A first

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With an early morning departure, it’s off to Malawi. Being a Monday morning, we pass countless children in their clean pressed school uniform walking to school. It’s worth noting that in the villages, there are virtually no washing machines – that’s all handwashed. My clothes got the same treatment at South Luangwa – not by me obviously. Pretty impressive. At the town schools, it’s predominantly rectangle concrete buildings with clear dirt yards & lovely big trees providing shade. No fencing. I’ve also noticed locals wearing clothing with pictures of, what I assume are, politicians on them – is this a form of political advertising or do they revere their politicians? I forgot to ask the guides.

There’s something about the place, driving through the country, seeing life everywhere. There’s lots of activity, people going about their day. I enjoy seeing the women dressed in beautifully coloured & patterned garments, mothers with their babes swaddled to them, balancing all manner of things on their heads – baskets, bags, bowls of produce - with no hands. I’m mesmerised watching them balance everything. I would not be suitable wife material here. My balance is terrible. Also, women are expected to have children – another strike for me. Further their hair is amazing. Across all ages it’s twirled or braided & subsequently tied up in buns. And it looks like lots of hair. My hair is lucky it gets a brush through it. Third strike for me.

Advertising signs are predominantly painted signs on concrete fences and buildings. Shop names are also painted on its building & on small shops, there’s regular religious references, such as Gods Favour Shop & Only God Knows Shop. I also like the Early Early Complex. Sounds like some of our start times on the long days. We ask, is it early, early early or very early tomorrow? I can’t remember the last time I slept till 6am or had 8 hours sleep. We often eat dinner around 7pm, followed by wash up & next day’s briefing. Very early has been 5:30am which means getting up at 4:30am to drop tents & have breakfast before hitting the road.

Heading to the border, we pass through Chipata, a sizeable town. Around the petrol station where the truck is refuelling, there are lots of mobile phone carrier ‘shop booths’ advertising airtime & data purchase as well as storing & transferring money & making payments. Querying with the guides, people use mobile phone carriers to store money instead of banks as they are more available than banks. We also passed by a Hungry Lion, which we’ve passed in a few towns. It appears to be the local equivalent of KFC at home. It has chilli chicken and soft serve ice-cream, both of which were awarded thumbs up by other passengers.

As we get closer to the border, there’s more Islamic dress & mosques popping into the mix. Muslims make up c13%!o(MISSING)f population ^{in 2017}. With c83%!C(MISSING)hristians. Other tidbits about Zambia:

· National animal is the kudu, the 2^nd largest antelope species.

· On the Zambian flag, green is for agriculture, red for blood from wars for control, black for the people & yellow for minerals/resources.

· Main industries are copper & other mining, agriculture & tourism.

· Zambezi River is dammed for hydro creating Lake Kariba, the world’s largest artificial lake by volume, providing power for Zambia & Zimbabwe.

· Under British rule, Zambia was North Rhodesia & Zimbabwe South Rhodesia.

· Zambia gained its independence in 1964 from the British & formed a republic in 1966.

· National motto ‘One Zambia, One Nation’.

· There are 73 ethnic groups & there are 74 languages recognised – 73 native ones & English – and little ethnic issues across the country. Intertribal marriage assists with harmony and learning languages.

· Population – nearly 20M

· Average wage is USD250/mth; this is down from USD350/mth in 2017

· Average age is 68 years

So far during our trip, driving on the appropriate side of the road is dependent on the state of the road as the priority is finding the smoothest route through all the potholes & road breaks. Thankfully there is little traffic heading to Chipata & onto Malawi. We have a simple albeit slow border crossing from Zambia to Malawi with the new border post making it a one stop shop. It’s exit Zambia & enter Malawi in the same building. Out Zambia at one counter window, then in Malawi at another counter a few windows down – no stepping outside, getting back into the vehicle, driving through no-man’s land to the other border post. The slogan is Two Nations – One Stop. I did have to pay a USD5 cold drink to ‘expedite’ the visa process on the Malawian side as I didn’t have an e-visa. If you don’t give a cold drink, the computer miraculously has problems. Not that the paid e-visa was any quicker. It might be a new building but I’m not sure it’s led to improved processes internally. Whilst we were there, there were maybe 5 other people passing through the border. I wonder if it speeds up with more demand…

A few days ago, heading to South Luangwa, my keyboard stopped working. Really!?! I don’t think I’ve had this many equipment issues in all my travels combined. 1^st my phone, 2^nd the camera charger & 3^rd now the keyboard. Hopefully it’s 3 & done. Thankfully we had a pitstop in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, where I was able to pick up an English/Arabic compact keyboard at a large expensive looking shopping centre looking out of place to the surrounding area. Not cheap but it was worth it for my sanity as using the onscreen touch keyboard on bumpy roads would have sent me to the asylum.

Travelling from Zambia to Malawi, we passed through mountainous areas before descending into the valley to reach the lake, travelling on the best roads to date. Along the way, there were numerous stalls & people walking all along the side of the ‘highway’, including young kids. Monday is market day. Amongst these stalls were electrical scales which I hadn’t noticed in Zambia, also numerous roadside nurseries, piles of maize stalks & their husks as well as pool tables outside under wooden thatched market ‘gazebos’. Farming looked larger & more organised. Sundried brick making was evident in Malawian villages and as thus there were more brick fences & houses than Zambia giving the appearance of a more prosperous nation though this is not the case. At the petrol station, there were considerable numbers of children begging which we hadn’t encountered in Zambia.

Malawi is the poor neighbour & struggles with droughts, flooding, food shortages, deforestation as well as one of the world’s highest HIV/AIDS infection rates at 10%. It has a similar population to Zambia but is 1/6th the size. It is Africa’s smallest nation with 20% taken up by the Lake Malawi, the world’s 9th largest freshwater lake by area, 5th by volume. The main industries are tea, tobacco, agriculture & fishing.

Akin to several newly independent countries in Southern Africa, Malawi’s first president, Bunda, eliminated opposition & removed the limit for maximum terms served. He was a conservative dictator suppressing Western culture & media as well as supporting South Africa’s apartheid for trade & aid. He was ousted after 28 years in 1994. In 2005, there was widespread famine due to crop failure & drought. In 2011, dictator Muharka expelled the British High Commission which froze millions in aid cause fuel prices to soar 150% & foreign exchange to be banned. In 2012, he had a heart attack & first president Banda’s wife Joyce became president & subsequently sold the USD15M presidential jet & its associated $300k maintenance/insurance contract however was later embroiled in ‘cashgate’ where USD100M allegedly disappeared. After fighting for independence, their leaders let them down.

Late that afternoon, we pulled up on the shore of Lake Malawi – our camp for the next 2 nights. The camping locations to date have been fabulous – all on or next to water with front row water views from my tent for all bar one. The water was calm on arrival however when I woke before sunrise, the wind had turned the lake choppy. Being early in the tourist season, there is only one other group at the campsite, locals here for a wedding. It’s been similar at the other campsites & it’s fabulous to experience these places a little more peaceful.

After breakfast, we set off on a local township tour, right next to the 4-star hotel. First stop was to a craft stall where we had wooden keyring tags engraved with our names & African animal of choice – Lion for Darryl, Warthog Pumba for me. The wood used was locally grown teak, ebony, or mahogany. The quality of the craftsmanship on display was excellent – all done at the back of the stall – and there was much I could have bought however I settled on a small picture carving – not sure where it’ll go at home as there’s not much wall space remaining.

It was a large township on the shore of Lake Malawi where the main industry is fishing, with some heading direct to the daily market & the remainder being sundried on raised nets near the water’s edge. Walking through the ‘suburbs’, the unexpected gum trees reminded me of home. There were numerous ‘kitchens’ in the ‘front yard’ with pots over a low fire cooking the next meal. It’s difficult seeing rubbish everywhere including a diaper in the ‘harbour’ waterway however there is no regular refuse collection system. We walked through the ‘CBD’ with hair salons, tuckshops & eateries. As enticing some of the food looked & smelled, we are encouraged not to eat any due to lack of sanitation & refuse collection – annoying as it an aspect of travel I enjoy. We were allowed to stop in at a local bar where I tried a Malawian vodka with Sobo orange served by bartender Birst. A double shot with mixer was MWK2100 – only a bit more expensive than a litre of fuel.

Despite being a Tuesday, there were lots of kids about. We learnt that school tuition is not free in Malawi. How does a country develop without educating their citizens? How do children have a chance to get themselves out of their situation without education? It doesn’t solve all problems but gives them the ability to understand & have the potential to protect & improve themselves. Studies show that investing in women gives the best bang for buck in improving situations for society. Seeing young girls not in school upset me. It reinforces how privileged I am to have been born in Australia to my parents.

As we had walked from one end of the township to the other, our return to camp was by way of motorbike. At 46 years of age, it was my first time on a motorbike. There was a guy wearing an Arsenal shirt so I picked him to ride with. Safe as houses…housing’s not particularly safe here…though I survived to type this entry. With my lack of balance, I don’t think I’ll be taking up motorbike riding.

For the afternoon’s activity, we visited a local island by way of one of the local township’s fishing vessels essentially large wooden tinnie with 15HP outboard motor. The island was essentially a large rock outcrop in the lake that we climbed for views of the area as well as to get the heart rate elevated after lots of sitting on the truck. After that sweatercise, it was snorkelling in the lake. There are more fish species here than any other inland body of water – 7100 with 350 endemic to the lake – however I didn’t see many. Thankfully I was more interested in swimming in the freshwater lake – no hippos or crocs here to be weary of. Its buoyancy was better than Lake McKenzie back home, so I wonder what attributes to that. Regardless it was fabulous to swim in the lake.

Upon return to camp, I’d received an email with my preliminarily approved Mozambique e-visa so it was off to the swanky hotel next door to use their printer in prep for presentation at tomorrow’s border crossing. Whilst there, I enjoyed a lovely Sunbird Sunshine Quencher cocktail sitting on the deck looking out over the lake & descending dusk before our last dinner in Malawi which doubled as a farewell dinner for the Italian/Greek couple who were flying back to Europe the next day.

Ed note: Facts are unverified so apologies for any errors.

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Comments

[Rick Harrison]

Thanks!
Thanks Susan. I love seeing Africa through your eyes. having traveled the same area many years ago it is nice to see how things have changed in some ways and not in others. Africa is timeless in so many ways. As I have said before, to me, Africa is the most evocative of all the continents, on so many different levels! Thanks for sharing your experiences!!!