Trip 2016: Zambia and Malawi - Week 2

Zambia/Malawi McBrock Family trip 2016 Week 2

Saturday 18^th June – Christof – Day 8

Lilongwe to Cape Maclear

Alex woke us up around 06h30, which is later than normal, but he was keen to get going to Cape Maclear. Which we had compromised on the previous day. Showers at Mabuya Camp quite reasonable. By 08h15 we are on the road to the nearby shopping mall. The huge well stocked Shoprite has everything you would expect in Windhoek. We stock up for 2 days and I manage to pay with my credit card. After that off to the Standard Bank ATM and this time it works for my debit card too. 

Then it is off due south on the Blantyre Road for some 86km to Dedza. Many bicycles who are transporting enormous loads on the road - the most spectacular are the ones carrying firewood, stacked to above head height - unbelievable! Seen speed traps twice in the urban 50 km zone - one must be careful here. The scenery is getting very interesting with mountains. We are close to the Mozambique border. Just past Dedza we turn off east - in a few km we descend from 1500m down to 500m altitude. First class tar road but very winding - so not much speed. If it had not been such a hazy day we would be able to see the lake in the distance. At one stage we look back and see a beautiful waterfall (see Beatrice's photo). Down at the bottom we hit the T-junction of the Salima to Blantyre road. 
On the map and on Alex' GPS it looks as if we have to go about 10 km north before turning east again on the /M10 to Monkey Bay/Cape Maclear. We have terrible memories of 8 years ago when the potholed tar road had been covered with gravel which had been terribly corrugated too - 65km of horror! So when we turned off with trepidation we got onto an even more deteriorated road - 20km/hr would have been optimistic, but since they had told us at Mabuya Camp that it was a good tar road, we were doubting. An old bakkie came from the front and we asked the driver and he told us that we were on the old M10, the new M10 was just on the southern side of the T-junction (where we had come down from Dedza earlier. So we tracked back and after passing through a village. 

What a joy! The 65km flew by in a trice (well ... a few minor potholes to keep us alert). The first few km on the Cape Maclear road were as wild as a farm path, just as we remembered, but it didn't matter as it would only be some 20 km, but suddenly in the National Park it changed into a narrow but good tar road without warning. In no time we arrived in Cape Maclear. We headed straight for the Fat Monkey Lodge which was well sign-posted. Without the detour, the road trip Liliongwe to Cape Maclear should take a comfortable 4 hrs.

We had fond memories of camping under the big mango tree directly by the shore of the lake 8 years ago and we were hoping that that best camping spot in Southern Africa would still be available (The South African school hols had only started the day before, so the South African motorcade could not really be there yet), But as we entered the camp our hopes sank: both trees had a camping car underneath. At the reception we mentioned our disappointment and to our great joy we were told that the camper under ' our' tree was about to leave, What a joy!! 

I was also here 30 years ago (1986) when my parents had joined me in Malawi for a few weeks on my London to Zimbabwe trip. So my third visit ... and hopefully not my last.

We set up camp in our routine way, then had a few beers to celebrate. Later I walked through town with Beatrice to get some fresh produce for supper. The town is more crowded than before, but it also looks a little more prosperous (within the general poverty). We walked back along the fishing boat beach which has a very industrious atmosphere.

There are 2 types of local beer here: 375ml Carlsberg @ 800 MK or 630 ml Kuche-Kuche @ 1000 MK at Fat Monkey bar prices (approx N$16 and N$20 respectively'.

The sunset is marmalade sky at its best over the lake. When we will go up the Malawian north coast next week we will not have such glorious sunsets, as the sun will set in the west behind mountains. Beatrice is cooking tonight, and as usual, she conjures up a wonderful steak stir-fry with cauliflower after the ubiquitous African cabbage, tomato and onion salad (the trick is to shave the cabbage meticulously (ridiculously) finely, otherwise it tastes stodgy). Alex is still uploading the blog of the first week, which is a skilled and laborious task.  A very temperate evening - the temperature drops from 29 degrees C to some 24 degrees C by the time we go to sleep. Quite a breeze is building up later in the evening. The security guard is paying special attention to our camp site all night - when I need to get up in the middle of the night he is sleeping on one of the camp benches right by our camp.

Sunday 19^th June – Cathy – Day 9

I wondered why the children were up early this morning making breakfast with alacrity – then I realised It’s Fathers’ Day! Ah! A sense of filial duty has survived in the family.

Last night was pleasantly cool and quite windy and a brisk breeze continued in the early morning. Given our intention to take a boat trip to Thumbi Island to go snorkelling this was not the ideal. But as we enjoyed a breakfast of fruit salad made by Beatrice and omelette made by Alex the wind gradually abated and the day started to look promising. Before we left we dropped some washing off with Olivia one of the cleaning ladies who promised to have it ready when we came back in the afternoon at 100 Kwacha a piece. I quickly washed some small stuff myself since 100 Kwacha for a piece of underwear feels a bit steep compared to a shirt.

We collected together our swimming stuff and snorkels and sun lotion and promptly at 9.30 Tobias and the boatman arrived to take us out. Tobias has ‘Tobias’ written on his T-shirt and I wonder to myself whether the T-shirt is named after him or whether he is named for the T-shirt. But never mind for today Tobias it is and as for the boatman – he mumbled something quietly that none of us quite grasped and so he remained ‘the boatman’ for the day.

We cruised along the coast for a while until we reached Tobias’ house where the ingredients for lunch were handed to us. Children were washing themselves in the lake as people washed clothes and dishes alongside. Washing up is easy here – scrub first with sand and then rinse. There is no tide and no waves and so the dishes and clothes stay where you threw them in. The gradient into the water is very shallow and so small children can happily frolic around with far less danger than in the sea. Of course there are no sharks and any hippo or crocodile who ventured close to this sprawling village would be eaten before it could sneeze. The only danger at the lake shore is bilharzia and even that can nowadays be cured fairly easily.

We cruised along a bit further past Steven’s Camp, one of the first camps to be built at Cape Maclear where Chris stayed 31 years ago with his parents. Fat Monkeys’ is one of the first of the later wave of camps but now the lake shore is lined with camps and lodges in amongst the village houses. I do hope that it stays this way and the villagers are not banished to a township miles from the lakeside as happened in Paternoster in South Africa where the fishermen were elbowed out of their beach cottages in favour of wealthy holidaymakers and retirees.

The English couple who are camping next to us at Fat Monkeys passed us by as they walked along the beach, putting in a spot of exercise before spending the rest of the day chilling. They have travelled across Africa in a customised Range Rover including Mauritania which they say is remarkably beautiful. We crossed over from the beach to the island; a distance of just over a kilometre, and land on some familiar rocks we have been here before. This is ‘the aquarium’ as Tobias calls it and indeed it is. We put on our snorkels and slid into the water and found ourselves in a world teeming with tiny brightly coloured fish – Cichlids – beautiful.

I absolutely love swimming with shoals of fish. It feels as if one is flying with flocks of birds. This almost extra-planetary experience is something that I can never get enough of and I stayed, hovering among the fish for, well it seemed like ten minutes but was closer to two hours. Cichlids come in every shade from white to black through the blue, purple end of the spectrum with flashes of yellow as a contrast. I saw the occasional pink fish but red and green were missing although not missed. The prevailing colour is an iridescent blue like an electric charge to the senses. Tobias and the boatman announced that they were going to go and cook lunch on a small beach a few hundred meters away. Chris went with them and Alex Beatrice and I slowly swam along the rocks to the beach.

On the beach were two young women who had arrived in a kayak, they turned out to be from South Africa, one with family in Namibia, German speaking and so after a couple of questions Chris identified her family and worked out which of them he knew – Namibia is a village. We noticed a swimmer far out on the way to our beach and followed her movements, a slow, energy conserving crawl. She turned out to be a British doctor volunteering in a hospital in Blantyre. An interesting and friendly person although a bit surprised to find people on what she had thought was an empty beach. She rested a while and then walked back into the water to swim back to the gloriously named Funky Cichlids Lodge where she was staying.

Just as Tobias announced that lunch was ready a boat started to make its way across the water to the beach. It had about five people on board and once they landed they swam happily in the shallows and chatted amongst themselves. Shortly after that another boat appeared rather more full than the first; in fact it probably couldn’t have coped with one person more and was clearly taking on water. We didn’t count how many people were on the boat but it must have been almost thirty. One more person and they’d have been under water. It was a village outing and the mood was joyful, there was shouting and laughter, swimming and climbing on the rocks, selfies were taken,  greetings were exchanged and the beach was completely taken over and then everyone piled back into the boat and they left as suddenly as they had arrived. We could hear singing across the water as we waved them goodbye. Tobias said they it was some of the villagers showing visitors from Blantyre around. The first boat then left with hardly a ripple and we finished our lunch; a delicious braaied kampango fish with rice and chakalaka sauce. Silvery cheeked hornbills tumbled around in the trees behind us, large, clumsy and noisy but not a type of hornbill that we are used to.

After we had digested a bit we went for the obligatory fish eagle feeding. There are a tremendous number of fish eagles on the island but, since nearly every boat probably feeds them, they are quite fussy about picking up the fish that they are offered. Tobias whistled and threw fish and managed to tempt two of them to make a swoop to pick the fish from the water. Beautiful, graceful and every eagle adjective that I know - but add ‘overfed’!

Inspired by the doctor Alex and Beatrice decided to swim back to Fat Monkeys while we returned the easy way on the boat. I hope that Chris enjoyed his Father’s Day out even though it set us back US$40 per person. The kids made it back faster than I thought they would since it must be almost a 3km swim across from the island and then along the beach. By the time I returned from showering and collecting the washing and Chris returned from having his shorts repaired by a village tailor it was time for a sundowner. Alex is on to cook this evening. As he returned from collecting wood he said – tell everyone that if they come to Central Africa for a holiday they should bring an axe with them!

Tonight with the full moon the moonlight was so strong that you could see colours. The lake lay still and tranquil and far away lights twinkled on the water. We sat by the fire and enjoyed the few stars and planets that were bright enough to see. The Southern Cross hovered above us indicating that south was not quite where I had thought it was. This is the one place on the lake where we will see the sun set into the water, further round to the west it will be more the dawn rising out of it. We sat and chatted by the fire until one by one we went to bed. Alex was the last one to linger by the fire, must be force of habit for a fire fighter!

The noises of music from the village were soft enough to lull us to sleep but at around midnight a couple of very drunk villagers, one in a boat and one on the beach, started one of those loud, rambling, drunken conversations bordering on argument which continued until a quarter past one. In the end I gave up trying to sleep and read my book. Alex was also disturbed but Chris and Beatrice slept through the racket and awoke as fresh as daisies the following morning.

Monday 20^th June – Beatrice – Day 10

Cape Maclear to Ntchisi

At the crack of dawn we were up with a long day of driving ahead. I do not know if it was due to the parents packing up their tent before breakfast or if it was due to Mummy and me not showering, but we were off at our record time of 7:30am. It may seem unnatural to many, waking up so very early- in the normal run o things, it is quite unnatural to us - but the camping life focuses on the hours of daylight and why waste them? Especially when staying at Lake Malawi. The quiet, early hours are breathtakingly beautiful.

We drove to Lilongwe the same way we came. Well, almost. We got lost on our way out of Fat Monkeys, since the signage is aimed to help people there, but not out. And so we drove through the entire village, past other lodges, diving shacks and loads of schoolchildren! Finally we made it out of the village at the far end, narrowly missing the nature reserve and we were off on the tar road.

I took over the driving and did my best not to hit potholes, goats or lunatic villagers. Not a simple task to say the least. While we were driving we noted once more the abundance of cyclists- something Namibia should really strive for! Cyclists with heaps of cargo on the back or many passengers holding on for safety. Everywhere you looked you could at least spot one or two. If the cyclists were so overloaded you can just imagine the sight of the lorries and cars that past us, heaped with deliveries and covered with people.

Daddy took over when we came to the windy mountain roads. Not a huge problem with power steering and enough umpf. Nevertheless the corners where very sharp, which accompanied by oncoming traffic was not a breeze. One out of the mountains we bought a bag full of fantastic onions from a small stall on the side of the road and as a thank you for buying in bulk, were given a few extra as a thank you. Small gestures of kindness really do brighten one’s day.

Finally we arrived in Lilongwe, where a big shopping spree awaited us. While Daddy and Mummy went off in search of an extra blanket that Daddy will surely need in the mountains, Alex and I walked systematically down the aisles of Shoprite. We stocked up on anything we could need for a couple of days, unsure where and when we might find the next supermarket. Everything that was needed had been found and buying a couple more avocados and naartjies on the street we continued on our journey.

Through small towns, with incomprehensible traffic systems and jaywalking galore to Ntchisi of similar ilk. In Ntchisi, a colourful, vibrant and chaotic little village. We stopped off to purchase some tomatoes. Mummy and I went on a seemingly straightforward mission to find and retrieve 10 ripe tomatoes. We walked up the village and we walked back down the village. Meat, chips, and even tomato sauce but we found not a single tomato. Crestfallen we returned to the car. Imperiously and in quite a huff Daddy strode off only to return moments later with the bespoken tomatoes- quite baffled by the miraculous achievement we continued on our last short stretch to Ntchisi Forest Lodge, wondering what we had done wrong.

Here a short warning to all traveller folk, who want to reach the lodge: Have a car with good clearance and enough horse power.
Luckily we did. And still it took us over an hour for a mere 26km. Up and down, left and right, through bush and small settlements. Children chased the car screeching and begging for money. Unfortunately some tourists seem to have given them cash and so the kids hassle everyone who passes by.

Ntchisi forest lodge consists out of a white colonial looking cottage overlooking a grass lawn and a view to let your jaw drop. On good days one can even see the lake in the far distance. The camping facility (for U$10 pp/pn) was great. A lawn, a nice ablution block and even a trampoline, with only a small hiccup, in that there was as good as no cell phone coverage.

 A very friendly Dutch man called Eduard showed us round and gave us a map of all hiking routes (actually happened the next day – Alex), which made Alex jump for glee in anticipation for tomorrow. Eduard told us that the lodge had once been the district commissioner’s house in colonial times which explained the rose filled English style garden. We immediately put on a kettle for a cup of tea after setting up camp- because that is what proper people do when it starts to get colder.

Alex and I mucked about while Daddy made a fantastic soup starter and Mummy made fabulous fried and coated fish. We retreated to bed very early since no one wanted to stay at the table with about 12 degrees outside. Slowly the head torches were switched off and the books set aside and so this day ended, too.

Tuesday 21^st June – Alex – Day 11

I was woken up at 8am by 3 combined events: firstly the bustle of my family as they start to get up and make the all-important tea, secondly the sun rising up above the hedge bathing my tent in glorious morning light and lastly a big drop of water, from the morning dew seeping through my tent, landing on my face. Thus a mixture of tranquillity and

waterboarding, I doubt those words have ever appeared in a sentence together before.

Once I had managed to get up we all had a nice leisurely breakfast together and started getting ready for our adventure into Ntchisi forest. I went to the main house and asked Eduard for the hiking maps and where the trail begins, which I was told/given swiftly and at 9:15am off we went. We departed the camp heading west on a short trail that linked up with the forestry road. Then started on the trail named the red route. This took us up the ridge to a nice view point, then past an old watchtower, well rather the remains of it. Beatrice and I hike just a bit faster than my parents and so from time to time we took a break in order for them to catch up. This gave us loads of time to admire the stunning landscape from ever higher vantage points. The view off to the east comprised of indigenous forest, which merged into farmland in the lower rolling hills and then finally ending up with Lake Malawi in the far distance; to the west similar just without the lake at the end. Then towards the top we left the smaller trees of the forest behind and entered what can only be called jungle. The cool and damp air made a lovely change to the hot drier air we had been experiencing up until now. The higher we went the taller the trees grew and the denser the undergrowth became, these trees were so large in fact they had evolved buttresses and support stands. Up further we went, following the well-made map and well-marked trail. We passed an absolutely gigantic tree with many buttresses and natural reinforcements, I decided to climb it of course and went high enough that when I heard my mum coming I could climb down a bit and not give her a panic attack.

A bit further on Beatrice and I decided to wait for my parents at a large tree which had fallen over the path, it turned out it hadn’t fallen over but had rather been felled. The chainsaw marks were very clear and the bark all that remained for a large portion of the lower trunk. We later were told by Eduard that this was people illegally felling the trees and making planks from the precious tropical hard wood. We were told that the government forester didn’t take care of the forest and that many ancient (100+ years) trees were being felled, made into planks and then sold  illegally, in fact he (the forester) felled trees himself for firewood. I found this very sad and truly hope that the forest is better looked after as it is such a wonderful place.
Further along the path we come across a huge old pitfall, large enough for a large bull, maybe even a small elephant, which we were told used to roam the forest as well as leopards.

Finally we reached the summit! Well rather at first we walked right past it, then as the path started descending we had another look at the map and discovered that the couple of big boulders we had passed earlier were the summit. Beatrice and I returned and met our parents there, I can’t recall a more disappointing summit to be honest. I’m used to having 360° vistas and here all one could see were the trunks of trees. It was at this point that I decide to do a bit more hiking whereas the rest of the family continued on the red route and made their way back to the lodge.

I then back tracked a bit and followed the white route, which connected to the lower blue route. I was doing this at quite some speed until I nearly end up in another pitfall. From there I decided to descend at a slightly slower pace. It was a very steep path and I was pretty glad that my parents weren’t with on this bit, as it may have been a bit too steep for them. Then I hit the blue route and contoured the mountain towards the east. I passed quite a few rock outcrops which I was dying to climb, but in my old Salomons that wasn’t going to happen. Then as the path turned back south (the most northern point on the route) it took a steep descent and then stopped, the only way I knew I was still on the right trail was the occasional liberally painted blue dot on a tree or rock. I descended into a deep valley then up again and then down again, I had to cross 3 streams in total and then began the long, hard and exposed trek up the mountain again, following more of a tiny dried up stream than a path. After much bundu-bashing, exposure to the sun and 1.5L of water I reached the top again, absolutely covered in blackjacks and many more different types of sticking seeds. I decided to take a break at the top and try to remove as many seeds from me as possible. I met the red path again and then made my way back towards the camp. It really was fun walking in the forest/jungle. I reach the camp again by 2:30pm, just in time for the lunch my parents had made.

We then chilled/read until about 3:45pm, at which point I decide to go for another short little stint down to a “waterfall”, it turned out there was no waterfall and all I came face to face with was a group of women wielding machetes. Luckily they weren’t the type to go after me, but rather the types that were illegally chopping up trees. I then finished up the loop hike and end up back at the camp.

Then I had a shower, much to my family’s approval, grabbed a beer and then Beatrice and I went for a sundowner at a place aptly called sundowner rocks. Once back we had a lovely dinner of chicken curry soup which my father had made. It needs to be said that at Ntchisi Forrest Lodge there is little to no Airtel data reception and finding the right place to send a message may mean standing on a chair at the highest point of the lodge holding one’s phone up for a few minutes.
We needed to wrap up and stay warm as the temperature was falling and the relative humidity rising and so by 8:30pm we were all in bed and the lights were switched off.

Ntchisi Forest, in short, is a wonderful place and definitely worth a visit. I would recommend the red or yellow route or the beginning of the blue route, but unless you are a competent hiker, rather stay away from the end of the blue route.

Wednesday 22^th June – Christof – Day 12

Ntchisi to Chintheche

A crisp early morning: 10 degrees C, but the sun rays soon made life cosy. The day before, I had asked Eduard for the best way from Ntchisi Forest Lodge down to the tar road along the lake. He had explained that there were 2 options: 1. To drive the hour (25km) back to Ntchisi village (opposite direction to the lake) and from there join the tar road (about 140 km) back to the lake. But that tar road goes through the Nkhotakotha Game Reserve, where one has to pay full entry fees, even though only in transit. The so called Game Reserve has not a got a single positive comment on the internet. Plan B: take the rough track due east (50km = 2 hrs) and hit the lakeside tar road near Benga (some 50km south of Nkhotakotha). We opt for Plan B. The track is rough, like the track from Ntchisi to the Lodge, but if you see it as an opportunity, like driving on a farm track it becomes quite pleasant. We wind our way up and down, but mainly down, through villages, past primary schools and fields. We clearly see the peak we climbed the previous day for a long time.

The maize has already been harvested, but the stover is all over the fields. Near houses there are huge woven baskets on stilts where the maize is stored on the cob. Motorbike taxis and bicycles abound, often a person can be seen coming uphill by motorbike taxi with his bicycle also tied to the back of the motorbike. All has its costs and advantages. At some places the track is particularly rough: steep uphill over rock ridges. Not recommended for saloon cars. Children by the side of the track shouting 'wazungu, wazungu' (Swahili and other related languages for 'whities') or bolder 'give me money'. Sad!  With Eduard's advice that wherever there is a turn-off,  keep going straight, we arrived well on the tar road, which is in quite a good nick, with only very rare potholes, although the shoulders often have large 'bays' in them and generally have a 15cm edge down to the sand next to them. The road is not very busy, apart from the ubiquitous bicycles and pedestrians, so overtaking is a rare event. Just as well. Soon we were in Nkhotakota where our first priority was to find block ice. After various futile attempts, we had to accept that block ice is not available in Nkhotakota. 

However, small 1 litre blocks (frozen in empty Chibuka cartons) are available everywhere, of which we then bought 10 (@100MK = R2). We also purchased a little nip of Malawi Gin to taste, unfortunately the tonic was sold out everywhere. We made steady progress further north. The tar road gets wider and the shoulders are (mainly) intact. Just after lunchtime we arrived at the Sunga Moyo Camp (7km south of Chinthetche), where we intended to chill for 3 nights. Huge beautiful camping just by the lake. We were the only guests in the whole place (including the expensive US$90 pppn chalets) so we could choose the best spot for camping (the usual US$10 pppn). The restaurant was closed 'because the cook had to take his wife to hospital', the owners are coming back next week sometime' and 'we have only one bottle of tonic left'. Having this huge place all by ourselves was nice, but felt a bit Robinson Crusoesque. There was a steady cool south wind so one was not immediately tempted to jump into the lake, which has nice little waves here on long scenic white sandy beaches interspersed by rocky outcrops. However the temperature of the lake was a pleasant approx 22 degrees C. 

Alex was the only one of us who took the plunge today. We had a late lunch and set up camp at a leisurely pace. Not having had proper internet connection for the 2 days we were at Ntchisi, we had a lot of emails, Facebook and WhatsApp to catch up on. Before long, it started to get dark and preparations for dinner began: Beatrice making a very innovative meal of meat/chick pea 'balls' with a super garlicky tzatziki. Around 19h30 the moon rose over the lake, at first through a small gap underneath a cloud bank on the horizon. It was a 'strawberry moon', almost a 'blood moon'. When the moon finally rose above the cloud band, it cast a wonderful reflected silver path over the lake. Pure magic! The steady south wind, although not colder than 19 degrees C, harboured a little bracing wind-chill factor and we have to dress quite warmly. We had an early night comfortably under a single blanket (outside the influence of the wind). Time to read peacefully.

Thursday 23^th June – Cathy – Day 13

Hmm – perhaps I should have seen this conjunction of numbers and taken warning. Maybe the strawberry moon was an omen? – Maybe I should just stop being ridiculously superstitious. Today was the day of the UK referendum on Europe and we were all quite optimistic about it. Surely common sense would prevail? – More later.

It was not an early start this morning since we were not intending to move on at least for today although Alex wanted to get up early to photograph dawn rising over the lake. I woke up first and shook his tent to rouse him. It was quite a dramatic dawn since a cloud bank was hanging low over the horizon and caught the red glow of the sun before it rose into obscurity. There was quite a brisk breeze off the sea, whipping white crests onto the waves; it’s so hard to think of this water as a lake – surely it’s actually the sea? Especially with the waves lapping the shore. At night they made a sound like a hurricane in the trees. The breeze is quite warm though and while Beatrice Chris and I enjoyed wonderful warm showers Alex decided to wash in the lake as the villagers do. This was not a problem since there is no bilharzia in this part of the lake because the water is so active.

We all returned refreshed from our ablutions and made decisions about our morning. Alex and I stayed in the camp, I had a book to finish and Alex wanted to download images for the blog. I walked on the beach a bit between chapters and Alex joined me after a while.

Chris and Beatrice went shopping. They tried to find tonic to go with our Malawi Gin but the local ‘People’s Supermarket’ didn’t stock it. Then Chris had his waistcoat mended by a local tailor. Beatrice was very amused by their conversation – sometimes at cross purposes and sometimes in agreement and mostly not really understanding each other – but the waistcoat was mended for 600 Kwacha – which is about 12 rand.

Once the supermarket was done their excursion took them to the market where they were followed by the local madwoman, who capered around them and spoke to them incomprehensibly to the great amusement of the rest of the villagers who must have known what to expect. She provided them with an escort, photobombed all of Beatrice’s attempts to take pictures and kept up a refrain of ‘Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’ in amongst the rest of her singing. Despite this Chris and Beatrice managed to buy vegetables and meat and a piece of kanga material for Bea to wrap over her shorts when we are in public in this very conservative country. The meat came from a butcher’s shop that advertised fillet steak, braising steak and every cut possible with the recommended price, however when they got inside they were given a simpler choice. Do you want meat? Yes. How much? This much (showing by hand) the meat – probably cow – was cut with a panga and weighed on a scale that could only be read by the butcher – so 50 kwacha for a hunk of cow including bones, weight unknown, for Alex to cook this evening.

We were starting to wonder if Chris and Beatrice had gone as far as Mzuzu when they returned after quite an extended shopping trip. I blame the dancing lady myself.

After lunch Beatrice had to settle down to do some work on the computer – wonderful how even in the middle of nowhere one is still connected nowadays. Alex and Chris got together to plan the rest of the trip working on knowledge that we had gathered before and more recently.

Later Chris, Alex and I took a walk along the beach to the nearest fishing village. We realised after a while that we had chosen at time of day when people liked to wash themselves in the lake and after spotting a group of naked men in the distance we decided not to impose on them and turned back towards Sunga Moyo.

The mokoros that the fishermen use are maintained conscientiously with patches made from metal nailed carefully over splits in the wood. They are carved from whole trees and so have a tendency to split along their length when they dry out too much. Some of the metal comes from old oil cans which have been cut open and beaten flat; you can still read the writing. Some of the very narrow mokoros have extra wooden seats nailed on for greater comfort. As we were walking we waded through the warm lake water and decide that despite the wind which had a chill factor we should have a swim.

We returned to the camp and collected Beatrice, still working away on the computer and in the late afternoon we all went for a swim. Alex found that the waves were actually big enough to body surf – goodness, body surfing in a lake! We returned to the camp in time for a sundowner. Chris found that grapefruit squash is an acceptable substitute for tonic when in extremis. Beatrice hit the computer again and Alex started to prepare supper. The cow needed to be cut up in small pieces and pressure cooked for a while before it was edible. In between chopping up onions and meat Alex checked the internet for referendum information. It was going to be a close run thing.

Supper was delicious, the pressure cooker did its work and Alex created a goulash of excellent quality. The added red wine probably helped. After supper Beatrice continued with her work on the computer and Alex experimented with exposure times to photograph the stars before the moon came up. At about eight fifteen the strawberry moon rose blood red and slowly banished all but the brightest stars from the sky. As the sky brightened we stayed at the table, some of us reading, some of us working.

 Alex decided to sleep in the car because he had felt some raindrops out on the beach and didn’t want a soggy night in a leaky tent. Beatrice moved her tent out of the strengthening wind and I slept blissfully on while Chris collected towels, closed the door flap of our tent and performed other rain protection activities. We woke to find that it had indeed rained in the night and the Brexit lot had won the referendum. Words fail. Common sense did not prevail. Although it’s not raining our mood matched the gloomy overcast sky.

Friday 24^th June – Beatrice – Day 14

The wind thrashed against my tent, the tent roof came close to my nose, the edges started lifting and I could not take it anymore. I got out of bed and moved my tent out of the howling wind mixed with rain. Pitch black and awful. Alex had sought refuge in the car and Daddy sprinted around picking up anything we had left outside. Mummy slept.

Once the morning had arrived we were greeted by Britain exiting the EU. Not even the beautiful, now almost windless nature of Lake Malawi could brighten our spirits. We packed and left camp by 7:30am on our way to Chelinda on the Nyika Plateau.

Soon the rain caught up with us and we thanked our lucky stars that we had packed up in time. The rain pattered lightly down as we wended our way through the lush green. We passed little villages with red mud lining the ground of the markets and splattering the walls of the little houses. The road hardly had potholes, which is at least something! Yet the road was narrow and had sharp and steep edges, making overtaking hard and nerve wracking, thankfully I did not have to drive.

We passed a couple of men trying to sell us large very bouncy balls. This came to us as a surprise, not understanding why in seemingly nowhere people had balls to sell. Finally it dawned on us and we realised that the awe inspiring forests along the roadside consisted out of rubber trees. I took a closer look at the trees and saw how they were being tapped for rubber, out of which the balls had been made.

We passed many a policemen and were checked for various cards and vehicular papers. On one such occasion we learnt to rather let the policemen do the talking. As Daddy rather cockily asked “What can we do for you?”, the policeman crumpled up his face and sussed us out as troublemakers trying to bribe him. Even though the policeman wrote down our registration number it thankfully did not come to a confrontation.

Onwards and upwards. Our next stop was the town Mzuzu, where our main aim was to stock up on everything imaginable for the next 10 days of uncertain shopping facilities. Mzuzu catered for all of our needs! A big Shoprite, flanked by an Airtel shop for more data in the heart of Mzuzu. A choice of garages with diesel and petrol next to a healthy supply of ATMs and even a place to buy 5 litre ice blocks. We bought everything we could possibly wish to possess and even a couple of well-made samosas on top of that!

From Rumphi the road worsened. Yet this being the only way up to Nyika Plateau (irrespective of what Google Maps says) we went onwards. The road gradually disintegrated going from bad to terrible. Marking this as an M- road is quite outrageous. This road is not possible with a sedan car of any sort. At least Alex and Daddy got to try out their rugged driving over 120km in 4 hours. It was tough but undoubtedly worth it.

The higher we went and the further away from civilisation the more breath-taking the nature. We arrived at the gates to the Nyika Plateau Nature Reserve and had to wait a while until the gate keeper was called. Apparently there are not all too many visitors (with that road not an absolute shock) and so the gate attendant doesn’t see the point of staying at her post. Nevertheless we paid our 10 U$ per person per night and continued our rugged journey to Chelinda.

The Nyika Plateau is a botanist’s dream with pretty flowers everywhere, such a variety of tall majestic trees and different types of grass, including a delicate purple variety. We stopped off for the first Protea we saw until we realised that the reserve is covered with them. Eland, Roan Antelope, Mountain Zebras and Bush Buck roamed the grassland, even though they were not quite as plentiful as hoped.

The landscape was brilliant, with soft rolling hills and grassland bursting with flora. Weirdly we weren’t able to see the view the entire time, due to the road being in a sort of ditch. This made no sense to us whatsoever, but we cherished the times we could take a peek.

We arrived at midday in Chelinda at a height of 2400m above sea level and it was cold!
We do not normally take chalets, but we could not imagine a comfortable night camping in the open when the temperature reaches freezing and the mist settles in. Camping would have been 60U$ for us all per night and a 2 bedroom chalet cost 160U$ per night. Awfully expensive, but if there are only so very few places to stay, lodges often have the monopoly.

At the reception we were greeted warmly with a cup of tea or coffee and a very friendly receptionist. While the chalet was being sorted out, we warmed up next to the blazing fire and chatted to a few other guest as well as the manager. Eventually we were given the thumbs up and went to our chalet number 4. The chalet was situated in a pine forest with a big lawn, where bush buck grazed happily. The chalet itself resembled a white colonialist cottage with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen with a range stove, a living room with a dining table and a comfortable sitting area and a big bathroom. The huge fireplace in the living room warmed everything up and gave it a homey feeling.

With the chalet comes a chalet attendant. Ours was a lovely elderly man called Dominic. Dominic lit fires in all the fireplaces, warmed up the water, helped us unpack and catered to all our possible needs. This was an odd experience - having never had somebody essentially serving us. But so it is done here and therefore we did our best to enjoy it. While dear Dominic was busy rustling up our supper with the ingredients we had provided, I had a lovely hot bath and relaxed with a book. Soon we were sitting on the sofas drinking Malawi gin and tonic - some a few more than others - and looking at the burning logs.

Dominic asked us to the table and we were served beautifully cooked chicken with cabbage in tomato sauce, perfectly prepared gem-squash and noodles. Everything was delicious and steaming hot. We thanked him profusely, which made him quite happy. After dinner we headed over to the siting area, where Dominic had put out some hot tea and coffee. Dominic is such a lovely person but I could never get used to being treated like a colonialist. He said goodnight and would be back in time for tomorrow’s breakfast.

The internet connection was basically non-existent and Alex had to stand outside in the cold on a table with his arm stretched out to the sky to send a message.

The generator switched off at 9pm, but Dominic had put out some candles for us, so this did not inconvenience us. We stayed up later than usual, enjoying the big fireplace and the comfortable sofas. Alex tinkered around with my camera and the stars, while being eyed by what hr said might have been leopards. Slowly we made our way into our toasty warm rooms, feeling rather pleased that we were not outside in the 5 degree mist.

Trip 2016: Zambia and Malawi - Week 1

Zambia/Malawi McBrock Family trip 2016 Week 1

Saturday 11^th June - Cathy - Day 1

We sooo nearly didn’t come on this holiday so to find ourselves finally on the road gives us quite a sense of achievement!

Why you ask? Well the combined efforts of the whole family NEARLY conspired to nip the holiday in the bud before it even started;

We started out on our holiday later than we thought we would because Alex’ last exam was moved from Wednesday to Friday – so the boy had to fly up to Windhoek quick, quick on the early morning Saturday flight. He was also not sure whether to attend the Chemical Engineering winter school which would have taken up a chunk of the holiday and he took a while to decide – meanwhile Chris and I went through from plan B to plan Z in case this happened – we didn’t tell Beatrice in Tübingen because we didn’t want to upset her.

We changed Beatrice’ flight to bring her home a little earlier (before we knew about the Alex dilemma) but through a series of miscommunications the ticket was not altered. We only found out about this when Wilfried (brother-in-law) tried to get Beatrice a boarding pass via on-line booking – and she wasn’t on the passenger list. Last minute dash to Air Namibia on the morning of her evening flight – fortunately still some places on the plane and again Beatrice knew nothing about the problem! Pictures ran through my mind of Beatrice arriving at the check-in desk in Frankfurt to be told that she had no seat – thank goodness for Wilfried.

My nerves! (As my mother used to say.)

Anyway – all’s well that ends well and 7 o’clock this morning found Beatrice’ Christof and me at the airport waiting for Alex to arrive. We knew he was on the plane (which was coincidentally flown by our neighbour Karl) and so we did not herald his arrival with the same depth of gratitude that we did Beatrice’.

After a quick shower for Alex, a quick breakfast of MEAT for the kids who have been too long away from Namibia, a quick visit from our friend Paul Goodison and a lightning fast car pack we set off for the North – we have not yet noticed what we forgot to pack – passports everyone?

With four drivers now in the family the driving load is so much lighter and the drive north to Kombat to stay with our friends Peter and Sieglinde Zensi was very straightforward with very little traffic. Peter and Sieglinde live on the most beautiful farm called “Hamburg’. We don’t see them too often but when we do we feel as if we saw them yesterday – I thinks that’s a mark of true friends.

The Zensi’s farm has been ‘de-bushed’ quite extensively and so is composed of large tracts of golden grassland that feed herds of very healthy looking cattle and some wild animals; ostrich, hartebeest, eland and oryx.

It is always such a delight to visit the Zensis, it happens usually when we are on our way to our holidays or on our way back. They are such a welcoming couple and always treat us so very well – we feel totally spoilt. Our afternoon tea was enriched by an amazing cake – Beatrice was taking notes – and our supper, after an invigorating walk on the farm to check out the animals and enjoy the sunset was eland steaks – delicious! - and salad – also delicious. Lucky us! We liberated a fair amount of wine and beer and hit the hay quite early. The only problem for me was the flock of geese living not so far from our bedroom. They were somewhat confused and heralded the dawn at regular intervals through the night. Apparently everyone else slept through the racket but for me – geese – no!

Sunday 12^th June – Beatrice

We got up just after the crack of dawn and were served a most wonderful breakfast fit for a queen! There was not only delicious homemade farm bread, but also warm Brötchen accompanied by Rauchfleisch, eggs and even a rasher or two of bacon. 

After being well fed and reassuring Sieglinde that we really had eaten enough, we quickly packed. We chatted about the inconvenience of transporting baskets while travelling in a car, a trait both Daddy and Sieglinde seem to share. And with a last good bye we were off! 

I took the first shift, which enabled me to watch Alex scamper to open and close all the farm gates. I obviously gave him enough leeway to use up a bit of his morning energy.

The road was uneventful. Good tar roads, without potholes and only a couple of small bends- roads we will learn to treasure and surely miss in Zambia and Malawi.

On occasion there would be 90km/h speed limit zones, when going through little settlements, where cattle, children and an array of plastic bags would cross the streets at free will. On one such occasion a suicidal goat lingered on the white line on the middle of the street. I slowed down to a comfortable 80km/h, and could see the goat was tending to move to the right side of the road, leaving me a free pass. Unfortunately my family could not understand the goat’s intensions and started shouting and screeching for me to stop. To make the awful racket stop I slammed on the breaks and low and behold the poor goat rushed away and so once again the road was clear.

The terrain varied intensely from dry bushes, past Makalani-palms to the lush community forests of the Zambezi region. And with the intensification of the greenery so grew the amount of settlements near the road. We only stopped a few times to tank and swop drivers, yet had to slow down every so often from our comfortable 120km/h for the many police stops on the way.

The rest of the way to Katima Mulilo was nice and smooth- 800km with 4 drivers is quite manageable. We had lunch in the car and spotted quite a few wild bucks in the foliage near the road.

Finally we arrived at the Protea hotel, with beautiful campsites on the Zambezi river. Our choice of campsite was slightly limited, for half the campsites still had the sprinkler system going on full blast. Nevertheless we chose a beautiful spot with electricity and a braai place to set up camp. 

Daddy and I sprinted off to town to fill up the tank and buy some firewood before the shops closed. We walked into the nearest Pick’ n Pay, which was being renovated. It hardly had any stock, no wood or candles but therefore German Kinder chocolate and so we came out almost empty handed. We rushed over to the Woermann & Brock and dashed to collect some necessities before the shop closed.

We made it back to the campsite to see the last of the spectacular sun set. Nothing can beat an African sunset. We slathered ourselves with mosquito repellent, even though it is winter, one can never be too careful in a malaria region. Accompanied by the party songs from the Zambian side of the river Daddy braaied some huge pork chops and served them with an excellent salad.

The temperature started to drop and we slowly got ourselves ready for bed. We packed everything back up into the car, since past experiences of stolen items made us wary of the little boats lining the riverbank. And so we retired into our tents at camper’s midnight (aka 9pm), ready for an early start tomorrow.

Monday 13^th June – Alex - Day 3

Hmm, so where to start? Maybe with the worst road imaginable or maybe my mother throwing a tantrum or maybe the sunset cruise on the Zambezi. . . . but that would be giving away too much. Let me rather start with the sun rising over our peaceful camp at the Protea hotel in Katima Molilo. Tranquil and peaceful, much like the sleep I was busy having until I receive a loud bark from my father, saying: “Alex bist du wach? (Are you awake). With the decibels of the bark I doubt anyone would be able to sleep through that, even in the next 3 camps. He must have been glad when I turned over and mumbled a yes, shortly after which I had my tent packed and was out and about. Then I went for a very lovely shower and then joined everyone at the table for breakfast and the dozen or so cups of tea our family downs as they break their fast. Next came the packing of the car, which went quickly and then we were off on our adventure, into the unknown and all that.

It did dampen the spirits that after only about a few kilometres we had to exit our vehicle to go into the departure office of the Namibian border post. Luckily this was painless and in a few minutes we were off again. I wish I could say that the Zambian immigration office was painless as well, however that was most definitely not the case. The moment we even neared the parking our car was surrounded by hordes of people wanting to exchange Namibian Dollars for Kwatcha, then we had to have a thermal scan for Ebola and once we had cleared that we had the privilege of joining a queue that took close to 2 hours to clear. While queuing we realized we had to swap some money to Kwatcha for one aspect of the whole spiel. Some things needed to be paid in US Dollars others in Kwatcha it made absolutely no sense however in this case we conformed and so joined by someone my father happened to know (a common occurrence) we exchanged the money. R1.4=K1. Even after running around the office we joined my mother in the unchanged queue again. Once we finally had our stamps, visa (no cost for Namibians but otherwise U$50pp), carbon tax (100 kw per vehicle 2000cc or less), local council road tax (50kw per vehicle), national road tax (U$ 38 per vehicle), we then realized they had only given us 3 days in the country and so had to squeeze to the front of the queue to ask for an extension which luckily we received. In short: The Zambian border post was a challenge.

Onwards! With a bit of guessing we managed to find the road that led to Livingstone. We had been warned that this stretch of road was absolutely dreadful as it was pothole ridden. Up until about 5km in we thought that the person who had told us this was trying to pull the wool over our eyes. As I said only for the first 5km. Then we saw them, the weaker among us nearly fainted, potholes as far as the eye could see and as we discovered much further. “Easy-does-it” was the motto and we painstakingly slowly made our way onwards. I reckon every time I get into a car in future I will have flashbacks of the events, maybe this isn’t the space to speak of it all, maybe I will need to see a psychologist for PTSD treatment, but in short it was dreadful! Luckily it was only a stretch of 120km to Kasangula and we managed to clear it in 2hours. Unless you want to ruin your rims and tyres you cannot do this stretch quickly, so a recommendation is to meditate beforehand. However the Zambians did brighten our day, by playing songs on the radio where the chorus spoke about potato salad, which had us laughing even in the darkest of times.

After Kasangula the road improved a lot and by 14h30 we were at our camp just outside Livingstone called Maramba, here we checked in and booked a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, for which we had to be back at the reception by 15h30. We have stayed here a couple of times before and is probably the best place to camp near Livingstone and for the fair price of U$10/person per night. Then we picked our campsite and set up camp, with my mother throwing a complete temper tantrum (reason still unknown), alas it didn’t last too long and then by 15h15 we had the camp set up and were sitting at the bar using the Wi-Fi.

At exactly 15h30 and a few minutes the shuttle came to pick us up, driven by a man called Wilfred. We were then driven to the waterfront, where we paid for the cruise and then were kindly shown on board.  The crew introduced themselves and in order to make up for the

quite steep price of U$60/person we started drinking immediately. We were joined by a couple from Chile, a couple from Australia and two ladies from Austria, so definitely not packed and we made ourselves comfy on the top deck. Many a drink was had, many a laugh shared and many a story was told as we cruised along the Zambezi with our guide/captain Michael at the helm. Many glasses of G&T were drunk, many beers opened and Beatrice started experimenting with vodka and Mazoe. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and saw a couple of crocs, hippos and many other birds and reptiles. The guide and barmen were very friendly and kind, making the whole experience even more enjoyable. The sunset was absolutely stunning as only an African sunset can be. We then made our way back to solid ground and then received a shuttle ride back and enjoyed the free wifi at the camp’s bar. Then back to our camp, still chatted, laughed and then made our way to bed.

I was very enthralled in my book and so only ended up going to sleep at about 23h30, hopefully I don’t regret it tomorrow.

Tuesday 14^th June – Christof - Day 4

Livingstone to Luangwa Bridge Camp

It had been an awfully cold night: 6,8 °C with heavy dew, I put both my (light) blankets over each other, but had to put on my fleece jacket to be comfortable. It was an early but chilly morning with welcoming sun rays. The showers were hot with good flow, just the mozzies in the bathroom were a bit much. After our breakfast ritual we packed up, deferring to our master packer Alex. Then off to town for 1. Money, 2. Simcard with internet credit and 3. Some shopping at the huge Shoprite.

Money: Just put your Namibian debit card in the ATM and voila Zambian Kwacha are spewed out at the precise bank rate (1 Kwacha = R1,4). Simcard: very professional service and the card only costs Kwacha 5. The big Shoprite is well stocked: meat, chicken and beer on a par with Namibia while wine is double. Yet alcohol can only be purchased after 10am.

Finally, by 10h00 we're heading for Lusaka 473 km NE, the road is mainly good, but for every village one has to slow down to 60 km/h and there are numerous rumble strips and vicious, often unannounced, speed bumps. While the speed restrictions INTO town are prominently marked (90 and then 60) there is no such luxury when you are getting out of towns and villages, so it remains a gamble when to put the foot down. Sometimes you can see the corresponding entry speed signs in your rear mirror to guide you. But luckily no speed traps at all. A few potholes just before Kafue. After Kafue the Harare road joins the Livingstone road and the road gets terribly crowded with trucks. Therefore we only get to Lusaka by 16h00 and we take a snap decision to push on the additional 230 km to Luangwa Bridge Camp. It is not rush hour traffic in Lusaka but still it takes us over an hour to get out the other side on the Great Eastern Road.

Beatrice has kindly volunteered to drive the bit after dark from 18h00. While the road is good it gets hilly and winding and plenty of trucks are on the road from both sides, forcing Beatrice to overtake all the time. It is a babtism of fire for poor Beatrice! But she keeps up a face of confidence until we finally arrive at 19h15, where she admits to a very high pulse rate.

While 8 years ago the camp had been full of over landers and we were forced to squeeze into a tiny corner, this time round we had the whole campsite to ourselves. At US$10 ppn a good deal. It was a more pleasant night, drier and not so cold. Beatrice cooked a wonderful whole chicken with a tomato, onion and red wine sauce in the pressure cooker, served with an excellent salad and washed down with red wine we had brought from Namibia. All is well that ends well!

Wednesday 15^th June – Cathy - Day 5

Today we woke up to find that the Bridge camp, where unlike last time we were the only campers, was actually rather lovely. We were camping under fig trees and the fruit lay everywhere – quite a sweeping up job for the workers. The night watchman had kept the fire under the donkey going all night to keep himself warm which meant that the water was lovely and hot for our morning showers. The kids can take their instant tents down in a trice, our tent, a heavy canvas model takes a little longer and so breakfast intervened – ah! A cup of tea is what one needs – or three.

Our drive was still conducted to the percussion of occasional smacks of hands against the windows as the remaining mosquitos that we had collected in Livingston were despatched. Compared with last night there were relatively few trucks on the road. OK Chris had to do a fair amount of overtaking but I had feared more of a nose to tail scenario. Our destination today was the South Luangwa Park. We hope to see a different variety of animals to those we are used to in Namibia. As I write this on the bank of the Luangwa River, the hippos are calling to one another, such a melodic sound! Actually I love the sound of hippos, as long as I’m not too close.

The road to Chipata where we turned off to the park is for the most part really good. There has been a serious effort to remake the road and apart from a couple of stretches that are still being worked on or are waiting to be worked on, the road is wide, smooth and well-marked. One problem that had maybe not been foreseen is that now that the road is good the cars travel faster and so rumble strips and the occasional sudden hump are being installed next to the settlements to slow down the traffic. You’d better watch out for the rumble strips and slow down or the hump will get you!

One advantage of having to slow down is that you get a chance to inspect the market stalls and the shops as you drive past at a regal pace. Perfect pyramid piles of tomatoes, melons, squash and sweet potatoes and beautifully tied and stacked bundles of kale and various other greens line the market stalls along with the inevitable emptied bales of second hand clothing, the better quality stuff on hangers, the rest in great piles on plastic sheeting, the ‘bend down boutiques’ as the Zambians humorously call them. The shop names indicate the preoccupations of the people; “Oh God Help Me Boutique”, “Help us Lord Auto Repairs”, “Faith Conquers Fear Butchery”, and another inexplicable one ‘Uncle Mukus Bar” (really?).

The roadside is thronged with people as we drive, children going to school or coming home, people returning from the market with bicycles laden with produce and huge sacks of maize meal. People just chatting by the roadside. The new road has a nice wide hard shoulder and so people can cycle and walk safely and gather round friends’ cars for a chat while the traffic whizzes past.

It was only at Chipata that things got a bit more chaotic and road rules are obeyed a bit more flexibly. However the traffic is slow and quite friendly so driving is not too worrying. We stopped to fill up with diesel (no new diesel available – sorry car) visit the Spar supermarket for the produce that we couldn’t buy from the market ladies outside and turned onto the road to the park. Our destination was Croc Valley Camp – a US$10 a night camping spot near to the park. The park fees are very high and so staying for two nights in the park is far too expensive. Which is why several camps have sprung up near to the gate. After a while you get used to the almost total lack of road signs in Zambia – nothing is marked apart from speed limits and if a town is marked it is clear that the town itself paid for the sign. Fortunately we had Alex’ GPS to hand and so we found our destination without trouble, only bewildered at one point because the road just disappeared to a strip of battered tar for a few kilometres before resuming its pristine state.

We have experienced this odd road behaviour before in Mozambique.

Croc Valley is a lovely camp with tall shady trees, green lawns and flower beds around a bar that overlooks the river as do all of the campsites. Our greeting was friendly, there was plenty of space but we were warned to put any fresh fruit in the storeroom because elephants can smell it even in a locked car.

The camp is not fenced and the hippos come up at night from the river, the trails are clearly marked. Elephants also come to dine on the trees and the odd lion has been spotted. I feel that I won’t be drinking that second beer with my supper. Going to the loo at 3 in the morning might be a bit perilous! Alex is on for cooking this evening he is grilling pork chops and some sausages and boiling some beans. We won’t be leaving anything out for the elephants and certainly not encouraging the blooming vervet monkeys with any bits of greenery on the table. At least vervets sleep at night – elephants not so much!

Thursday 16^th June – Beatrice - Day 6

Lying in bed and realising that for the first time this holiday, we do not have to get up and pack- what bliss. Yet that air of content did not last for a long. A shout cut through the air and I sat upright in my tent, watching Alex fend off the baboons and chasing after our stolen objects.

Welcome to camping near a nature reserve.

Thankfully the baboons and vervet monkeys are easily intimidated by ketties (catapults – every car should have one), giving us the opportunity of having an almost peaceful breakfast. 

Leaving nothing edible or even colourful at our camp, we left for a day of game driving.

At 8am we stood at the gates, having seen already a giraffe on our way there. We, as SADC members, “only” paid 30US$ per person and 15US$ for our car as an entry fee to the South Luangwa Nature Reserve. Even though it is rather expensive, it was worth every cent. 

Just a few meters past the gate, we encountered our first elephants accompanied by herds of lechwe and impala. Unfortunately they did not hand out maps, so we had to take a photo at the entrance and navigate from a small cell phone screen. This was not the only problem, for there were small roads used in the dry season that were not marked on their map. I had a frustrating time navigating Daddy, but the amount of wild life easily made up for it. Zebras, giraffes and a ginormous herd of buffalo. Massive log-like crocodiles, hippos galore and loads of birds. To top it all off we even saw a pride of about 10 lions dozing under a large bush. 

It was reaching midday and the animals started searching for shade, so we decided to follow suit. We set off back to our campsite, since our day pass allowed multiple entries, and settled down for a shredded cabbage and tuna salad in the shade. We decided to fair out the hottest past of the day by either cycling in the make-shift gym, lazing next to a hippo friendly pool or reading a book at the camp site.

Just before it was time to be off again, we spotted an odd furry object drifting up the river. Consulting the other campers we decided it must be a dead hyena that had been killed further downstream. To our surprise the crocodiles did not snap at the animal. We could not understand why.

At 3pm sharp we drove back to the nature reserve with Alex at the steering wheel. We firstly stopped off to check on the sleeping lions, who were still sleeping and continued on a new route. We passed a huge Baobab and to be honest not much else, since this route led away from the river. We decided to head back and were rewarded by a plentifully populated field of wildlife, with the odd combination of baboons and impalas living in harmony. 

We continued to drive with the sun slowly setting and saw the impressive sight of two male giraffes fighting on one side and on the other side a family of elephants on a stroll, walking neatly in a row, taking turns to take the lead.

Enjoying the beautiful sunset and fighting off an awful horsefly that would not leave the car we had to head back to the main gates. On our way we managed to see a lone hyena, a rare sight indeed! Checking once again on the lions we were positively shocked to see the lions had moved to the side of the road, enabling us to get a fantastic view of their beauty. Very satisfied by the quantity and array of wildlife we went home.   

Mummy made a delicious supper with local oyster mushrooms in a cream sauce, while Daddy talked to a few Zimbabwean campers to exchange knowledge on recommended camping places.

A calm and peaceful evening ending with a Mosi and a slowly burning fire.

Friday 17^th June – Alex - Day 7

My turn again already!? Gosh how time flies when you’re having fun. Today is another day of driving, crossing into Malawi, and then Lilongwe. That sums it up nicely. . . . Now I’m being told that that isn’t enough and I should write a bit more about the day.

I awoke at 7am to the sounds of my parents bustling around camp and so shortly here after decide to join them. I pack my tent quickly and then go about having breakfast. The baboons and vervet monkeys are far less active than yesterday much to our delight. I then have a shower and then it’s time to pack the car and get going. As we were just finishing off the packing we had the wonderful sight of a big elephant family storming through the river. We had decided the previous day to rather just go to Lilongwe instead of Ntchsi, as we weren’t sure how long it would take to get there or whether Ntchisi had camping, so today’s driving would only take us about 4 hours.

It was then time to say bye to Croc Valley Camp. We took the same road back to Chipata, seeing more shops with fun names such as “3 Brothers – hair salon, butchery and bar”, quite the combination! Also to be seen at the road side were people selling rocks, which they had sorted by size and grade by hand and thus ideal for builders to buy. We then stop off in Chipata and buy more oyster mushrooms, Mosis and other necessities. We also decide to swap U$ for Mkw (Malawi kwatcha) from some of the guys at the road side, we did a Google search for the exchange rate which was roughly about U$1 equal to Mkw 700 or R1 equal to Mkw 46.5. My father nearly managed to be conned: firstly when they tried to give us Mkw 3500 for U$50 and then when after having given them the U$ 50 they quickly swapped it for a U$5 and said he hadn’t given them enough. Luckily we all picked up on their tricks and got the right price to their dismay.

About 30km after Chipata we reached the border to Malawi. The border control here was far less painful than the previous one and so in about 45mins we had cleared both posts. What we had to pay was: Mkw 10 000 for Road Fund and then Mkw 25 000 for vehicle insurance, this amounting to a total of U$ 50. The insurance had to be bought at a different place than the border, only a few hundred meters on, there are people informing you about it at the border post though.

What really struck us was that as soon as we entered Malawi the bicycle traffic picked up a lot, so a bit of weaving through them was necessary. What also was interesting was that most bicycles had no gears, so going up mountains was challenging and then that they carried absolutely massive loads of water, charcoal, fire wood, you name it. We had lunch in the car as we cruised on to Lilongwe about 300km further.

Once we reached Lilongwe the first thing we did was find a mall, where we were able to pull money, buy water, a sim card and a SD card for Beatrice’s camera which she had forgotten in her laptop in Germany. We found such a place and so I went in search of a sim card and airtime to buy data bundles, which I managed to do with much help and assistance for locals. I ended up buying an Airtel sim and enough airtime to buy 2GB worth of data. Beatrice managed to sweet talk a shop clerk into giving her a micro-SD to SD card converter for free, she can so use her phone’s micro SD card for her camera. My parents then had a bit of difficulty with the ATM and managed to have a crowd form around them much to our embarrassment. They then also went and bought 10L of water. Once the internet was set up on my phone I directed my father, using google maps, to the place we would be staying, Mabuya Camp, which is highly recommended and camping is only U$7 pp per night - I had done some research on it the previous night. We had to battle cars, bicycles and tuk-tuks to manage to get there and it felt close to a Windhoek rush hour at only 3pm.

We finally arrive, have a brief disagreement of where to pitch the tents, then set up camp, much like a well-oiled machine. We then go for a walk to the golf course where we camped 8 years ago, the summary is that not much had changed and we were very happy with Mabuya Camp. We noticed that besides tuk-tuks and minibuses, bicycles were used as public transport. The back of the bike having been converted into a cushioned seat. We dared my father to go up to them and ask them to take him up the nearest hill, sadly he didn’t go for it.

Back at camp Beatrice and I go about planning and convincing my father to go to Cape Maclear for a few days, as it’s one of our favourite places and we were 2 days in front of our schedule (having done the route from Livingstone to South Luangwa in 2 days, not 3 and having left Croc Valley a day early). We eventually manage to convince him, after hearing that there was now a tar road going nearly all the way and so the time to get there would be closer to 4 hours than 8 hours. This bit of information we got from the very friendly guys at the reception and the camp’s owners.

We were in urgent need of ice now for the cool-box and so the reception guys got another guy to come by who sold us big ice blocks for the steep price of U$3 per block. As he had a monopoly and we were quite desperate we agreed to his price and bought 3 blocks.

My father then cooked a delicious stew consisting of chicken, onions, mushrooms and aubergine. We then hit the hay as it was getting a bit cooler and we were going to get up earlier tomorrow to drive to Cape Maclear! Very much looking forward to that!