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Published: February 5th 2007
World Tour of Malawi
We arrived in Malawi on 10th January after a 39 hour journey from Belgium (see details later).
Known as the Warm Heart Of Africa, Malawi is a hidden jewel nestled between larger and better known neighbours Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. It is landlocked, but includes one of the largest African lakes, Lake Malawi, which makes up a large part of the Mozambique border. The lake contains more species of fish than North America and Europe combined and they continue to discover more!
In the rainy season when we visited, Malawi is lush, with vivid greens of vegetation vying with bright reds of earth and houses. Maize grows everywhere, surrounding steep green hills with deforested slopes.
Outside of the big towns (Blantyre and Lilongwe), small villages dot the countryside. Houses are generally made of red brick and thatch.
Decent tarred roads join major settlements while dirt tracks connect smaller places. Roads are populated with streams of pedestrians (most with heavy loads on their heads), bicycles, animals, trucks and Motolas (mini-van buses). There are very few private cars. There are no planes overhead, although occasionally you hear the rumour of the presidential helicopter visiting some
rural area.
Everywhere we see manual labour - gangs cutting grass with “Slashers” (hand held knives), farmers, rock breakers, bridge makers.
Charcoal is a major trade item, the locals use it to cook and it is harvested from the native forest then transported to market on bikes or on top of heads. This trade has resulted in horrendous destruction of the native forest and, tied with lack of replanting, is the most serious environmental threat to the country.
In the middle of this peaceful and warm culture, we see Western (or Northern as they say here) influence creeping in. For example, large Shoprite supermarkets are springing up selling non-indigenous articles for huge prices. A grapefruit costs as much as a girl’s education for a term at school. (Wendy bought two. Grapefruits that is, not girls)….
Right now it’s the middle of the rainy season, so days are a mix of warm tropical sunshine and incredible downpours.
We spent our time in Malawi with my mum Sheena. Her house is at the Teachers Training College in Limbe. The house is a modest dwelling within the college campus on top of a hill between Blantyre (the
business center of Malawi) and Limbe (a smaller local town).
The long way to Malawi - 39 hours travel There are probably quicker ways to go from Belgium to Malawi, but here’s our route -
Wakkerzeel - Leuven (bus)
Leuven - Brussels (train)
Brussels - London Waterloo (Eurostar)
Waterloo - Paddington, (underground)
Paddington - Heathrow (train)
London - Nairobi (Air Kenya)
Nairobi - Lilongwe (Air Kenya)
Lilongwe - Blantyre (Air Malawi)
Lilongwe adventures Half way through our journey to Africa, we spent a day in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We took a taxi into town and arranged for the driver to pick us up again in the afternoon to take us back to the airport for our onward journey. We spent the day acclimatizing to the shock of African life (the heat, noise, being the only white-skinned people on the street) interspersed with periods of calm in the Bohemian café. This café is used primarily (almost exclusively) by white foreigners. These African newbies would come speeding into the café with the same mad look of panic in their eyes as they escape the madness outside. We had some good sport watching these fish out of water, until
we realized that we needed to re-emerge into real life ourselves….
The taxi driver picked us up as arranged, but unfortunately our flight was delayed by three hours. Our kindly driver took us instead to his local bar for a beer or two as we waited. (We suspected he might have been here during the day also, from the bloodshot eyes and interesting driving style). The bar was fascinating - a small smoky room with deafening reggae music blasting. We had one beer then the driver informed us that he would leave us there for a while and if we gave him the fare now he would come back later and take us to the airport. We choose instead to leave….
Limbe Market Limbe has a local market that is famous in the area for it’s variety and quality of fresh vegetables and fruits…you can also pick up just about anything else you want there. Sheena took us down to the market on our first day - a half hour walk down the hill through the local villages - and we explored. As well as picking up the supplies for the day, Wendy managed to find the ingredients of
our favourite tipple - Vodka, Soda and Fresh Lime. (Known as a Vodka Schlime in various bars around Sydney). I meanwhile found a cobbler who fixed my shoes for a tiny fee. The highlight of the market however was purchasing the local delicacy - a small bag of toasted flying beasties called “Nswa”. We sampled them later with a beer. Then some more beer to get rid of the sample. Interesting, and definitely an acquired taste.
The visit was topped off with a ride back up the hill in a Matola (minivan). These don’t leave until they are packed full and are generally in terrible shape. With the door hanging off and strangers sitting on us, we sped up the rough road, spewing mud and smoke in our wake.
Kuche Kuche Time We quickly fell into some local habits - for example, 5 o’clock is Kuche Kuche time. This is the local beer brewed by Carlsberg in Blantyre, a rather nice brew and much cheaper than Carlsberg Special, Green or Brown, also brewed locally. Sheena has a plentiful supply in the house, topped up frequently by visits to the brewery shop.
Robert the Rastafarian Runner So Wendy and
Sheena's House
African Wife WashingI did our first African run, 6k down the hill and back up. It was a busy Saturday morning, so lots of stares and greetings from folks we met. One Rastafarian gentleman on his way to work decided to join us and ran alongside for a couple of kilometers. He was very pleasant and chatted with Wendy as we ran (I could only grunt a greeting as I concentrated on breathing and not falling over in a heap). After a little while Robert (as we think he was called) came to a stop and announced that this was his office - a pile of stones by the road, which men are employed to break down into smaller stones with hammers.
Yes Malawi is indeed the Warm Heart Of Africa as the brochures claim. Everyone is very friendly, soft-spoken and eager to help everyone else as much as possible. We discovered however, that this can lead to misunderstandings. As we asked for directions to Blantyre one morning, the answer to every question we asked was “Yes” with a big smile.
Is Blantyre to the right?
- Yes
Is Blantyre to the left?
- Yes
Which
way to Blantyre please?
- Yes
Climbing Nyambadwe with God Sheena has a friend called Spencer, the local electrician, who invited us to his house for lunch. This turned into a very special and exciting day. We met Spencer in the morning and took a Matola to his local area. We arrived at his house after a half hour walk through the local villages.
These villages are an eclectic mix of sights, sounds and smells. The small houses are generally made of red bricks, made of the red dirt upon which the houses stand. They are ramshackle and each one is unique. The streets are winding and packed full of activity. People walk about aimlessly but always with somewhere to go or something to do. Small children stare wide-eyed at the Azungo (white people) walking by. If they are brave they will shout Hello to us and are thrilled when we reply. Or if we instigate the conversation with “Shappoo” - a local slang used with kids to say “Hi”. Around every corner you are assailed with new smells - the fish lying on the market tables, the ubiquitous charcoal cooking fires, the smell of a bad
drain or animals…
We enjoyed a delicious traditional lunch that Mercy (Spencer’s wife) cooked for us - chicken, Nsima (Maize flour and water) and vegetables. Then the local prayer group arrived (known as ‘the ladies’); five or six ladies from the village who, with Mercy and Spencer, sing praises to god two or three times a week. Sheena had taken her video camera specifically to capture this performance for the group. It was incredible; beautiful singing in perfect harmonies, seemingly spontaneous solos from any member. Then as they work up into a crescendo they break down in tears and talk in tongues. A highly religious act which none of us had experienced before.
After the prayers, we walked on through the village and Spencer led us to the top of the local hill Nyambadwe. A stiff climb after a large lunch, but well worth it. We were high in the center of Limbe and Blantyre, surrounded by stunning African scenery. Plains stretching off into the distance, with high hills and mountains on the horizon. The Ladies started up again and we were treated to a spine-tingling mix of singing and views as the sun went down.
My
African Wife and the clothes eating beasties
Here in Malawi it is frowned upon for a couple to be together and not be married. To avoid confusion and embarrassment Sheena has taken to introducing Wendy as Stuart’s wife. My African wife Wendy had her first taste of hand washing clothes the other day and spent a fun couple of hours on the ground outside the house with basins of water and her husband’s underwear!
In doing so, however, we discovered a range of small, perfectly round holes in various articles of clothing. This is a mystery to us; it’s either a horrible beastie living in our bags and munching away, or a metal stud on Wendy’s jeans ripping things. So the stud has been taken off and the bags sprayed with bug killer…. We watch and wait for the next appearance.
The Lunzu Court Mum was involved in a road accident shortly before our arrival in Malawi. A motorcyclist swerved into the path of her car. The guy is fine and limited damage to the vehicle, but mum ended up with a charge of inconsiderate driving.
So we all set off one beautiful day to the neighbouring
village of Lunzu for mum to appear in court.
The court scene was incredible. Surrounded by tall maize and green trees swaying in the breeze, the court is a small churchlike building made of bricks with cracked and peeling pinewash walls and concrete floors swirling with the omnipresent red African dust. Open on all sides, the building houses a main section where the accused and many interested parties sit on wooden benches facing a raised platform where the magistrate looks over the crowd from behind his desk. To his left is the dock, where the accused stands, to his right a similar dock where the accuser and witnesses make their case. I guess in this way he gets to hear both sides of the story.
Serious-case prisoners sit shackled together and are passed bread and cigarettes by friends and family in the crowd.
The cases are read in English and Chichewan (main Malawian language) and every word spoken is written down long hand for the records. So every case is a drawn out affair. We heard the case of the man accused of stealing maize from his mother in law. This was met with some hilarity from
the crowd as the family dirty washing was aired in public.
Mum’s case was straight forward as the details had been agreed with the prosecutor prior to the hearing. A guilty plea and a small fine. There was one heart stopping moment as the magistrate pointed out the maximum sentence for this offence is a jail term. But then it was over and the fine paid.
Mulanji In preparation for our Kilimanjaro climb, we took the opportunity to tackle the third highest mountain in Africa while we were in Malawi. Mulanji is a massif on the south east border of the country with many peaks. The summit, Mapitwa, is 3003m and you start climbing from 800m. Ideal climbing season is in the dry season, but we were told that it’s possible at this time of year too, if you get a clear morning for the summit ascent. So, armed with pasta and trail mix, we headed off to the mountain.
On day 1, we arrived early at the forest lodge at the foot of the mountain following a 20k drive in a 4wd. We picked up our guide Oscar and our porter Abdul who would be joining
us for the next couple of days.
We climbed for 6 hours to Jesepo hut at 2200m. This was a hard day. Consistent climbing on rough paths, partially washed away by the heavy rains. Despite a clear morning as we set off, it rained off and on all day, so by the time we reached the hut we were drenched. The hut is in excellent shape - a large room with a good wood fire providing welcome warmth.
Day 2 dawned clear at 5am so we started the ascent to the summit. Tough walking on rough paths was followed by really difficult climbing over rocky slopes. We encountered a white moss on these steep faces which we have christened “Teflon Moss” as it proved to be incredibly slippery. There were a couple of sanity checks with our guide during which discussions concluded with the agreement to continue. Eventually we made it to the top in the mist and rain, drenched but fulfilled.
There then followed a grueling 3 hour descent, a half hour rest in the hut and a 6 hour walk back out to the 4wd. A tough couple of days all in all, but great
practice for Kili.
When we finally made it back to mum’s we were overjoyed to find a chicken and potato dinner waiting for us - very very welcome.
Lilongwe and Kambiri on the lake The three of us traveled up to Lilongwe to start moving mum into her new lodgings (she has moved up to Lilongwe to do another 6 month stint at a new college up there). Her house is a fine place on the college campus, so after moving some belongings in, we headed off to the lake for some Rest & Relaxation.
We stayed at Kambiri Lodge for 2 nights and really enjoyed the lake. Despite the intermittent rain, it was great to be by water again. The lodge is a great local place that serves pretty much any food as long as it’s steak and chips or chicken and chips.
The only down side was that my walking boots decided to go for a walk by themselves in the middle of the night from outside our room. So we spent a couple of hours dealing with the hotel management and local police. We eventually agreed that a full investigation would have to
be undertaken and the police will send a report to us when complete…..
Malawian purchases Along the way through Malawi, we have managed to purchase some really beautiful items. We ordered some hand made pottery from the Dedza pottery which is getting shipped to Sydney some time in the next 6 months (surprise Simon!!!!)…. And we picked up a Chief’s chair and some other wooden articles at the artists market at the lake.
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johnny
non-member comment
nice to hear from you
Thought you had gotten lost going through london, glad you made it to Malawi ok. look forward to the next episode. Think you need some more training to tackle the big one. take care Love johnny and Helen.