Sunday 29th July (day15) - Got the 1pm ferry from Stonetown to Dar es Salaam as planned. These fast ferries are superb and smooth. The movie this time was a bit more appropriate. They played 'Congo', about a gorilla that communicates with an electronic voice box and happens to be set in Tanzania. Very corny so most people fell asleep. Short bus ride to the kigamboni ferry as last time and onwards to the Mikadi beach club campsite were we stayed last time. On this occasion I decided to go for an upgrade into a thatched hut on the beach looking out onto the ocean. For 15,000/= (less than £6), it's worth it. Futon mattress and the sound of the waves. Group dinner at 7pm that was nice and healthy. Have to leave at 6am tomorrow so early night after getting upto date with stuff. Also, no mains at campsite tommorow so needed to get everything charged up.
Monday 30th July (day16) - 6am start this morning and set for a long day. Busy traffic coming out of Dar es Salaam with not much to note other than the confusing traffic priorities along the Morogoro road. In the morning and and evening peak periods, each side of the carriageway becomes bi-directional. There are no road markings to tell you this only a vague sign at the side of the road. Sounds chaotic and it is, but it seems to works ok. Would never get away with it in europe. The road to Milawi goes through Mikumi National Park. There has been a lot of back-burning going on to improve the growth so the area still looks very charred. Along the route we saw herds of giraffe, antelope and dwarf elephant. Their growth has been stunted over the years due to the larger specimens being poached, which has affected the gene pool and left only stunted growth elephants. Large areas of the unusual Baobab tree (upside down tree), and typical african acacia. Plenty of time for reading today as we were on the road for 12 hours to get to our campsite for the night. The farmhouse campsite turned out to be excellent. The hottest showers we've had for a while. The bar was in a mud hut and so was the restaurant, which served us an excellent meal of spinach soup followed by beef curry with rice and veg. Everyone then legged it to the bar as we had been told of a short supply of chocolate brownie and hot drinking chocolate & Amarula liquer. It's amazing how desperate people get for treats like this! Almost ready to kill. There were other tour groups on site so spent the evening talking to some folk and comparing notes.
Another proud moment today as katie started a workshop for gifted and talented children back home. I think she was going to be doing textiles and electronics work. Workshop lasts all week.
Tuesday 31st July (day 17) - up at 5am to head to Malawi border. This morning is cold and wet. 16°C. Another day, another currency to get to grips with. This time the kwacha. Also Malawi is only 1hr ahead of UK so clocks go back 1hr when we cross the border. No visa cost to enter Malawi but have to have yellow fever vaccination certificate. Got to border about 12:30. First task is to get Tanzania exit stamp. Armed with that you then queue up at the Malawian immigration desk having filled in the immigration card. Depending in your origin depends on how quick you get through. In my case, no questions asked so a quick visa stamp and out. You have to get rid of leftover tanzanian shillings so a money changer came onboard the truck and negotiated a rate. The cash deals are done with not much precision so some win and some lose. £1 is Approx 289 Kwacha.(abbrev MK). Once across the border, first village is a rather unfortunately named IPONGA. Clocks went back 1hr as we crossed the border, which runs along the river Congwe. Carried on driving until we got to our camp for the next 2 nights on the banks of lake Milawi at Chitimba. Not long into Malawi and mobile reception died so might be quiet for the next few days or so unless coverage returns. Group meal of spagetti bolognese followed by a team quiz game around the camp fire where we had to make animal noises when answering questions(predominantly about the truck but also some about the people on the tour). A bit raucous but fun. Off on a long walk tommorow so early night. A few basics about Malawi - one of the most under-developed countries in Africa. Prior to 1964 was a british protectorate known as Nyasaland. Capital is Lilongwe which we will be visiting. One third of the country is covered by lake Milawi, which is a freshwater lake with tides and beaches!
Now, here is a fact that should make you think....the average family in Malawi live on $1 per day (about 140 kwacha). Here, a tube of pringles costs $3.5, a bottle of coke 80 kwacha!
Wednesday 1st August (day 18) - up at 5am to start walk at 6am. Quick breakfast and time to throw a sandwich together for lunch and some snacks en-route. Our guide is called 'wisdom'. Not an unusual name in these parts. This outward trip was to be 17km, most of which was zigzagging up & down fairly steep windy tracks to ascend the 1400m or so to the top to the village of Livingstonia. En-route the weather was very suspect with some rain that actually came as a relief to cool us down. There is a fantastic viewpoint part way up that offers stunning views over the ground below and lake milawi. One of the highlights is a view of the Manchewi falls. On the way to the top, stopped off for a drink at the Maganizo restaurant. This is more like someones lounge than a restaurant. As we were early, the proprietor, Tigoni Mnthali didn't have any food to offer but could supply tea or coffee only. He looked proud to pose for a photo outside his establishment. Carried on up the hill to the school, but it was empty due to it being holiday time until the end of august. A few local kids came running to see what we were upto. They were very poor looking but typical of the local kids here. What is also typical here as in a lot of africa is that the women seem to do most of the work. You see them carrying heavy loads on their heads back from the markets, working hard in the fields, and the guys...well they socialise, drink, play games and run the committees. Onwards past the missionary hospital to the Livingstonia museum (200 MK entrance) to see memorabilia from the days of Dr David Livingstone and his explorations, along with other prominent people from the era including Stanley (he of 'Dr Livingstone I presume' fame). Next up we were lucky enough to get into the church as there had been a meeting of the water committee members(very important topic of discussion around these parts), and they had just locked up and were about to go when we arrived. One thing of note about Livingstonia is that it is the first town I had seen for a while made predominantly out of bricks as most are all mud huts. It even has a technical college with a residential block. Suprising, considering it is on top of a plateau accessible only by the most awful route. Now, a really quaint story...apparently the local women had been told that it was good for helping pregnancy to chew bricks? Odd yes, but this is africa. An edict had to be issued to the women to stop doing it as the buildings were being ruined by them nicking bits of bricks from the college walls. The locals here are all friendly and say hello in passing. The kids are well trained to ask for either money or pens when they see you. The return 17km journey was a hard slog as the temperature had risen to the upper 20's, lower 30's at times and plodding downhill is tough on your calf muscles. Back at camp at 5pm, the much awaited freezing cold shower was welcome and my calf muscles felt like steel. A hard days walking but great exercise and worth the experience. Just outside of the campsite gate there was a group of wood carving stalls with some awesome work. I bought a beautiful malawi carved chair made from teak for $30, which at the present rate is about £15 and it takes them about 2 weeks to carve it! Labour is so cheap here and the workmanship is excellent. All done with an adze, a basic carving knife and some sandpaper. Group meal of beef stew tonight - much needed home comforts to feed the soul after a long day! A few things about the Chitimba campsite...owned by a dutch couple who took it over early in the year...has the most annoyingly loud roosters that crow from 3am! Could have killed the bloomin things! Have sausage trees on site...honest...these things grow sausage shaped fruits upto 2ft long that are used to make a version of local beer. They also drop off the trees like missiles in the wind. You would know about it if one hit you. Amy should have returned home from Australia today but I have no way of knowing how things have gone until I can get into contact.
Thursday 2nd August (day 19) - off site at 8:30am for journey to Kande. A few objectives today. One is to get the chair posted off to the UK if I can get to a post office. Another is that we are going to have a fancy dress party and we drew a name out of a bag for who we were going to dress up on the tour. We have a budget of 300MK to spend in the Mzuzu markets later in the day, and I drew Pete the driver. I hope he doesn't mind wearing a dress! Arrived in Mzuzu at about 11.45 by the markets. Either these folk like dressing in funny clothes or they go to lots of fancy dress parties as there was stocks of stuff to choose from. Picked up a nice orange and green dress for 200 MK and a nice pair of blue socks. Hope pete likes it. Decided to have some lunch in a shack. Nsumi (cassava mash), beans, cabbage and chicken for 50 pence. Whilst I was sat in the shack looking out of the door, someone was walking along with a bowl of chicken bits (inc feet), tripped and dropped the lot onto the mud. Blood was running along the track. He picked up the bits, gave them a quick swish in some nearby dirty water and then carried on his path. Such hygene! Can't wait to see how my system reacts to tommorow! Onwards to the post office and managed to get the chair posted back to the UK. Surface mail can take anything upto 6 months and cost about £15 to send. This is were the cost adds up. So total cost then £30. Still worth it. Back on the road and later on another market at the roadside selling wonderful carvings. Bought a reversible three legged foldable carved table with a Bao game on the flip side. This game has a rectangular grid of hollows and is played by two peole using black beans. $20 and beautifully carved. Onwards through a large area of rubber plantations. The trees are ring barked so that the latex runs down channels to be collected in pots at the bottom. The latex is put into moulds and when almost dry is rolled into either sheets or bands. Kids stand at the side of the road selling big balls of the stuff. Not having much luck with mobile coverage in Malawi. Bought a telekom SIM and it wouldn't work with either of my phones. The celtel one I have doesn't work either, so might have to give up until the next country Zambia? Eventually got to our home for the next 2 nights on Kande beach. As soon as we got there we were given a warning....yesterday a guy from another tour group Exodus, was swept out from the beach and drowned. Apparently, he tried to swim back but wasn't strong enough and had a heart attack. He was on tour with his wife who as you can imagine was in a right state. Very sad, but the current is very strong for a lake. The site is a long way from the main road, which is good as it means less opportunity to go shopping for many people. Managed to get on-line here but cost is high at about 2 quid for 30mins.
You would think that I would be absorbed in what we are up to to not miss home, but I do. I miss what the kids are upto, friends, dancing, the little treats which are readily available at home but non-existant here. Go through phases so I am sure this is natural.
Friday 3rd August (day 20) - reasonably relaxed start to the day for a change. So many early starts recently. Eggy bread, bananas and maple syrup for breakfast. Yummy. Went on walk around Kande village with William, the local cheif's son. First stop was the cheif's house for an explanation of how the community works. The present chief has been in charge of the village for 22 years. The next chief will be the elder of the boys. Each boy can get married at 12 YEARS OLD And can have upto 3 wives who can also be 12 or 13 years old. The girls can have children straight away. When they get married, the new wife is introduced to the boy's grandmother, who will show the girl the women's ways such as how the kitchen 'works' and how to look after a family. Emancipated women just wouldn't get on in Malawi! The people are constantly aware how much they need the support of visitors. Next place we went was the hospital/clinic. Where the highlight was a mother in the ward with her baby that had only been born at 7:30am. The clinical conditions of maternity wards in the western world are alien concepts here. Here it is common for a baby to get malaria due to the mosquitos. They recently got a mosquito net which was classed as a major advance! We were lead into the assistant medical officers office for a talk about the problems they face. HIV is obviously a major problem along with malaria. They don't have the facilities to treat major problems, so have to refer anything of a major nature to the bigger hospital 70km away. Gave a donation to the hospital fund. It is always a concern in Africa about donations...you hear of cash being pocketed by the recipient rather that going into the cause. You have to try not to be cynical. The dutch woman who owns the Kande beach campsite recently bought the community an ambulance. Next was the local school. Kande primary school houses 1105 children with only 10 teachers in rooms half the size of what would house say 25 kids in the UK. Each class is 55 kids on average. The older kids sometimes have to run the classes. We were there during school holidays but the older kids were there revising for their exams in september. They were doing agriculture and we were allowed to chat to them for a while. What they need to know is such important things like how to grow food and what depth to plant each seed. Their lives are all about survival. Education is free from 6yrs til about 14. After primary education they have to pay their own way at $50 per term. Hence not many can afford it. Higher education is only available in Mzuzu or Lilongwe and is normally on a boarding school basis. In the early years they are taught in their native language of chechewa, but then on most subjects are taught in english. Sometimes the children of a family will have to work to pay for one of them to go to school. Children at the school are well rehearsed in begging you for sponsorship. In seconds they will write down their personal details on how to get money to them! Gave a donation to the school. Every little helps. The community had some water pumps installed in 1997 by a canadian aid group. These changed the life of these communities dramatically. We were proudly shown one of these. Staple diet of these people is cassava and maize. Cassava is a root vegetable which is peeled and then soaked in water for 3 days, after which it is dried on open-air tables and then pounded by hand in large mortar & pestles by the women to make either nsimi or finer to make flour. Back at camp and a quick change to go horse riding for a few hours. Got picked up by Adele who runs the stables. Sat in the back of her pick-up truck along with some locals hitching a ride. A few boys had been fishing and had their catch in trusses on string. My horse was called Kilimanjaro and came with warnings. Superb scenery on our trek and got some good gallops in which was real fun. Out for about 2 hours or so. Then took the saddles off so that we could ride them bareback in the lake up to the horses shoulders. Brilliant experience. Not long after getting back and showering had to get ready to go for dinner at the cheif's house. This was lovely. We had a nice meal of soup followed by beef stew/rice/veg/beans sat on mats. The children then entertained us with dancing and songs. We then joined in with them and also did the hokey cokey with them. Surreal. A really touching experience. Also. During dinner a meteor shot across the black starry sky...a totally awesome evening. One guy that seemed to have adopted me during the day, Cisco, kept shadowing me all evening. I think he believed I would sponsor him through mechanical college. Where he got the idea I was wealthy enough I don't know? One of the other guys from the village is rather famous - Winston Churchill! His parents must have thought it would make him rich. Everyone has an english name and a local name which they rarely use.
Saturday 4th August (day 21) - breakfast at 8am as booked into the 'Aquanuts' dive centre for a 9am dive. Out on the speedboat with tan a the dive leader abd buddy Shea. Only 12m dive here as not much to see other than Cichlids of every colour. They have on odd nesting habit in that they excavate large craters upto 2m in Diameter on the bottom that can be quite deep. The mother carries live babies in her mouth which is sweet. Didn't see any though. A VW Jeep was towed out and sunk 6yrs ago that is now covered in growth and is an interesting location for the fish to hang out.
