountain (symbolically moving from one end of the socio-economic spectrum to the other).
Recall earlier that I mentioned she’s a good person to know – because of her relationship with both hotels, we were hooked up. The Sunbird hotel in Zomba, Ku Chewa (“Island in Heaven”), was one of the most spectacular places I have ever seen. We drove up Mulunguzi (“God’s river”) Mountain for so long that my ears popped once if not twice. It was dark as we ascended into the heavens, and on some curves you could look down and see the lights of Zumba town. Amazing. The hotel itself was designed as an upscale log cabin. There was (really good) coffee and tea to keep us company as Emma made arrangements for us, then we joined her and driver Richard for dinner. Without high expectations, I ordered a Vegetable Thai Curry. It was delicious. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel too well after that. No problem, just a little discomfort. Same with Dave, who had ordered Mousakka. We learned that when in Rome, eat Roman food. Although the comfort foods tasted great, it’s perhaps better to stick to what the country does best.
The following morning, we met our tour guide Daniel at 6am. He took us on a hike to William Falls (gorgeous) and the overlooks. Unfortunately, it was incredibly foggy when we got to Emperor’s and Queen’s view. Though quick note – Emperor’s View is where King Selassie of Ethiopia sat and meditated. He was considered a profit to the Rastafarian faith.
By the time we arrived at King’s View about 2.5 hours later, the skies had opened and we had a nice view of the Chungwa Dam and part of Zomba town. Unfortunately, it was at this time that I realized the pictures on my cheap digital camera may not be saving. The little piece of plastic holding the battery compartment closed had broken at some point during the flight over. Not a big deal, it just means that I have to awkwardly hold it closed when trying to take a picture. But I realized I wasn’t able to play back any pictures from a prior session. I will check this weekend, but hopefully they’re stored somewhere on the camera and will transfer to a computer. It was a $20 one-time use plastic digital camera from Target, so the memory card isn’t accessible. I really hope there’s something on there. I regret not bringing my regular digital, but since I bought it in Shanghai, it has some sentimental value and I didn’t want to risk losing it/having it stolen. Lesson learned. If all else fails, I also bought a disposable camera that can take 27 shots. I’ll just have to allocate those pics carefully. And if I’m really desperate, I suppose I can give in and buy a new digital. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
If we had just gone to the hotel and booked the room ourselves, it would have cost $148/night. Interestingly, the buffet dinner was K3,000 (appr. $20), while the buffet breakfast was K4,000 (appr. $26.50). We ordered a la carte for dinner (which came to about $13.25), but had made an agreement with Emma that instead of paying for our room, we’d each pay our own breakfast. A pretty amazing deal! The guide cost K1,300 ($8.60) and the toll to cross the bridge over the dam was K200 ($1.32).
Moving on. At the Sunbird hotel in Mangochi, Emma and Richard had a room covered by their organization, and we had booked tents. When we drove over to the tent area, however, we discovered that one of them had only one bed and the other tent stood on a dilapidated slab (to the point of looking dangerous) and the key wouldn’t work. I volunteered that I would only need 2 blankets and a pillow and could sleep on the floor, but that still left us one tent short. They were otherwise booked. If you ask me, this whole thing was for show. Some phone calls were made, and before long, we were headed back to the main hotel. Without paying more than the K1,750 ($11.60) each we had already paid for the tent, we were put up in a room that for all intents and purposes looked like a tree house from the outside. There were 3 rooms per block, and you had to climb stairs in order to reach the block. From your window, it looked like you were in the tree, looking out onto the beach. In fact, Dave and Mindy left their window open the next morning, and after a staff member informed Dave that a monkey may have climbed into their room through the open window, Dave quickly ran up to close the window before Mindy could come out of the shower only to find a monkey hanging in the room (perhaps spinning from the mosquito net). Fortunately, the curious little creatures at this hotel did not have the same appetite as their friends in Zomba. Our breakfast in Mangochi was uninterrupted, while in Zomba, one monkey came from the patio to steal 2 loaves of bread. Another came strutting through the front door as though he owned the place, and managed to grab one loaf before staff chased him out. The whole scene was hilarious, with Mindy scrambling to take a picture and Megan fearing for her life. “They’re my size!”
(See Part II)

---