Malawi - 28 to 30 October 2013

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Happy Birthday to our granddaughter, Maisie who is 10 today 28/10/13. We are sorry that we cannot be with you but you are always in our thoughts. Love Grandad and GrandmaX



We arrived at the border of Zambia and Malawi and had no problems with obtaining our visas but our Swiss travelling companions disappeared into ‘an office’ and we had to wait for ages for them to return - Malawi seems to have a problem with Swiss tourist, not sure why but eventually they did return. Not sure what would have happened if someone in the group had not been able to get into the country though!







Known affectionately as the ’warm heart of Africa’, Malawi is one of the friendliest countries in Southern Africa, offering a true African experience in terms of scenery, wildlife and people and we were greeted with smiling faces everywhere. Children were delighted to see us coming out running when we passed by. Malawi is a very long and narrow country, dominated by the huge blue freshwater Lake Malawi - one of Africa's great lakes. Discovered by missionary explorer, Dr David Livingstone just over 150 years ago it is also known as Lake Nyasa depending on which bank you are standing on.







The Great Rift Valley cuts into Southern Africa creating this fresh water lake which stretches from north to south for 365 miles and is 52 miles wide hence the reason it is sometimes referred to as the ‘calendar lake’. It is the third largest freshwater body on the continent of Africa after lakes Victoria and Tanganyika. Filling one of the deepest clefts in the Great Rift Valley and surrounded by mountains, the lake is renowned for its stunning beaches and has one of the highest concentrations of freshwater fish on earth, estimated at over 1000 species half of which have yet to be identified. Many, too, are found nowhere else and are even endemic to specific areas of the lake. Lake Malawi is an isolated basin, so they have evolved fairly rapidly on their own, In places the lake drops to more than 2,200 feet below sea level, where the water is dead and turbid for lack of oxygen. The lake is also home to hippos and crocodiles and an abundance of birds - from the majestic fish eagle to the colourful kingfisher. The country is landlocked and has borders with Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania although with its huge lake it appears as a coastal country.







In 1982, Malawi became the first country in the world to establish a national park with the sole aim of preserving freshwater fish populations. The park was also recently designated a ‘world heritage’ by UNESCO, a distinction shared among other natural wonders, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Tanzania's Serengeti.







We stocked up on supplies in Lilongwe before heading to our camp on the beach of Lake Malawi. Lilongwe, named after the river of the same name is the capital and largest city of Malawi located in the central region, near the borders with Mozambique and Zambia. The city had existed for centuries as a small fishing village on the banks of the Lilongwe River. During the British colonial period, it was chosen as the British colonial administrative centre, due to its desirable geography particularly as the area had an easy navigable route to Lake Malawi. Up until the 1930s Lilongwe had at most a population of 5000 but this changed following the independence in 1964 and it eventually became the capital city in 1974. Since then with a rapid population growth it has become the most populous city in Malawi.







As we travelled to our campsite we passed many small thatched roof villages, small sugar and cotton farms and a multitude of ripe mango trees as well as the majestic baobab tree. We finally arrived at Senga Bay and it was now getting dark. We put up our tents only to have to move it around to try and avoid the ants nests that seemed to cover the ground. In the end we resorted to ‘ant powder’ all around the entrance to our tent. Paul was rather ‘heavy handed’ with this and we had a thick white line right around the front of ours - but at least we did not get any ants in our sleeping bags thank goodness as they were rather large and had a nasty bite.





Our campsite was right on the banks of Lake Malawi although we could not see this until the next morning we could hear waves crashing against the shore a few metres away.. When we awoke the view was stunning, the sun was coming up over the Lake - although with the waves breaking on the shore line it felt like we were back on the ocean. The campsite had several large purple flowering Jacaranda trees as well as the strong red or orange coloured blossoms of the Flame tree, set against the blue lake it was very colourful indeed.







Sitting at the eastern end of a broad peninsula that juts into the lake, Senga Bay was extremely quiet with only a trickle of travellers apart from our group. Next go our campsite was a hotel which was also quiet but looked comfortable and had a bar as well as limited internet access which we were able to access for a fee.







Malawi’s people are surely its greatest asset - friendly, welcoming, colourful and vibrant. It is impossible to visit and not to become engaged with the people, so some of our group took the opportunities to visit the nearby village of Mchengawamato with Michael a local guide. Michael was born and brought up in the village and knew most of the people we met. It was a really worth while visit and he gave a first-hand experience of the daily life of the villagers, their cultures and traditions. Before we got to the village we stopped to look at a community craft market and watched a local man carve a key ring inscribed with an open mouthed hippo and I ordered one for our granddaughter, Maisie and he even carved her name on the other side. Because it was a community market there did not seem to be any ‘hard sell’. with all the monies going back to benefit the locals. The stalls had a variety of carved goods some of which were really outstandingly carved but far too heavy to carry around for the rest of our trip. A really beautifully carved Noah’s Ark in dark ebony complete with animals was a work of art. You could even bargain with items of clothing which some of our group did swapping teeshirts etc and Edwin even exchanged about five pairs of socks.







As soon as we arrived in the village we were surrounded by smiling children in threadbare clothes who grabbed hold of our hands and would not let go. They followed us around as Michael explained about everyday village life. We stopped at a small thatched home which had a separate even smaller kitchen area as well as a local shop selling a very limited supply of goods. The village was located next to the lake and local women were at the water pump collecting water as well as doing their daily washing on the shores of the lake and then drying the clothes flat on the sand. Men were either involved in fishing, building boats or playing bao also known as Mancala. It is one of oldest games in the world, dating back thousands of years and has even been found in Egyptian tombs. Many of Africa’s traditional board games can be played using materials found in nature such as seeds and stones as they make perfect game pieces and boards can be scratched or dug out in dirt. In North and West Africa the game uses two rows of pits but in other parts of the country they use three or even four. We watched as two men sat on the floor totally engrossed in their game as Michael tried to explain some of the rules. One of the oldest known board games in the world is Senet from Egypt. Unfortunately no one wrote down the rules, so historians have had to make them up.



We continued our village tour walking through a small shopping arcade, with clothes and shoes being sold as well as some basic food supplies but everywhere there seemed to be fish in various sized small piles. Michael said that locals would buy their daily requirement depending on the number in their family and would return the next day to buy the same allocation - they did not have the luxury of being able to store food in their homes.



Along the beach large colourful nets were strewn about and small plank boats bobbed on the lake. Michael introduced us to a local man who was training some youngsters in the skills of boat building. Another man was carving out his own dugout canoe from a tree trunk leaving a narrow hole in the centre, it did not look very stable to me but these boats had been used for centuries to bring in the fish for the villagers. Behind the beach were hundreds of long wooden tables piled high with small sardine looking fish drying in the sun. Michael said that last night had not been a good fishing night as the fishermen had to return early because of strong winds - they would usually stay out all night. We watched as bamboo baskets full of fish were dropped into boiling water over an open fire before being lifted out and placed on the tables to dry in the sun. In another area huge piles of fish ready for market were stored under a tree with three lads laying around sleeping. One lad woke up and started talking about English football and mentioned a few local clubs but I had switched off by then.......



We arrived at the local school where there were 1963 children of all ages enrolled at the time of our visit, 991 boys and 972 girls, with an average of 100 children per class. 10% of the children were orphans and they also lived near the school. The classrooms were very bare with nothing on the walls and I could not see many books or writing utensils around. Children in the younger classes sat on the floor and the rooms were very dark and dank I do not know how those at the back could actually see the blackboard. The head teacher who was showing us around greeted the younger children in English with ‘how are you’ and they all stood and said ‘we are fine, how are you’ then smiled and sat down. We went into several classrooms which were all much the same but some of the older children did have desks and chairs some of which were way to small for them. The head teachers office was also bare with nothing but a sign on the wall saying, ‘Accept the challenge, God will guide’ and a desk and floor piled with boxes of papers and a blue scratched filing cabinet. Some of us gave small donations and Edwin had brought along some coloured pencils but these would not go far amongst 1963 children.



On the village tour we were also shown some local paintings to purchase as well as jewellery and again were told that it was a community project with any monies benefitting all in the village. At the end of the tour we had not realised how far we had walked as the village was much larger than we had thought but we did not have to walk back as Michael had supplied a local bus. Not a bus as we know it but a group of young men with bicycles which with had little seats on the back, one for each of us. It was a little bumpy sat on the back and my young lad decided to overtake everyone just as we were descending a steep hill and I had to hang on for dear life, but it was quite fun.





In the afternoon we took a boat trip to Lizard Island – a small rocky island located just off the coast known for housing a big population of rather sizable monitor lizards as well as some very small blue tailed lizards. It used to be home to a huge colony of white throated cormorants but these had vanished from the island for some reason, although there was still a sizable flock on large rocks on the main beach where we were camped. The island was now home to several Fish Eagles and our guides had brought fish with them to tempt the eagles. We watched as these mighty birds dived into the water to catch the fish before perching on the island to eat their fill. I am afraid even though they were so close I missed the shot both times as they were much quicker than my reactions.







The guide took us on a walk to the top of the island clambering up rocks and under trees and shrubs trying to avoid the ones he said would sting a bit. We passed a small lighthouse and I thought we had arrived at the top but we still had a way to go but once there we had views out over the lake and all you could see for miles and miles was water - was this really a lake as it looked just like the ocean........... Most of our group decided to snorkel but we declined as we had been advised by our Health Clinic in the UK not to do so as there is a risk of catching Bilharzia. Bilharzia, or schistosomiasis, is a parasitic infection caused by a tiny flatworm that bores through moist skin deep into human flesh. The worm, endemic in Africa, lives part of its life cycle in freshwater snails, which excrete it in their faeces into water where unsuspecting humans wash or bathe. We were told that this particular area was free of Bilharzia but we decided it was not worth taking any risk with our health. Although a quick blood test a month after a ‘dip in the lake’ will show if you have caught it and if so it can be easily treated with drugs. We weighed up the cost of getting a blood test and the hassle involved in doing so and decided that an hour’s snorkel was just not worth it. In fact we were glad we did not because those that did said that they had seen nothing of note and not even that many fish. I think we were probably not in the right area to get the true benefits of marine life in Lake Malawi as it is supposed to be one of the best fresh water lakes to see colourful fish.





Whilst we sitting on the rocks watching the world go by, a couple of local boys arrived in a boat with their father and together with a small net they dived into the water and caught some very small fish with their hands, carefully placing them on a rock before diving back into the water again. They only caught a few, I think because the island is so close to shore it has probably been fished out. We later headed back to camp for supper (not fish) and as we pulled into the shore the white throated cormorants were heading off to fish for themselves - hope they are more successful.





We awoke early the next morning and heard the fishing boats arriving back with their catch, it must have been a better night for them as they had stayed out all night, so the village wooden tables would be full of drying fish today.





We packed up camp and headed south passing through more villages, many of which had large Baobab trees to provide shade for the villagers to sit under as well as a single Flame Tree in full bloom which seemed to be planted in the middle of the village. Before long we managed to have another puncture (the front this time) and again had to wait while this was changed by Jeff and Jacob on the side of the road. Luckily though we managed to find a little shade whilst this was done. Back on the road we were stopped by police who wanted to know why we had not got a ‘good’ spare type and did not seem to believe that we had just had a puncture a few miles down the road and had not been able to get a replacement yet - garages being few and far between!







So it was time to leave this lovely friendly country and it was a shame it was such a short visit. Perhaps one day we will come back and see more but tomorrow morning early we head to Mozambique - see you there



Postscript - we heard later that Maisie had a lovely birthday on the 28th and had 13 girls for a ‘sleepover’ which must have been good fun for her that is, not mum and dad!!!! we understand that dad peeped in and saw 13 faces complete with face packs looking out - scary!!!!!!!!!!!

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