Last days in Malawi
Monday 14th March 2016 – Our aim today was to reach Mzuzu, Malawi’s third largest city situated about 200 miles north of Lilongwe. However before we could set off we needed to buy some more Malarone tablets as we only had about 10 days supply remaining. Malarone isn’t easy to come by in Malawi and we had found just one pharmacy in the capital that stocked it. Handing over a small mountain of Kwachas we left with enough tablets to see us to the end of our African adventure. Malawi is the worlds poorest country with a GDP per capita of about £160; we had just spent that much on a handful of tablets. We took a tuk-tuk to the bus station where we were lucky enough to get one of the last seats on a big bus going straight to Mzuzu. The bus station exit was blocked by a broken down coach and it took an hour of horn honking and manoeuvring for us to eventually leave via the station entrance. We didn’t care; with our bags stashed in the overhead luggage and an entire seat for each of us we enjoyed one of our most comfortable journeys in weeks. We reached Mzuzu about an hour before dark and took a taxi to Mzoozoozoo Backpackers where Alysa ensured undying devotion from the hostel’s dog population by feeding them her dinner. Our room for the night was called the Round Room on account of the huge circular bed that dominated it and there, under a round mosquito net we slept.
Tuesday 15th March 2016 – After a blissful nights sleep in our almost impossibly comfy bed (we have visions of constructing a replica back home) we decided to walk into town to restock on dollars. We set off down the dusty path accompanied lovingly by two of the hostel’s dogs. After a long walk through town we were re-provisioned with dollars. We picked up a good supply of Kwacha at the atm and laden with cash walked back to the hostel, suddenly quite glad to have our canine guardians with us. Alysa had picked up a packet of dog biscuits in Mzuzu and back at the hostel she dished them out. The dogs were so happy they almost wagged their tails off. We packed our bags and three short hours later arrived at Butterfly Lodge, on the shore of Lake Malawi. Our room was a charming shack right by the shore with a balcony overlooking the water; very reminiscent of a place we had loved on our honeymoon. As we explored the lodge we saw a familiar figure engrossed in a book. It was Ken, the retired wildlife photographer we had met all the way back in early December at Jollyboys. He had been making his way round the region at a leisurely pace and our paths had almost crossed a couple of times. That afternoon we took our first dip in Lake Malawi, enjoying the warm clear water while tiny parasitic worms burrowed through our skin. Lake Malawi, incidentally was the site of the first naval battle of the First World War; the British had a ship based out of Malawi and Germans had one in the Tanzanian part of the lake. The British Captain who was drinking buddies with the German Captain received news of war first and sailed up the lake, finding the German boat under repair on a beach. After a few attempts with the ships only gun they landed a hit on the German boat whereupon the furious German Captain rowed out to demand what the hell was going on? The British Captain replied something along the lines of “War I’m afraid old chap. You’ll have to surrender I’m afraid.” and for the rest of the war the two captains sat on the shores of Lake Malawi drinking whiskey and playing bridge together. That evening Josie, the owner of the hostel showed us her wounded ankle. She had been bitten by a violin spider three months earlier and the large hole in her foot was only now beginning to heal. We returned to our shack that night to discover it wasn’t quite the idyllic abode we had imagined. As we opened the door huge cockroaches scuttled on every surface; along the floors, up the walls, even across the bed. After thoroughly checking all the bedclothes we tucked the mosquito net all the way round the mattress and under its protective aegis we went to sleep.
Wednesday 16th March 2016 – After a surprisingly good night’s sleep we woke ready to move on and after a little deliberation decided to try to reach Kasumulu, just over the Tanzanian border to the north. Our journey took us up into the mountains with some beautiful views of Lake Malawi and in a run of good luck we reached the border at about 5:40pm. We quickly filled out our exit forms and then weighed down with bags we ran the few hundred metres to the Tanzanian border post which we reached, dripping with sweat just before it closed. The officials treated the gasping Westerners before them very kindly and a few minutes later we were in Tanzania, our tenth African country. It was dark by now and we took a taxi from the border to Songwe View Lodge. Soon we had turned off the main road and down a dark, bumpy dirt track. Consulting our phones we could see we were going in the opposite direction to the lodge. I asked the driver twice to stop and each time he nodded but didn’t slow. Getting a bit worried I placed my hand on his arm and tried again and this time the car pulled up. It transpired that the driver didn’t speak a word of English and nodding was his response to anything he didn’t understand. It turns out that hardly anyone outside of the tourist areas in Tanzania speaks any English at all; something we hadn’t realised. For the first time on our trip we would need to learn a little of the lingo to get by, in this case Swahili. Anyway, we eventually managed to get across that we wanted to turn round and go back to the main road. There we spotted a large illuminated sign for the Futian Executive Hotel where eight quid gets you a secure, spotless air-conditioned double room with TV and ensuite for the night. As we went to bed that night we wondered what adventures Tanzania had in store for us.
