Malawi
Originally we had considered not going to Malawi and instead darting North straight into Tanzania from Zambia. But the further we progressed on our trip the more Overlanders we encountered who told us that Malawi was one of the best countries in Africa, and so we could not ignore their advice. From Chipata Zambia to Nkotakhota Malawi right on the lake was just short of 4 hours on paper, minus the border crossing which appeared somewhat pain free. An easy day of riding we thought. All went smoothly and with one hour left on our journey through some Malawi hills we suddenly hit a large gate. This was a National Park, Nkotakhota Wildlife Reserve. A park Ranger descended from his cabin and informed us that the Park was closed as it was a Sunday and that even if they were open we would need special permission to ride bikes in the park, something to do with lions and elephants and such, you know, the usual. We asked how we could get to the lake, he pointed to a dirt track and said you could try going South around the park but that the road wasn’t great and it would take a long time. Always up for the challenge we headed South on the track. It was a small dirt track which could still facilitate probably only bikes and 4X4s. After an hour or so we hit a medium sized town, Bwanje I believe. I spotted a flock of nuns (I think that’s the correct term) and I started talking to one of them. I asked her how we could get to the lake. She said that it was difficult to cross the hills, as the track was small and hilly and that there were many fierce animals in the forest like lions and elephants. I explained to her that I too was a fierce animal and she laughed and said, “yes, I can tell by the silly clothes you are wearing”. And so we headed East on a tiny dirt track. I spotted an old rusted sign that said some schools on the track had been funded by Trocaire. Trocaire (Irish for mercy) is an Irish charity that does a lot of good work in Africa and all Irish people my age will remember the lent box given to all kids to raise money for them once a year. Once the box was filled with loose change it was sent off to help fund projects like this. It made me feel proud to see where all my 50 pences had gone, and proud to be Irish knowing the exceptional record that Ireland has in aid work in Africa over the past century. The track narrowed and narrowed and became hillier as we went. This section took us 3 hours to get through but what a ride. It’s a miracle that neither of us came off. Iva has excelled at the off road; at the beginning of the trip she was terrified of the dirt, now she relishes it. We past through many small hut villages along the way and everybody waved at us. These are places that are only accessible by motorbike; the tracks are no more than 3 feet wide. At one point on the track we came across young men on the way to a dance all wearing the traditional masks, something shocking at first when you round a corner, one of them shouted at us and waved a machete…. But he was only having the craic, he wasn’t really threatening us. I don’t have any photos of the traditional masks but I will grab one from the Internet here… And unfortunately I don’t have any video as my GoPro died. After 4 hours of tiny dirt track riding we eventually hit the road that skirts along the shore of Lake Malawi. And of course once again we ended up riding at night.
Lake Malawi is incredibly beautiful, with pristine turquoise waters that match Garda or Como. At Nkhata Bay we stayed at a PADI diving guesthouse right on the water. Although we didn’t do any diving, just some kayaking and swimming. I also met some Irish lads there who were working as aid workers. We were planning to visit the Scottish settlement town of Livingstonia, but realized the roads were crazy steep and gravelly like Sani Pass and decided to give it a miss (sometimes its best to just say no..) and went to Karonga instead, a town on the Northern shore of the lake.
Apart from Malawi being incredibly beautiful the people are genuinely friendly everywhere we go. It is in the bottom ten poorest countries in the world. I have not mentioned it before as this is a happy blog but obviously there is terrible poverty everywhere we go. Things are getting better in Africa but progress is slow. In Karonga I went off on a wander into back lanes through houses on the outskirts of the town, again everybody pointing at me, some laughing and many greeting me and saying welcome to Malawi. Some ladies took me into their house and fed me some of the local food. They told me about how poor everybody is and how hard it can be to survive in Malawi. The arc is long but it does seem to be headed in the right direction. If ever you need a dose of optimism put on Hans Rosling.
I don’t know why but we didn’t take a lot of photos in Malawi, sometimes you just forget! And we were only there for six days, but I was very impressed with it. One of the highlights of Africa, and a place which I would most definitely re-visit. And without a doubt the women of Malawi get the prize for best dressed, everywhere we went they were done up in incredibly beautiful colored and pattern African dresses.
