One thing I forget to ask at Infomulanje is how to acquire an (obligatory) guide, and I wonder if I've made a booboo when I start chatting with a guy, B, on the street and agree to use his services. I've read that porters (which I won't need) are allocated on a rotation basis so they get cheesed off if you arrive at the trailhead with one already, and I'm not sure if the same applies to guides. I mention this and B says he's registered so it's not a problem. That isn't quite the question I asked but rephrasing it [View Full Entry]

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I decide that, having done nothing of interest so far in Malawi, I should hit Mt Mulanje on my way out to Mozambique. Mulange isn't a major mountaineering challenge (its highest point is about 3,000m) but its appeal lies in that it's more a massif than a mountain so there are opportunities for merely hiking among its dozen or so peaks as well as climbing them. I'd first heard of Mulanje soon after entering Malawi, when a newspaper article had mentioned the disappearance of a French-Brazilian hiker in the massif. The article had contained an interview with a local headman, who [View Full Entry]

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The morning I leave for Lilongwe, it's overcast and spitting with rain, the eight okta cloud cover greying out the pre-dawn light to the point where I am reminded of wintry teenage paper rounds. The AXA bus from Mzuzu to Lilongwe bears little resemblance to that from Karonga to Mzuzu. The latter's aisles were off limits to humans and cargo while the vehicle was moving, the former's aren't. I have babies' arses swiped across my face as their mothers force their way down the aisle, offspring secured to their backs by the ubiquitous chitenges. Half way through the journey I acquire [View Full Entry]

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The bus ride to Mzuzu is a scenic one, in particular the part where we chug up some hills near the lake and see a magnificent panorama spread below us. I feel like I'm back in Ethiopia again when, 1.5 hours into the journey and hence with the entire bus on the verge of starvation, we stop for a meal break. I arrive in Mzuzu with no map and just two guesthouse names, one of which no-one has heard of. Fortunately this isn't Tanzania, though, and a random guy offers to take me to my second choice, which he duly does [View Full Entry]

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The WLP describes Nkhata Bay as "Caribbeanesque" then back-pedals and damns it with "quite picturesque". It's certainly (and thankfully) not as hot as the former but I'll give it the latter. It has the potential to be overrun by tourism but, with Malawi not on the tourist trail and with the nearest airport to Nkhata Bay 6 hours away by road, that won't happen any time soon. However it's certainly a backpacker destination and the number of smoking teenagers is overwhelming, with me not having seen such a quantity anywhere in Africa. My first accommodation is serenely peaceful and I fritte [View Full Entry]

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From the Malawi border, I take a shared taxi to the first proper town, Karonga. I'm squeezed into the back seat with two women, a man, and two children. They're remarkably cheerful at the addition of this large, sweaty foreigner to their vehicle, though one woman's opening comment to me, in lieu of a greeting, is that I should give some money to her child. Later in the journey she tells me I have such soft skin, accompanied by a gratuitous fondle of my upper arm, and I recommend to her Aveeno daily moisturising lotion with natural colloidal oatmeal. My arrival [View Full Entry]

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With Malawi next on my destination list, the obvious overland route is to bus it down to Mbeya, overnight there, then cross the border the next day. It's a 13 hour journey to Mbeya during which I have an entire double seat to myself. I recall reading in the paper that the cost of 1km of road in Tanzania has doubled to $1 million in just two years, and a mere 49km of new road were completed last year, a situation government critics are blaming on corruption and poorly-enforced contract conditions. This same newspaper also carried a letter in which the [View Full Entry]

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The taxi to Kigoma airport pumps out a constant stream of Michael Jackson from its radio, just one aspect of the heavy media coverage here accompanying his death. I can only imagine what it must be like in the US. The approach to the airport has some intriguing warning signs - exceeding the speed limit carries a fine of TSh20,000 or three years in prison or both, whereas loitering after 7PM could incur a fine of Tsh1,000,000 or a year in prison or both. Kigoma airport may well be the smallest I've ever been to, eclipsing Coca in the Ecuadorian Amazon [View Full Entry]

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I take the most expensive bus option to Arusha, but it's a far cry from Argentinian standards. However the aircon (!) works and the ride is comfortable, with my seat occupied only by myself. Having read that Arusha is tout heaven, I've taken the precaution of booking a hotel room in advance. There's nothing more irritating than being trailed to a hotel by a tout and finding the price inflated because of their unwarranted commission. However there is little hassle at the bus stop and my bigger problem is actually finding the hotel. Once again, no-one can tell me any street [View Full Entry]

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After the remoteness and small population of Soki camp in the Serengeti, it's shocking to arrive at what appears to be a tent city on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. Simba A campsite is a much bigger operation and there are already 30 or 40 tents erected in its scenic grounds, dominated by a large, spreading tree and views into the crater. Our tents are pitched in some available spots and we see a few faces familiar from our game drives. A lone zebra potters past the toilet block on its way into the crater. The camp is at 2,000m and [View Full Entry]

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