Malawi Travelogue

Malawi is situated in the Great Rift Valley, the capital is Lilongwe. Malawi is the former Nyasaland, a British protectorate from 1891, following Livingstone’s exploration, and from 1953 to 1963 a part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It became an independent Commonwealth state under President Hastings Banda in 1964 and a republic in 1966.

BLANTYRE

We arrived in Blantyre hot, weary and hungry, after a slow bus journey from Tete in Mozambique. Blantyre is the chief commercial and industrial city of Malawi. The city was founded in 1876 as a Church of Scotland mission, it is named after the explorer David Livingstone’s birthplace in Scotland. We knew where we wanted to stay, Doogles backpackers lodge, so we walked there. It was quite busy, but thankfully they had a double en-suite room available. We were pleased that we didn’t have to sleep in a dormitory. Our room was nice and private, situated at the back of the property. It had a pleasant view of the garden, where there were a couple of fully loaded Land Rovers parked. We enjoyed talking to one of the Land Rover owners, who told us about his interesting expedition across Africa. Blantyre was not overflowing with major attractions, but there was the Sanjika Palace, the National Museum, and you could go on a guided tour of the Carlsberg Brewery complete with free tasting, if you were desperately thirsty! More energetic yearnings could be satisfied by conquering one or all three of Blantyre’s large hills. They are officially called mountains but are not exactly Kilimanjaro. They are MT Ndirande 1610m, in the Ndirande Forest Reserve, its name means Sleeping Man, so called because viewed from Blantyre the profile resembles a man lying down. MT Soche 1530m, in the Soche Forest Reserve, which you can walk to the top of using a local schoolboy acting as a guide. Lastly MT Michiru 1473m, which is considered the best of the three, in the centre of Michiru Forest Reserve where it is possible to see monkeys, bush bucks, and apparently even leopard. Although it is more likely that you will be rewarded with the sighting of a bird or two, as there have been over 400 species discovered. We were happy doing nothing, relaxing and chatting in the bar at Doogles. It was always fairly busy, and very popular with expats, and local workers. The restaurant at Doogles served snacks, lunch and dinner. We ate a few meals there, the food was good but not cheap. We were on a mainly liquid diet, drinking lots of large bottles of cold Carlsberg lager! When we weren't keeping the seats warm in Doogles bar, we walked to the local shops. The main street is Victoria Avenue, where there were several large shops, as well as banks and other useful services. Haile Selassie Road had lots of smaller shops worth browsing. At the junction where Victoria Avenue meets Glyn Jones Road is Le Meridien Mount Soche Hotel. We liked to go there for a drink, sitting outside in the lovely garden by the pool. It was a peaceful oasis away from the noise of central Blantyre. We had seen some lovely wooden masks in Blantyre, in fact there were two huge ones on the wall at Doogles. We wanted to buy some of these masks and also a chiefs chair if possible. So one day, Richard, myself, and an Australian guy, who we met in Mozambique and travelled to Malawi with, went out in search of

souvenirs. We found Blantyre’s main market, just off Kaoshiung Road. It sold everything from fruit and vegetables to clothes and shoes. There were lots of stalls selling Kangas, the large rectangles of material worn by the local women as skirts, similar to a sarong. There were so many different designs of every colour, most of which had a Nyanja (local language), saying on the hem. These sayings were often funny and usually relevant to the image on the Kanga. We liked so many of them, it was hard to decide which ones to purchase. Eventually we picked out half a dozen, and began haggling with the stall owner until we were all happy. Now we wanted to find some good wooden masks, but we were all beginning to feel warm so we headed to Le Meridien Mount Soche Hotel, for drinks. After sitting in the garden for a while we ventured out again, this time we walked to the PTC supermarket on Victoria Avenue, as we had seen lots of stalls there selling various crafts. It was definitely the place for us to purchase all of the things we wanted, and more. There were so many different stalls selling everything, jewellery, baskets, wire models, furniture, masks, and lots of the stalls had paintings on display. We were very happy as we knew we would be able to get everything in the one place. We saw some great chairs, and after lots of haggling with the seller, we agreed a good price. He told us the cost for postage back to the U.K. There was no way we wanted to lug something this large and heavy with us for the rest of our trip. So we told him we would go to the post office and check the price of the postage. We also found a stall selling the huge wooden masks we liked so much. Once again we haggled until we arrived at a price we liked, and we told the seller that we would check the price of postage to the U.K. before we parted with any money. He tried to assure us that he knew the postage, but we went off to the post office to make sure. As we expected, the post was considerably more expensive than we had been told by both stall holders. In fact it was so expensive that we didn’t buy either the chiefs chair or any of the huge wooden masks. We were slightly disappointed but continued to browse the goods on sale. We found lots of other things that we liked, all much lighter than the chair and masks, and we now had a rough idea how much the postage would cost. We hadn’t really thought about buying any paintings, but the Australian guy we were with had stopped to look at some and was haggling with the seller. So while he chatted to the stall owner we looked at some of the paintings. They were actually quite good, lots of landscapes, not our first choice. But there were lots of paintings of African women, which were beginning to grow on us. Our friend had found a set of four paintings that he quite liked, but he only wanted to buy two. He couldn’t decide which two at first, but eventually chose his favourites and a deal was done. We liked the remaining two and asked how much they were. Obviously we were told the same price as our friend had just paid. We didn’t want to pay that price so we walked away, we were called back, and in the end we got them for half the price our friend paid for his. We were surprised that the shopping was not really that stressful. Obviously the stall owners wanted to make a sale, but they were not too aggressive about it. So it was a real pleasure taking our time and looking at everything on offer and doing business with them. This probably explains why we bought so much, that and the seriously low prices. We were happy with the two paintings we had already bought and happy to look for more things to buy. We saw another really nice painting of a women breast feeding a baby, it was mounted in a wooden frame, we didn’t want the frame. We began haggling and ages later agreed a price, the stall holder removed the painting from the frame before rolling up the painting for us to post home. When we settled in France we had all three paintings mounted and they look great. They are up on the wall in front of me now as I type this, a perfect reminder of our time in Malawi. We bought so much that day, the paintings, some wooden masks, candle sticks, candle holders, pen holders, pens, carved statues, and from a nearby shop lots of material with African scenes printed along the bottom. We also had the Kangas we had bought earlier, once everything was packed securely in a cardboard box we posted it home. This was probably one of the largest boxes, although not the heaviest, that we ever sent home from our travels. After all of the haggling and sun exposure we were all in need of another drink, so we headed back to Doogles bar. We had enjoyed our time in Blantyre, most of which we spent drinking or eating at Doogles, but now we wanted to move on. We left bright and early one morning travelling to Monkey Bay.

MONKEY BAY

We caught a very early morning bus from Blantyre to Monkey Bay. Our Australian friend travelled with us and by the time we arrived we were all hot and tired. We stopped for a drink, only staying in Monkey Bay until we could get a lift to Cape Maclear.

CAPE MACLEAR BEACH

From Monkey Bay we caught a local pick up truck, which took us further along the coast to Cape Maclear Beach. Richard and I were lucky enough to have sat together in the truck cab with the driver. All of the other passengers were sitting in the back on top of luggage, sacks of maize, and junk. It was quite a long journey on a very dusty bumpy dirt track. We were pleased when we arrived at Fat Monkeys, which is where we wanted to stay. We jumped out of the van and headed to the bar. It looked okay and fairly modern, there were some newly built accommodation blocks nearby and there were a few people sitting drinking and eating in the bar/restaurant.

We ordered some drinks and asked about accommodation. It turned out they were very busy, they could accommodate our friend, but they didn’t have anywhere for a couple to stay together. We decided to enjoy our drinks before we thought about what to do next. There was Richard, me, our Aussie friend, and two female nurses from Holland, all sitting together drinking and talking. I can’t remember what started it now after all this time, but there was a problem. A couple of guys who worked at Fat Monkeys, Richard, and our Aussie friend began arguing, it all got a bit crazy. So now Richard and I were pleased that they didn’t have any accommodation for us, they told us that they would have some for us the next day. We left, and had no intention of going back there, we didn’t want to give them any more of our money. We walked further along the beach until we came to Steven's Resthouse. Thankfully they had a double room for us. Our friend had decided to stay at Fat Monkeys, but the next day he turned up at Steven's, he didn't like where he was staying and he moved to Steven's. We stayed in a lovely big room, right on the beach. It had a shower that trickled water, mosquito nets without holes in them, and two very comfortable beds. After our first night there we realised that there were no mosquitoes, so we didn’t need the nets, which probably explains why they were in such good condition. It didn’t have any electricity, but we were given some candles so we were fine. There were some rooms behind ours that did have electricity, we could have moved but we liked staying on the beach. The bar, such as it was, had plenty of cold beer, so we were very happy. There were great views across Lake Malawi where we would sit, on the great big slabs of concrete that made up beach side tables and benches at Steven's Resthouse, and watch the sunset. We didn't eat at Steven's, I don’t think they served food during our stay, we used to go up the road to Thomas' Grocery, Restaurant and Bar. Thomas' was little more than a wooden shack, with a few tables and benches out the front. It was pleasant sitting outside eating, the tables were in the shade underneath a rough straw roof. We ate there most days, with our Australian friend, and occasionally an American guy we had met joined us. The American guy was on a strict budget, so he used to fill up on ugali, a tasteless white mass of gunk made from maize. Apparently after you eat it, it expands in your stomach helping you to fill full for longer. He would also finish off anything we left on our plates, he had a huge appetite. The food at Thomas' was very good, we ate most of the dishes on offer during our stay at Steven's. We ate a lot of the beans and rice dish, which was as you would expect boiled rice topped with a very tasty bean and vegetable concoction in a tomato sauce. The portions were always huge, one meal a day was usually plenty for us. We also ate omelettes and chicken, although the local chickens were very skinny with little meat on them, and we ate breakfast a couple of times, delicious pancakes, all served with mugs of hot tea. Steven's was such a relaxing place to stay we didn't want to leave. Practically every day we would say that we would leave tomorrow. Tomorrow just never seemed to come! We had wanted to get a boat, the Ilala, from Monkey Bay, hopping on and off, during its journey along Lake Malawi. The whole journey from Monkey Bay in the south to Chilumba in the north, takes about three days. It stops at around a dozen or so towns along the way, and we had been looking forward to joining it. Unfortunately at the time of our visit the boat was out of service, and would remain so for the foreseeable future. We were disappointed but still happy to stay at Cape Maclear Beach as it was so relaxing. It was such a lovely place, the locals were friendly and we felt no rush to move on. We often sat on the beach admiring the views, but we never went in the water. The area is known for Bilharzia or schistosomiasis, a disease that occurs all over Africa. Bilharzia is transmitted by tiny worms carried by water snails and infected humans. As Bilharzia can be contracted by swimming in lakes or shallow water, we thought it best not to get our feet wet. For many years the health and tourism departments in Malawi told people that there was no risk of catching Bilharzia as Lake Malawi was Bilharzia free. Many people believed this story, even some of the well known travel guides printed that there was no risk of contracting the disease. We knew that the water for our bathroom came straight from Lake Malawi, we wanted to be extra careful so we always brushed our teeth with bottled water. As for hair washing and showering, we didn’t bother ... only joking, we behaved like divas and used bottled water for that too! It’s amazing what you can do with a huge bucket and a jug, my hair had never been so soft! The fact that there was a large disease control centre for Bilharzia up the coast from Steven's, should have been warning enough for everyone that Bilharzia existed in Lake Malawi. Eventually we forced ourselves to move on from Steven's and Cape Maclear Beach. We had arranged a ride on a van from Steven's back to Monkey Bay. When it arrived it was already full of people, with about ten squashed in the back. It was similar to the one we arrived on, a van with an open flat bed at the rear. We jumped up and tried to get comfortable, as we knew the journey was fairly long and very bumpy. As first it wasn't too bad, but once we started to drive round the bends some of the sacks we were sitting on shifted. So now we were clinging on for dear life. Richard has much stronger arms than I do and he was managing to hold on. I was not doing so well, and as we sped round a sharp turn in the road I found it very difficult to stay onboard. I could see the dusty track flashing by below me, and I just knew I was going to fall off. Just as I lost my grip and feared I would be thrown to the ground, a large local lady who was sitting behind me grabbed me round my middle. I couldn't believe it, I don't know which was more shocking, her grabbing me, which made me jump, or the thought of hitting the ground. I was so pleased she did grab me though, I couldn't thank her enough. She just laughed and smiled, and for the rest of the journey kept a firm grip on the neck of my shirt. I felt like a naughty little girl, I could barely breath with the front of my shirt being pulled up against my throat, but I also felt a lot safer as I knew there was no way this lady was going to let go of me.

MONKEY BAY

Needless to say, when we finally came to a halt in Monkey Bay we both breathed a huge sigh of relief, we had made it alive! We were going back to Blantyre and then to Zimbabwe. Unfortunately we had to spend the night in Monkey Bay, as the bus for Blantyre didn’t leave until 4am the next morning. I don't remember where we stayed that night, it was somewhere on the main road. We chose it because it was close to where we needed to catch the bus the following morning, we didn't want to have to walk too far in the pitch black. Our room was okay, although quite dirty. We spent the early evening drinking in a couple of places on the main road. Then we bumped into the American guy we had met at Cape Maclear Beach. We carried on drinking, we were all getting quite tipsy so we thought we had better get something to eat. We found a restaurant that looked busy and went in. We all ordered some food, which we ate outside in the back garden. The owner came out and joined us for a while, and we all chatted about her life in Malawi. The American guy was enjoying flirting with her, so after drinking several more bottles of Carlsberg Richard and I went back to our hotel. It was gone midnight, we had to be up at 3am to catch the bus. In retrospect we wouldn't have bothered with a hotel room, we could have just stayed in the bar until our bus arrived. We managed to a get a little sleep, and then it was time to walk to where the bus would arrive. It was literally pitch black, we could hardly see a thing, thankfully we had our torch with us. We managed to walk to where the bus would pick us up, it was eerily quiet. There were no other signs of life, I sat down on a step for a while. Richard was wandering around, then we heard snoring, we scanned the surrounding area. We saw a shape on the ground, in the area where the snoring seemed to be coming from. It was a man asleep on the dirt, I guess he was waiting for the bus too. We were a bit early for the bus, but better early than to miss it, we wouldn’t have wanted to spend another night in Monkey Bay. The bus arrived roughly on time, excellent, the snoring man roused when it pulled up and he got on too. It was not a large coach sized bus but was fairly modern and comfortable. We sat together and snuggled up, sleeping most of the way to Blantyre.

BLANTYRE

Arriving back in Blantyre it seemed so noisy and busy, after the peace and quiet we had enjoyed at Steven's, Cape Maclear Beach. We walked from the bus straight to Doogles, hoping they would have a room for us. Thankfully we were put in the room next to the one we stayed in the first time we were there. It was roughly the same as our previous room, except the shower was better with more hot water, lovely. We both fell in love with Malawi, we met some lovely people, ate some good food, relaxed, and enjoyed the beauty of this wonderful country. It’s easy to see why Malawi is referred to as the friendliest country in Africa. All too soon our time there had come to an end, we were sorry to leave, but we would happily return to Malawi again in the future. I think we only stayed at Doogles for a coupe of nights, before catching a bus to Mozambique and then on to Zimbabwe.