90 days Cape to Cairo on 200cc Motomias

Highlights from Malawi 21 – 28 September 2011 – Crossing Africa (a journey from Cape to Cairo)

We loved travelling through Malawi on our Crossing Africa trip. There were many highlights so it was difficult to choose them. Here is a pic of our route we took through Malawi:

To read all our daily blog posts during this time, please visit our Malawi section

Tania’s highlight – When we arrived at Mayoka village in Nkhata Bay, they upgraded us to a bungalow for the same price as a campsite! The bungalow overlooks the beautiful Lake Malawi and this remains one of the coolest places we stayed at during our trip. The snorkelling was awesome and it was too difficult to resist the pizzas at the beach bar/restaurant. Trekking crocodiles with Juma in the Nkhotakota Nature Reserve was also a real treat.

Tania’s lowlight – I read a lot about the little town Livingstonia (named after David Livingstone) and the Mushroom farm in Malawi (just past Mzuzu). It is situated way up a mountain and the only road leading there is a terrible gravel road. We wanted to go and check it out, but we could only manage about two kilometres before we decided to turn back. I am positive that our bikes would have made it, but with us still having about 10 000 km to go on this trip we didn’t want to risk hurting the bikes.

Favourite Pic – This pic was taken with our GoPro while snorkelling in Lake Malawi

 

 

Francois’s highlight - Being offered a bungalow for the price of a campsite at Mayoka Village in Nkhata Bay (see video). Also, baking roosterkoeke on a fire at Senga Bay. And meeting Solomo next to the road while having lunch.

 Francois’s lowlight - This is a difficult one as Malawi is such an amazing place with such amazing people. The worst experience was probably when the owner of Mzoozoozoo yelled at the guy working in the kitchen. What a rude old man.

Favourite pic - view at Senga Bay

 YouTube video:

We have put together a short video clip of us snorkelling in Lake Malawi at Mayoka Village in Nkhata Bay - enjoy!

 

Malawi GPS Profile:

More stats will be published in our book :o)

First post from Tanzania

You might have noticed that some of the posts only appear a day after we’ve typed them. It’s not because we are lazy, but rather a lack of either power or reception. The first day in a new country is also always a gamble as we do not know how the data connections work yet.

Tania had great difficulty uploading the post yesterday at Sangilo Sanctuary. The signal was extremely poor and she had to walk to the highest point in the compound and stand with the laptop in the air as she had to do at Ngepi, way back in Namibia.


While walking around camp I stumbled upon one of the machines from my ‘dream garage’: the original Yamaha Tenere. And it was exactly the one I want, a blue and yellow AJ3 model. Mark didn’t want to swap it for my near pristine Motomia Pachino. He also had a BMW R27 in the shed from when BMW had not yet started using cylinder heads for side stands.


We headed straight for the border, trying to fill up at Karonga, but there was no fuel. At the border the exit was straight forward, but an insurance agent was on our trail from the start. Money exchangers also kept on trying their best, but we decided to wait to get to the Tanzanian side to change at the Bureau de Change. The people at immigration were very friendly and helpful and we got our shilling legally with no hassles. Thereafter we entered Mr Andrew’s office to pay the third party insurance. Now we’ve been had before at the Zambian border, so we were determined not to be done in. The price was almost three times the Namibian and Malawian rates, but I only had a certain amount of cash. In the end he gave us 20% discount and said we could pay the remaining amount (which I really didn’t have) in airtime once in Mbeya. He sounded sincere, but the fact that we can pay using airtime begs the question whether the money goes to the agency or the agent.

We were knackered and hot and decided to fuel up and head for Mbeya to sort out our data connection for Tanzania. We stopped for Coke once, where we had to down it as you need to hand in the bottles again, or pay extra. We also stopped for tomatoes, onions, a cucumber and bread. All for less than R10!


The GPS showed there is a Vodashop in Mbeya, but our estimated time of arrival was 16h58. Afternoon traffic in busy Mbeya caused it to become 17h03, so we just arrived after closing time. The kind people at the shop came out to ask whether we need help ad gave us all the instructions and their number in case we have trouble. We keep being amazed by the people of each new country we head into. Earlier a guy on almost the same bike as us greeted us at the filling station and asked about our trip. As he tore off he shouted: “Welcome to Tanzania!!” Lekker!

It was getting late and on our way to Utengule Coffee Lodge I still had to get hold of a sim card and recharge vouchers from vendors that do not speak or understand English. This proved to be great fun and I ended up with 20 vouchers for TS1000 each. It was not enough to pay the rest of our insurance though, so I need to get some more today. I took everything at every shop I could find as the light faded.

The GPS is sometime a couple of metres out due to the reception, but a few metres can become half an hour’s detour if you get it wrong. We turned off to early (5 metres too early) and ended up in narrow alleys of a small village. Everyone knew we didn’t belong there and laughed at us. Luckily they could direct us the correct direction, but it took a while and some getting stuck in sand and very narrow passages to get on the road again. It was great to feel so out of place, yet somehow normal to go through there. This is Africa!

Here I am busy entering all the PIN numbers of the vouchers:


We decided to have supper in the restaurant and Tania had Herby Chicken and I had pork steak.


We turned in for the night in our tent pitched next to the tennis court. There is a squash court as well here in the coffee farm. We are looking forward to a nice Cappuccino and Americano tomorrow morning before we leave! There are all sorts of coffee making apparatuses here. This one is for you, Eon:

A great ride to Sangilo Sanctuary

As we left Mzoozoozoo this morning we pulled into the Total garage around the corner and couldn’t believe our eyes as we stopped next to the pump and filled our tanks with petrol – NO queues today! So we were very lucky! We filled up and should now be okay until we get into Tanzania. The weather was cool and overcast which made riding very easy today. It was interesting to note as we progressed further into the Northern parts of Malawi that there are less people here so villages look almost strangely empty. There are also more brick houses and this time “Diversion” was spelt correctly with an “r” in the middle. They even went as far as changing the usual sign “Men working ahead” (when there are road works ahead) to “Machine working ahead” which was quite sophisticated I thought!

The road from Mzuzu to Chitimba side was beautiful and we fully enjoyed riding through a mountain pass with the most little bends and twists that I have ever ridden before. I wish I had counted them so that you could see what I mean.

On the other side of the pass were the most beautiful views over Lake Malawi. We also stopped for a quick snack... Francois' lunch consisted of a piece of bread with Malawi hot sauce and mine with some Golden Syrup yum!

We decided to go and explore the road to Livingstonia, which is a 15km very rocky gravel road that goes up a mountain all the way to a little town on top of the mountain. It was very steep with loads of rocks and bends and after we tried it out for about 3km we decided to give it a rest and not push the bikes any further – we still have a far way to go to Cairo :o) Here you can see one of the steep rocky bends...

It was good fun, but we didn’t want to mess up our tyres on the rocks too much. We’ll leave this for next time when we come to Malawi! I’m glad we didn’t push it any further as we later heard that the beginning was the easy part of it!

We arrived at Sangilo Sanctuary Lodge at lunch time. On the Long Way Down series Charley and Ewan met up with Eve here at this lodge so that it quite cool. We are enjoying our last swim in Lake Malawi now and tomorrow we will be crossing our next border into Tanzania.

Here Francois is enjoying the private beach - it's a tough life I know!

We have really been relaxing out here in Malawi which is still Africa for beginners we realise :o) We have the whole place to ourselves again and we are wondering where all the tourists are feeling a bit lonely? I suppose the fuel crises and warnings against riots have really hit the tourism industry hard - such a shame as Malawi is beautiful and so easy to travel through. My wildest expectations have been exceeded and we will definitely come back to Malawi again!

A short ride to Mzuzu

Last night was pizza night at Mayoka, so it was difficult (read: impossible) to resist. This was not good for our budget, but we argued that we didn’t spend anything on fuel as we didn’t go anywhere, so the saving made up for it.


We had a lovely second night’s sleep in a bed with pillows and all. This morning we had to pack up all our stuff again and lug it to the top of Mayoka Village which was quite a mission. We first had coffee on the deck to get us to Livingstonia where we were headed for today.

Tania at a road sign in Nkhata Bay road works:


At Mzuzu (40 km from Nkhata Bay) we realised today might not go as planned. We wanted to quickly update the blog with last night’s post (because the internet wouldn’t work yesterday) and get Bilharzia pills from the pharmacy. Upon entering Mzuzu we saw the 15 car long queues at the filling stations. We decided to stay here and sort out fuel to get us to Tanzania and airtime.

Luckily we came right with the former behind a filling station (the Motomias still run, so it must have been real fuel…phew):

This should get us safely into Tanzania, we hope!

After some shopping at the People's Store we did our usual chores.

Tania did the washing:


And I did the dishes (from last night where we didn’t have water):


We are now sitting in the lounge listening to some great music. Tania is making notes from the Tanzania Bradt guide so we have some ideas for accommodation for the stretch to Rwanda. We met the owner of Sangilo Lodge further up the lake. Ewan and Charley stayed there on the Long Way Down trip. We will head there tomorrow after paying a visit to Livingstonia (if all goes to plan!).

The funky Mzoozoozoo bar/restaurant/lounge/etc.:

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I've included a trip stats page. I try to update it everyday, but with the slow connections we sometimes have I fall behind regularly. I will try to pick up my game! I have also updated the route map (see our trip and route). It's weird to think we've come this far in only three weeks. That's how long our www.aroundsa.co.za trip took.

Chilling out next to lake Malawi

We have been enjoying our time at Mayoka Village very very much! Especially the great food, swimming and our little cabin with amazing views over the lake. It is really easy to switch off here!

Here are some photos to show you the beautiful day we have had...

Early morning coffee next to the lake... The sun comes up very early in malawi (probably round about 5am) so we always wake up too early thinking that it must be late already and then only realising that we can still sleep! So after this coffee we went back to bed for a little bit longer.

The swimming was great and we borrowed some snorkeling gear to go check out the fish. The water is very clear and you can see many blue fishies swimming around...

We also took the GoPro with us for some fun underwater videos and photos and here is one of them...

Francois is enjoying the lake here...

We also enjoyed our little cabin very much, here you can see the outside view, right on the water...

We do not have power or water at the moment and the Internet signal is failing us tonight so we will post this tomorrow. Our apologies for not getting this up sooner!

PS: We are in Mzuzu now and finally some great Internet signal here so we will post today's feedback tonight. 

Tracking crocodiles with Juma

We got up early (by our standards) this morning and broke up camp and made coffee before meeting Juma at 7h00 for a walk. He wanted to show us the crocodiles and tell us the story of Chitaka Falls. He is a wonderfully gentle man as he explains life in Malawi and how you are a rich man if you only have a bicycle. He took his time to show us all the small things in the bush, including the trees and birds we saw on our way.

Here Juma and Tania cross Baboon Bridge:


Juma told us the villagers used to cash 10 000 fish a day as they came washing down the falls after breeding. This was before the area was proclaimed a wildlife reserve. The falls were named after the large amount of fish that could be caught there.


We walked for around two and a half hours and it was great to get some exercise and experience something different. Here Tania is checking out a crocodile in the pool next to where we camped last night:

And here is one of the BIG ones we saw:


The walk took its toll on us and we had to have breakfast before we leave for Nkhata Bay. Bua River Lodge has a great wooden dining area and two lovely tented decks out on one of the islands (in the wet season) for which we’ll have to return one day.


Today’s amazing road winded over valleys and through rubber plantations, every now and again touching the lake shore, then snaking inland again. My only complaint was one BIG itch somewhere on my back. I tried my very best to ignore it, as it was unreachable under my backpack and jacket’s protective pad in the back. After ten, or so, excruciating minutes I pulled off the road and grabbed the first stick I could lay my hands on to alleviate the immense discomfort. Aaaah, bliss:


We reached Mayoka Village (Nkhata Bay) at 15h30. Situated against a cliff overlooking the lake, this is the perfect place to hang for a while. We’ll cover it in tomorrow’s post, but are now off to a buffet chicken curry potjie… Cynthia from Mayoka offered us a bungalow for the price of a campsite, so they might have to chase us away. You’ll see why tmorrow…

The long way round to Nkotakota Game Reserve

This post is a bit late as we did not have cell phone reception in the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve where we stayed last night, so here is the long-awaited feedback about yesterday :o) Yesterday morning we had a surprise rain shower in Senga Bay where we stayed at the beautiful Steps campsite next to Lake Malawi. As usual we were sleeping without our tent’s outer cover so it was a bit of a scramble to get the cover on quickly and to get everything that was casually draped on the bikes into the tent. It only lasted about 15 minutes and everything dried quickly.

We set off towards Nkotakota Wildlife Reserve at about 10h30. In Malawi the speed limit through villages is 50 km per hour and on the open road 80km per hour so yesterday as we passed through village upon village upon village we achieved a record low moving average of only 44km per hour :o) It was however very interesting to see the beautiful wooden furniture and woven baskets and carpets lined along the road. It is a pity we can’t take anything with us! It is also fascinating to see what these Malawians can manage to load onto a bicycle – from goats to huge piles of wood to baskets with fruits and the women sit on the carrier at the back with their babies swinging happily in mid-air as they are tied with a blanket on their backs – cool!

Anyways so we spent quite a lot of time on the road and then reached the turn-off to Nkotakota Wildlife Reserve where we were headed to the Bua River Lodge for the evening.

The road looked a bit rugged and for nearly 12 km of gravel and passing village upon village again we reached a dead end! From this photo you can see what I thought of this :o)

The road was completely closed and it said NO entry so we could not even go ahead. In the distance we could see the Bua River Lodge sign…

We then had to trek all the way back waving again to everyone as we passed their villages with the kids pouring out from under shady trees all waving and screaming. But it was actually very good to get the bikes on a dirt road again (plus there was no sand!) so it was a nice ride.

We eventually reached the big road again and a few kilometres onwards there was a sign to Bua River Lodge and a slightly better gravel road leading into the distance. It turned out that this was the new road to the reserve and it has not yet been updated on Tracks 4 Africa (on the GPS). So off we went again passing village upon village and 12 km further we reached the gate into the reserve where the friendly Anro (who took about 15 minutes to write a receipt :o)) showed us in.

Soon we were at our camp, the only people there so we had the whole deck and area to ourselves – we did however get about five scouts (security guards) to watch over us that night. Here in Malawi jobs do not come easy and tourism is struggling with the lack of fuel and rumours about riots. The camp is beautifully situated next to the Bua River and we do not wander off too far as the river is home to a number of crocodiles. We then meet Juma, a local guide, who promise to show them to us in the morning…

More of amazing Malawi

After some expensive grocery shopping at the Spar in Lilongwe this morning we filled our fuel tanks again. Each took 500 ml, but everyone warned us not to go to Malawi due to a fuel shortage. Later today, at Salima, we filled up again. Seems that it’s only diesel that is a problem. We had a headwind all day and got very hungry halfway to Senga Bay, so we decided to stop for yogurt, tangerines and some sugar cane for desert. The canes have been cable tied to my crash-bars for easy access.














Everyone waved as usual as they passed us and just as we were about to leave Solomo came over to ask whether we had trouble with the bikes. We had a lovely chat where he asked us about our trip and Cape Town and told us about his travels to South Africa and the church he’s building just behind the spot we stopped. Afterwards he blessed us with a prayer for our long journey to Cairo. Thanks Solomo!

 

In one of the villages we bought food for tonight.


Four tomatoes, three onions, two mangos and seven bananas for only $US1 in total. Wow, that is a bargain!


We arrived at Steps Camp (Senga Bay) at 13h30 and were pleasantly surprised when we saw the green lawns...


and ocean like beach and clean horizons.


We had a great swim in the lake (after consulting a Dutch medical student at the backpacker’s this morning and seeing everyone else have a swim) – apparently there have been cases of Bilharzia in the area before. The rest of the afternoon was spent cooking supper.


More roosterkoeke with syrup and some soya with the onions and tomatoes we bought today. Good thing we started early, because it gets dark around 17h30 around here. We bought some charcoal at the camp, but did not have any fire lighters left, so we had to take turns blowing the fire on.
 
It ended up being perfect for a dozen roosterkoeke and a braai if we had meat!

A friendly crossing into Malawi

Mama Rula’s campsite has a great bar and chill-out area as you can see from the photo below:

We updated our blog and read our emails and had some “slap” chips and beer from the bar – a real treat!

Here is Francois and Raphael the friendly bar man:

This evening we had a few extra campers (two overland groups) and here you can get an idea of what the camping scene looked like and grass is always a bonus!

It seems like the article that appeared in yesterday’s Burger newspaper jinxed me – “Tania val vas in die Kalaharisand” as I have been a bit clumsy the last two days.

There is a certain technique to getting out of our tent, best way to to tackle the climbing out is to do it “slowly”, but sometimes it works better to get out fast with a sort of jump skip and hop! Yesterday this technique failed as I plummeted face first out of the tent with this approach. Luckily I am not yet thirty so everything remained intact, except the ego… and then this morning as we stopped at the filling station to fill up one last time before driving to the border, my right foot slipped (I was merely standing there in the petrol queue minding my own business) and I plummeted down again “gat oor kop” in front of everybody… again the ego bruised as the whole place was full of people (mostly men). I then saw the oily patch on the ground where I slipped – ai! I then still had to refuel, pay before I could race off, how embarrassing and not an everyday sight in Chipata :o)

We then left for the Malawi border post and this time we were more confident that we will do better than last time. As we stopped at the Zambian side the “money changers / fixers” rushed to us to do business. This time we were firm and polite and told them that we were sorted as we already had Malawian Kwatchas and our carnet. They soon got the message and then did not bother us anymore.

The officials on the Zambian side were very friendly and there were almost no other people so all went quickly. We first got our passports stamped (after filling out a departure form), then stamped our Carnets (and filled in the giant log book) and off we went to the Malawian side.

The photo below I quickly took to show you the chickens on the back of this truck.

The Malawian border building is very neat and again not many people. We completed our entry form and they stamped our passports. They also asked us how many days we will be staying and how much money we have on us. Formalities done, we had one last task to get our 3^rd party insurance sorted… However, as we arrived at the gate 5 meters from the immigration building, they asked us for our “gate pass” which we did not get. But not to worry we quickly turned back and got the passes – the passes were merely a piece of brown cardboard with the words “gate pass” written on it in pen. About 50 meters along we went into a white alone-standing building to get our insurance. This was way better than the dilapidated caravan we had to visit at the previous border crossing. They started their generator to get the computer up and running and we started the process. We still had about 165 000 Zambian Kwatchas with us and asked if we could pay with it, she said that they were not allowed, but then after a quick phone call someone came along to help us with exchanging the money. We paid 6000 Malawian Kwatchas for our insurance and then entered Malawi.

On the way to Lilongwe (after 130km) we easily filled up with petrol. The petrol attendant said that they only have a problem getting diesel so it sounds ok. We also crossed through three police stops, at one we were merely waved through and at the other two they checked our third party insurance. At the last stop, the police man’s final question to me was: “And what is your relation with this one? (pointing towards Francois)” but he was satisfied when I said “husband”! Francois did not get the same question… not sure what his intention was, but we had no hassles.

We stopped along the way to buy some sugar cane. Sugar cane is really cheap here and we paid R2.50 for two long pieces. She broke them for us into smaller pieces to take along.

Here Francois is loading all the sugar cane on his bike. This will definitely last us a while!

We arrived in Lilongwe at 13h30 and checked in at Mabuya Camp, the local backpackers lodge. We cooled down in the pool and then made some lunch – today potatoes, tomatoes and salami concoction – very good!

After an afternoon nap (it’s a tough life I know!) we are now updating our IT stuff as we have Internet access here tonight!