Lake Malawi

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Dear All

Greetings from Lake Malawi! What a beautiful place, and a far cry from either the blandness or chaotic riots of the capital. Apologies for taking time since my last entry – this has not been down to any social movements getting out of hand, but rather the lack of Internet places along the route to where I am now.

But what a relief- since my last entry, things seem to have calmed down hugely on the Malawian city streets, and I’m in pretty much rural areas where most people don’t really know what’s going on in the urbanised world anyway. Currently writing from a beautiful bay on the southern shore of Lake Malawi, called Cape MacClear –absolutely stunning, like a snapshot of the Caribbean but with fresh water and not salt.

I believe I last wrote from the confines of the Korea Garden Lodge in Lilongwe, unsure about whether leaving the city would be a good idea, mostly as the troubles were taking place around the bus station which is the main route in and out of the city. However, on the morning of my departure, the hotel staff were certain that things had calmed down greatly since the previous days, and so I boarded a bus to high-tail it out of there before anything else kicked off. And now I feel like I’m properly travelling again, which is just great.

First stop, Senga Bay – involving a minibus trip to nearby Salima, then a journey in the back of a ‘matola’-my first experience of this kind of travel – an open-backed jeep, with two select seats next to the driver in the front, and everyone else in steerage, crammed into the back on top of sacks of vegetables, luggage and old tyres – probably about 10 to 15 gripping onto whatever’s available to make sure they’re not flung out around a slight bend in the road. This took me and my bags to the dusty town of Senga Bay, from where onward transport to my lodge was in the form of a poor guy on a bicycle, and a cushioned seat on the back on which I had to balance with both backpacks – tricky thing along a dirt track for 5km or so, and everybody we passed waving “hello”, “mazungu” or the ubiquitous “give me money/pencils/football etc”…! I paid the guy well and arrived at the lovely “Carolina’s Lake Resort”, right on the beach with a splendid sweep of white sand from one headland to the next, and nothing but the wind and waves lulling me to sleep that night – magic!
I spent two nights there, meeting some great people and having a lovely full day along the beach, walking past fishermen and their catch, women doing their washing in the lake, and local kids splashing and having fun – twas beautiful!

Yesterday, decided to make it to the next resort heading south, one of the more popular places on the lake, but a nightmare to get to! A total of 6 different forms of transport brought me here yesterday, in 5 or so hours – first the hotel’s manager drove me to the nearest town Salima, from where I took a minibus to a transport junction called Golomoti. From here I hitched two rides with two different truck drivers, ending up in a place called Monkey Bay. I then took another matola to drive me the last 25km to the resort, over the mountainous area known as Lake Malawi National Park for more fun holding on to sacks of potatoes. Unfortunately this matola broke down in the middle of a precipitously steep climb in the road, but somewhat more fortunately, about 20 minutes later a bus-full of school kids from Hampton in London and their teachers, who I met and chatted to in Senga Bay, drove by and picked me up (felt sorry for the 10 other passengers though who I left behind stranded…). What luck! And it happened to be from a senior school to which my prep school often sends our boys too – a great contact to make in the middle of the Malawian nowhere! They dropped me about 2km out of town as they were heading for a more remote camping spot. I spent the last half-hour of the journey walking through the dusty town of Chembe, picking up local kids and other hanger-onners, and then the beach to my beautiful current lodging – the Mgoza Bar and Restaurant. Despite only being 5 hours or so, it was a heck of a journey which will stay with me for some time I think!
This lodge is just brilliant, and my first private bathroom since arriving- what a luxury (I can actually get to sit down on the loo…!!),with great food.

Today’s just been spent hanging on the beach, usually with a fanta or a coke, gazing out at the majestic bay, clear blue-green waters and mountainous offshore islands- simply stunning! Unfortunately I have not been swimming in the waters, tempting as they are, as bilharzia is a bit of a problem here. Other travelers seem to be doing it, though knowing my tendency to catch tropical diseases, it’s a pleasure I shan’t be indulging in this time around. It really is enough though just to be here and drink it all in!

I really have to say at this point what a great country this is, despite its current problems unbeknownst to the world. The people are just so friendly, and although about half of the interactions with locals seem to start or end in “give me money”, the other half are all-smiles and very welcoming indeed. Not bad for one of the ‘poorest’ countries in the world, really just showing what I’ve always believed - money does not bring happiness, and that poverty should not be measured in just wealth alone.

So from here I plan to head south, through a cultural village where apparently it’s possible to stay and eat with local villagers, Zomba, the country’s old colonial capital and home to a beautiful wilderness area atop a plateau, and finally the commercial centre of Blantyre, before moving onto other countries and more distant lands!

Having a great time so far, and again glad to have gotten out of the capital and the shaky start there!

Now to find a computer hooked up to the internet to upload this update onto my blog… Not too confident about that one…

Take care everyone, and speak soon!

Alex

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Photos

Me
The Carolina Lake Resort, Senga Bay

Local Beach Boys
Senga Bay

Sunset
Cape MacClear

Chembe Village
Cape MacClear

Me and Doug
The Korea Garden Lodge, Lilongwe

Local Dugout Canoes
Senga Bay

Locals
Senga Bay

Fishermen
Senga Bay

Dinner
Carolina Lake Resort, Senga Bay

Collecting Water
Senga Bay

Broken Down
On the way to Cape MacClear

Fisherman
Cape MacClear

Comments

[Ake Och Emma]

We absolutely loved Malawi
We spent two weeks in Malawi one and a half years ago and we loved it. Wonderful country and nice people. A bit worrying though that I could have become lion food... Yes, there was a lion roaming around near the camp.... /Ake

[alex waring]

Malawi
Ah, Malawi - indeed, I also enjoyed very much my time there - a lovely little country, friendly people, and lots to see. Gosh, a bit concerning to read about the lion, sounds like it was a bit too close for comfort...