Malawi - 9 September 2016

We entered Malawi on 9 September 2016. The border post of Mchinji was dirty, 'plein deurmekaar', but we were assisted and got through the arduous job of filling in forms, paying for TIP and getting third party insurance, which came to a total of MK45000! That is just short of R1000! We were surprised to find a relatively good tarred road that ran right through Malawi (M1). The small villages next to the road were neat and tidy, with gardens and small patches of cultivated land. We were so impressed! One could buy fresh tomatoes, sweet potatoes (red and white), sometimes even red onions and peanuts in baskets all along the road. The speed limit was 100km/h on the open road and 50 km/h through the villages. The villages were so close together that one seldom got to 100km/h, and driving through the villages dropped our speed to 30 - 40 km/h. There were hundreds of cyclist in Malawi. The bicycle is not only used for cycling, but also for the transportation of water, wood, pigs, goats and chickens, and whatever else. Baskets, 1,5 m wide are strapped on the back of a bicycle and goods are transported in this way to a town or market. It is quite hazardous trying to pass a cyclist with such a wide basket on the back, swaying over the road trying to keep his balance! Bicycles are also used as 'taxis'.  What a colorful world we have entered! Most women still wear the traditional chitenge, a colorful 'sarong' wrapped around their clothes, to be used as an apron, a wrap to tie a baby on their back or front, or to carry produce in, or to wrap around their shoulders when they are cold. It is often seen hanging in a doorway or used as a table cloth. The chitenge is bright and traditionally patterned batik. We have found out that it is sold in 4m lengths and is called Java fabric. There is a massive drive in Malawi to educate girls. One of the bill boards at a girls' school read: DONT MARRY ME, EDUCATE ME! The 120 km to our first camp site after the border took us 5 hours to complete. Steve negotiated a good price for B & B at Barefoot Safari Lodge and we stayed in their chalets for the night. We also had our vehicles, caravan and trailer washed at the Lodge! After breakfast the next morning we set off to Lilongwe, the Capitol of Malawi, and decided to drive into the town for supplies. Once again we had entered a town on a Saturday morning, and we struggled with throngs of cars and people. With a foreign vehicle registration (and a caravan/trailer in tow) you are a target! I was walking back to the vehicle on my own and watched a young man with fascination. He was scouting through the car park (he was about 20m infront of me) saw the Cruiser and caravan and targeted it immediately. He first looked at the vehicle registration, and then started circling it. He looked very disappointed when he saw no one in the car. He then stationed himself under a tree and watched the vehicle. I decided not to go to the car, stationed myself under another tree and watched him intently. Eventually he spotted me and started walking my way. Unfortunately there are so many people without work, and people are always begging. I have had an encounter with young boys on the side of the road that also said: give me money, give me food. I introduced myself and asked them their names. I asked them about themselves, about going to school, and about which sport they liked. Steve joined in and kicked a soccer ball around with them. I was surrounded by these beautiful, smiling young boys and complemented them on their good language and soccer skills. They counted with me while I was letting down the tyre pressure, right up to 60! Before I left I asked them: 'Now what are you going to do when you meet a stranger.' One replied: 'Hallo, my name is Lawrence, how are you today?' I couldn't have been prouder of my own children.  After we left Lilongwe we traveled to Mzuzu looking for accommodation. The area in Malawi up till now was very flat. We drove through our first pass, and Steve remarked that this was how he imagined Malawi to look. We saw massive boulders on top of the mountains that made Paarl Rock looked insignificant. As we climbed the hills, the temperatures dropped to 20deg. The first accommodation we encountered as we drove into Mzuzu was The Grand Palace Hotel, 4 stars. Steve negotiated an even better price than the previous night, and we were very happy to stay in a luxurious hotel!

The Grand Palace Hotel in Mzuzu

  After a wonderful breakfast and even better Mzuzu Filter coffee, we left for the Tanzanian border post of Serongwa. 155 km before the border, on a steep mountain pass where we had our first sighting of Lake Malawi, we met another cyclist, Nick Simon, coming up the pass. He is cycling from Cairo to The Cape. Check him out on nicksimon.org! He looked a bit hot and tired, but he was smiling and stopped to chat to us.

Nick Simon in Malawi

We decided to travel through Malawi to get to Tanzania rather than Zambia. On our way back we will take time out and explore Malawi.   We got to the border post at about 14h00. 3 young boys ran to me - they wanted my empty water bottle. I gave it to them. Any water container is precious to them. They still have to walk many kilometers to collect water. I started chatting to them. Most Malawian children can speak or at least understand English. I asked theim their names. They gave me big beautiful smiles. The smallest one pointed to my hair and asked: Is it grass? I burst out laughing. I took his hand and and invited him to feel and pull my hair. He was fascinated.  By now, when we reached a border post, we knew the drill: sign out of the counry; sign into the next country; encounter third party salesman/woman; money exchanger finds you - know your exchange rate and negotiate a good rate; walk into obscure area where you exchange money; check the money; all this while cajoling and with small talk in between; go to immigration counter; get immigration form; fill in immigration form and go back to immigration counter; be friendly, be patient, answer all questions; move to next counter; vehicle registration, drivers licence, police clearance certificate, and what-ever-else-they-want; pay TIP, road tax and road levy, and whatever other taxes; move with third party salesman to his office (this time his office was behind two lively pubs) ... did I mention patience?...... Steve and Theo had disappeared with the third party salesman, and I was working on my blog when Ros rushed in and pointed out the time. We had only 20 min to get across the border! Tanzania is an hour ahead of South Africa, and the time was actually 17h40! We got across the border in time, but we could not believe that it took us 3 hours! 

Wheeling and dealing at the border post

  The guys had been held up (we felt purposefully delayed, as we were the only ones there!) and no one was thinking straight when we put our accommodation for the night into our GPS's. Utengule Coffee Lodge was our destination. It got dark when we left the tar road thinking that we were going up a mountain into the coffee plantations. We drove and drove and drove......but no coffee plantations! Twice Steve (with Theo' help) refueled our car with jerry cans. We started phoning Utengule coffee Lodge. I accidentally phoned our next destination. The lady, Nicky, was totally confused when we told her that we were over 2000m on a mountain pass. We checked our maps again, and saw that, instead of a decent tar road, we took a 'road from hell' (as someone described it). The road was actually a single lane, rocky dirt track, with the mountain on the one side and darkness on the other, the road dropping into an unknown abyss. We went through numerous villages, built within meters of the track. Tiny little shops, lit by candles and lanterns could be seen doing business late into the night. We were forced to slow down to a walking pace because of people walking in the middle of the road with their belongings on their heads. Some were on motorbikes, carrying everything from water, feed for their cattle, and passengers, or building materials sticking a meter out on both sides of their motobrbikes. Most bikes and even some vehicles had no lights! When we thought that the worst was over, we encountered Igali Pass. The road got increasingly worse with numerous sharp bends and erosion on the inclines. All this combined with never ending dust from motorbikes and vehicles coming from the front and back. This 73km took us almost 3 hours to complete. We were exhausted when we got to Utengule. We decided not to camp and booked into comfortable rooms. In retrospect we were sorry that we did not see the pass in daylight - apparently it is was beautiful pass! Before we left the next mornng, we took a walk to the coffee plantation. It was well worth the 1 hour trip.

Utengule Coffe lodge

Blossoms on the Coffee plants