Malawi

Again, I’ve had great intentions of writing every day, uploading photos and keeping some kind of record of my experiences here in Africa, but haven’t quite found the time or energy to pull my laptop out of the truck and start typing. I’m currently on the truck driving from South Luangwa National park in Zambia, to Lusaka, the capital city. I’ve spent a week in Malawi having some INCREDIBLE experiences and have just spent a day searching out wildlife in South Luangwa Park. I’m about a third of the way into the trip already – hard to believe – and am so happy with the group of fellow travelers with me on this overland tour.

Our first stop in Malawi was a place called Chitimba on the shores of the Lake Malawi. After setting up our tents on the sand facing the water most of us had an early night in preparation for a big hike the following day (and a few had a few too many beers and did not hike). At 6am the next morning 5 of us set out with our guide, named Wisdom, to visit the small colonial town of LIvingstonia, 16km up a rough dirt road in the mountains. Toting a few litres of water, rain jackets and lunch we trudged up the switchbacks and the odd ‘shortcut’ through bush and farms with tons of scenic viewpoints over the lake. We stopped for a snack at a massive 50m waterfall careening over the side of a steep cliff in the hills. With mist rolling through the trees and hanging in the valleys, it was a beautiful spot. We reached Livingstonia in good time and toured the local market, hospital and old museum. The town had an eerie stuck-in-the-past kind of feeling too it with all these old colonial buildings still standing, a laid back atmosphere and a few white people still hanging around to run the hospital and museum. We had lunch on the Museum lawn overlooking endless mountains before making our way back down the 16km road. By 5 in the evening we were back at the camp, having walked 32km, sore, tired and so happy to have a shower and a cold beer.

We spent another few days at Kande Beach further south along the shore of Lake Malawi. This particular campsite was popular with all the overland trucks and had a bit of a party atmosphere. Our Australian driver, Chris, arranged to buy a whole pig and we planned a big pig roast and beach party for our second night. I spent one morning relaxing in the hammocks strung up in all the trees around the campsite and then went scuba diving at Kande Island in the afternoon. This was my first freshwater dive, and my first dive at altitude (about 470m). We had been warned that the visibility wasn’t great, but I was eager to try it regardless just to see what freshwater diving was like. We took a tiny skiff out to the buoy on the island and swam down to about 7-8m. African Cichlids (the pretty blue and black striped ones, and yellow and spotted ones you buy at the pet shops at home) swam all over, buzzing about the sand bottom making nests to impress their potential mates. Several local dugout canoes had sunk to the bottom and laid at rest there, as did an old jeep, with eels lurking under the hood. We saw a massive catfish and a flash of silver in the murky water, which I was told was a freshwater salmon of some kind. What I found most impressive was the massive boulder formations with small gaps to swim through, and the huge schools of cichlids that swam overhead. The visibility did suck, but still a cool experience nonetheless.

Once back, all of us girls had planned to pull out our beach dresses and get a bit dolled up for our supposed beach party. Unfortunately, the skies opened and still chilly from diving, I ended up bundled up in jeans and my team Canada Olympic hoodie (the 35-40 degree heat in Tanga has spoiled me... anything below 25 degrees feels cold now!). No one really got too dressed up. The pig (and the chicken for me) had still been on the spit all day though, and Chris had spent much of his afternoon building a shelter to keep him dry, so we still had a huge feast at the end of the day and had a few Elephant beers at the bar with the other overlanders from other trucks.

The next morning I was up bright and early and searching the beach for some locals to take me fishing. Arron, 20 and from the UK, was also up for fishing so we found a couple young boys (16 and 14) to take us out in a little wooden boat to the same Kande Island I was diving at the previous day. We took a couple bamboo poles, each with about 10-15 feet of crappy old line and rusty hooks. The boys brought a small jar of worms that we used to bait our hooks. Surprisingly enough, we did manage to catch about 10 cichlids once we got the hang of it. You basically drop your baited hook into the shallows and watch the bit of grass tied on to the line (a makeshift bobber) – when the grass is pulled under the water you have a fish on, so you simply snap the “rod” upward and usually find a tiny colourful fish there. I was a bit too quick at first, and lost many fish before discovering that if you wait a while they’ll bite the hook properly. Arron caught a half dozen before I did, but I was pretty excited to catch the only blue and black striped one, and the biggest of the day. I promise I’ll post photos - it was a beautiful spot and beautiful little fish. The local boys took our catch home to eat and their “brother”  harassed Arron and I about paying three times the agreed price (and admitting to not  giving his ‘brothers’ any money for their work) once we returned to shore. TIA.

In the afternoon I joined 3 of the girls in a 2 hour horseback ride through the forest, savannah and beaches around the lake. My horse, Toots, was beautiful and well cared for, as were all the other 27 horses at the stable. We rode through small villages, with local kids waving hello at us as we passed. Tall elephant grass grew as high as the horses’ backs in many spots and walking through the eucalyptus forests smelled wonderful. One of my favourite spots was in the open grasslands – some spots were flooded and reflected the sky, but with the sun hanging low in the sky, just about to set, the grass was glowing yellow-green. It was quiet, save for cicadas and birds, and so peaceful. The grasslands opened up onto the beach and we continued along the beach until we reached our campsite. There, we hopped off the horses, took off their saddles and changed into bathing suits and took the horses for a swim in Lake Malawi. My horse was content to walk in to shoulder level and just stand there, but I managed to coerce her into walking around a bit and playing in the water to cool down. The beach was the perfect setting for an evening swim too, with the sun setting and all these beautiful horses playing in the water and rolling in the sand on shore.

To make an already perfect day even better, the chief of Kande village invited us to his home for dinner. All 8 of us in the group walked to his home with a handful of young boys and little kids to guide us there. We had a huge feast of local cuisine laid out for us on a bamboo mat when we arrived – delicious pumpkin soup, “nshima” (the equivalent of Tanzania’s ugali – a thick and sticky maize porridge eaten with your hands), rice, spinach, chicken and beans. Everything was great. After the meal, some of the chief’s children (and surely half of the village kids and neighbours) wanted to sing some of their songs and dance with us. They sang us some songs in their native language – Chichewa – and did some dancing before inviting us to perform for them. We managed to demonstrate “head and Shoulders” and the Macarena (we got laughed at a lot) before they asked us to join in and all dance together while they sang. By the end of the evening we all had kids literally stuck to us, following us home and asking to be our friends. Some of the naughty little ten year old boys asked for hugs and kisses from us girls when we reached our gate after walking home together. After days of viewing Africa from the truck and doing so many touristy activities, I was so happy to be interacting with the locals and playing with little kids again. The kids in Malawi are gorgeous too – they have longer hair (with little dreads, braids, and matted curls) here than in Tanzania, where kids have to keep their hair short to go to government school. Unfortunately, the kids we do encounter have been exposed to tourists in all the wrong ways, and are often begging our asking us for “sweeties” and pens. Once they realize we don’t have handouts though, they seem pretty content to play and laugh with us. I’m really starting to miss Saumu and my girls in Tanga, but the busyness of day-to-day life, cooking, camping, and checking out all of the touristy attractions seems to be providing enough distraction for now.