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| 28 September 2003 - Lazy days and wicked fires |
Lunch at Nkhotakota Pottery's coffee shop, where we nearly did not leave
Our spot under the large mango tree (out of season of course) |
The road north of Salima towards Chinteche was excellent with a few short potholed sections, and only a handful of road blocks compared to nearly a dozen the other day. We passed the sign for Nkhotakota Pottery and it took us 7km before we decided to turn around and go check it out. It is 4km off the tar road and well worth the detour. The pottery work is very good, they have a pottery school where you can take lessons, a coffee shop with a varied menu, and a number of cottages right on the edge of the beach. We were badly tempted to stay the night (the cottages are not that expensive and there is no camping) but decided that luxury so early on in our trip was uncalled for so instead opted for an excellent lunch on the lawns under shady trees overlooking the beach.
We arrived at Nkhwazi Lodge mid-afternoon to find only a few people there so we settled under part of the large mango tree. Later we went looking for Jim, the owner of the lodge, to see where he had hidden the TV: I was not going to miss out on the Australian F1 Grand Prix if I could help it... Jim only puts the TV out in the bar for major sports events but I was welcome to watch in his cottage. So thanks to Jim and DSTV. What a complex race, but Michael Schumacher and Ferrari nearly got it in the bag. The lousy part is that because the championship had not been wrapped up I would have to invite myself into someone's house again in 2 weeks' time to watch the Japanese GP!
The plan was to spend a few days at Nkhwazi to relax and do nothing, so the following morning I unpacked the whole Landy while Isla did a bit of washing. We were not happy with the way things were packed since the day we left, so this time a bit of extra thought went into things. Everything went back in but whether there was any extra space in the right places was debatable. But at least I managed to move some of the heavier things closer to the front to distribute the weight a bit better. Later in the day www.viewsofafrica.co.za got to spend time with www.under-african-skies.com and got some useful info from Dom & Hayley from their travels further north. Their biggest problem to date seems to have been their 110 V8's thirst for fuel, running at about R1/km in East Africa. Ouch, sorry guys (we were running at R0.5/km). When the lake is so close and you are so lazed out, you just cannot help doing nothing so that's exactly what we did most of the time. There is always something to distract you, maybe another green mango falls on the Landy, or Grizzly (one of the dogs) chases one of the locals behind the invisible property boundary line, so why try and concentrate on doing something useful?
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Part of the private beach and camping area at Nkhwazi Lodge
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The next morning I decided I had to get the toolbox out and see if there was anything I could fix on the Landy before leaving the next day. The power steering leak had fixed itself (it is true, things do fix themselves if you leave them alone), the water leak needed a few random bolts overtightened, and the engine oil leak (a small flood by then) turned out to be a broken separator drain hose for the crankcase breather: the bottom piece held by the hose clamp had broken half way around and all the oil was leaking down the side of the engine instead of going back into the sump. The hose has a 90 degree bend so replacing it with a straight piece won't work as it will close the pipe off, so I cut the broken piece off and refitted the hose. It was just long enough to fit, but as the top is also cracked I will have to look for a replacement. After adding oil, the excitement was over for the day. Dom and Hayley left, leaving us alone for a short while, until the German couple with their Series camper conversion we had seen in Zomba arrived. Africa is just too small. Bernd and Simone had shipped their Landy from Germany to Cape Town and are now driving it back, touring up to Kenya and then just driving fast to Europe. Isla managed to track down the person who does paintings of ethnic scenes, and we "commissioned" him to do some artwork on our Landy. They came out very nicely, but I don't know how long they will last. I am sure eventually a combination of water and bushes will remove them but at least for now they have added a little character to the sides of the Landy.
A bit of local Malawi artwork |
Because we were so relaxed I decided I did not want to leave the next morning so spent most of the night running to the toilets and back. This is one time when sleeping in a rooftop tent is a serious disadvantage, but it is also funny that it does not matter how badly you need to get to the toilets, you somehow always manage to get down the ladder! For some reason I was also very dizzy so Isla set me up on one of our small mattresses and sleeping bags on the grass next to the Landy, where I spent the rest of the night, together with Grizzly for company while Isla went back to the rooftop tent. In the morning everybody came over to commiserate with me, while I told them I will recover, someday. Later Trish and Jack arrived, they had driven from the UK to West Africa, got fed up and shipped their Landy to Cape Town and were working their way back to South Africa where they will ship their Landy to Australia. Even Jim came over to see what I was up to just before he left to go on holiday for the first time in 3 years: he was going to Lilongwe for 3 days to do some shopping for the lodge (call it a holiday). By the next day I was feeling better and was telling everyone my mystery 48 hour bug was food poisoning and that I cannot blame anyone as I am the one doing all the cooking. But leaving was out of the question so I worked on this web site all day. Another German couple arrived in the afternoon: Stefan and Heike of www.blackcontinent.de shipped their Landy from Germany to Cape Town and are working their way to Kenya where they will leave the vehicle until they return in a year's time for Part 2: Kenya to Germany. Then finally a South African couple arrived: Christine and Glenton in a Toyota. They are from Buccleuch, just around the corner from Midrand, and slowly working their way towards Egypt. But they also do not have a carnet for Egypt like us so will take things as they come. Maybe we will see them later along the way somewhere but for now they will be heading towards Mozambique. As we were supposed to have left a few days earlier, our food supplies were a bit low so dinners were beginning to require more and more creativity. The previous evenings' excellent vegetable risotto was now followed by a combination of ingredients that don't normally go together. It was definitely time to leave.
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Harvesting latex from a rubber tree |
In the morning we thought it may be a good idea to go into Nkhata Bay to buy a few things at the market, but we were thoroughly dissappointed with the whole place and cannot see why anyone would want to stay there. We left and went to Mzuzu instead, stopping at one of the rubber plantations along the way to see how latex is extracted from the trees. Not having seen this before, it was rather interesting to see the gooey stuff drip slowly into the containers, and there were thousands of them. In Mzuzu we changed money at the bank, filled up with diesel, bought doughnuts at the bakery and a few things at the PTC supermarket and then went to the Mzuzu Business Centre, about the only place with a slow but reliable internet connection and judging by their pricing they know it: K20/minute! It took nearly an hour to do the essentials but since this was the first time we did emails since leaving home we just had to grin and bear it. But a cup of tea and chocolate cake for a more reasonable price made up for it. The market a few blocks away from the Business Centre was pretty good and we got most things we needed for the next few days. Again buying things was a pleasure and the sellers were friendly and not pushy.
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Our mascot: the laughing hippo |
The plan now was to head for the Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve and then Nyika National Park. To reach Vwaza you need to keep your eyes open for a few turnoffs and the roadworks in one section slowed us down a little, but we reached the reserve well before sunset. We booked a guided game walk for 6am the following morning. The Kazuni camp site is on the extreme edge of the marsh so the water was far away in the dry season, and the ablution facilities are a little way away and are shared with the simple reed and thatch huts. After a nice early stew with a little meat we bought in Mzuzu, it was time for bed. It was our first "wild" camp on this trip and we wondered whether any animals would come around to the camp site but they behaved themselves and we got a good night's sleep (the staff housing's generator does get switched off later in the evening). Our guide Abel arrived at 6am sharp and off we went for a leisurely walk to the lake and then inland. Abel was very knowledgeable so the walk was informative. We learnt a few things, saw a variety of animals and birds, but everything was very dry. One of the new trees we saw is called the "laughing hippo" tree (wooden wild pear) because the dry seeds split open to look like a hippo with an open mouth. We have now adopted one of these pods as our mascot for the trip. The walk took about 2 hours and at $5/person it is very good value for money. Typically Malawian, Abel had a problem pronouncing "r"s so April is Aplil, etc. and our favourite load instead of road. After a bit of research Isla found out the it is actually not an issue of not being able to pronounce the "r"s but rather that in some cases the "r" is actually pronounced as an "l" on purpose and sometimes it is not so to us it sounds like a mistake. After an early lunch we decided to explore a little more of the reserve with the Landy but it soon became obvious that once you have driven past the nearby lodge, the main track through the reserve does not really get maintained much as it became rather grown in and rough. So after about 8 or 9km we turned around and left for Nyika via a connecting shortcut which passed through countless small villages.
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Early morning walk at Vwaza Marsh, which shrinks to a little more than a small dam in the dry season
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Our camp spot in Nyika
Creative photography and baking bread |
This track was easy going, but the last 10km to the park gates were being worked on so things got a little slow, or so we thought. After paying our fees at the gate, we had another 60km to get to the Chilinda camp site. The first few km were ok, but the rest of the track was one soil filled mess as they were busy resurfacing the main road in the park. It was narrow, slippery and so dusty in sections that even walking on it carefully kicked up clouds of dust all around you. The Chilinda Camp area is a little confusing but we eventually found the correct office by the cottages and booked our camping spot, which is a cleared area among old black wattles a few kilometres away. Our hunt for a loaf of bread proved fruitless as there was nowhere to buy anything, and nobody in the staff village bakes any bread, so we went off to pitch our small tent. In addition to the rooftop tent we decided to take a small 2 person hiking tent with us for those places where we planned to spend more than a night so that we would not have to fold up the rooftop tent every time we wanted to go for a drive somewhere. Isla made 2 small high density foam mattresses before we left, and we store these against the inside of the Landy's roof at the back, out of the way. The camping area is basic but has a few shelters in the middle of the cleared area and overlooks a small valley where you can see roan antelope walk past. The best part is that Ezra, the camp attendant, informs you when you arrive that there is hot water all the time. I thought he was joking, but he lights up the donkey boiler when people arrive and the water gets so hot that it lasts the whole day. Early the next morning he stokes up the fire and by the time you want to shower the water is hot again. And you need the hot water: being so high up (above 2300m) it gets very cold, and the ablution facilities are very draughty so the hot water is needed to combat the cold air swirling around the showers. In addition to the hot water, Ezra made us a fire next to the shelter just before sunset every day and what a wicked fire it was! He uses 3 large black wattle logs that burn very hot and go on all night so that the next morning you still have hot coals to boil water, make toast, and keep warm.
Our craving for some fresh bread had not gone away, so if you cannot buy any then make some! There were plenty of coals, Isla had brought flour and yeast, and I thought "how difficult can it be?". I put the dough inside our medium MSR pot which I then placed on some flat pebbles inside the large pot, closed the lids, and placed some coals on top. The bread came out hundreds, and before we knew it half of it was gone and we had to hold ourselves back. In the afternoon we went for a walk and saw more roan antelope and bushbuck. The only other people camping were a South African retired couple, Petrus and Heila, who have been living in Malawi for the last couple of years in one of the small villages outside Mzuzu, running a bible college with their own pension money and small donations. Dedicated and crazy at the same time, living without water or electricity in the village. I chatted to Ezra while he lit our fire to find out what he does the rest of the time because he seemed to be chopping wood all day. He is slowly working his way through the large black wattles, but will take him a few years to get rid of them all, but at least it provides wood for the camp site. He earns the equivalent of R130/month and has a wife and 2 children at home about 50km from the park, but he stays in a room in the nearby staff village. And for that salary he works every day for 3 months and then gets 2 weeks leave when he goes home to take care of things there: he has a couple of acres of land where he grows maize and peanuts. And perhaps he is one of the "lucky" people with a job? For supper I made a chilli bean stew to eat with the remaining bread, and we sat for a long time around wicked fire number 2. Most evenings we listen to the BBC Africa News to hear what is going on around the continent, and again there were no bad news that would affect our trip.
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On top of Nganda Peak |
In the morning we decided that it was time to move on but we were first going to drive around the plateau until lunch time as there are a number of drives and viewpoints to go and see. We decided to do the northern circular drive, but some of the tracks are marked and some are not, and some that are marked are not on the map, so you must include a little guess work while driving around. First up was Nganda Peak which for some or other reason we decided to climb! It is the highest point in northern Malawi so perhaps we thought it might help with the Kilimanjaro climb. There is a bumpy 4km track that leads from the main track to where you are supposed to leave your 4x4 and walk the rest of the way, but as usual people try and drive as far as they possible can, which is a bad idea not only because it causes unnecessary erosion but because the track comes to a rough end just a short way away as you climb over a small ridge and there is no place to turn around. The walk is steep as you climb just over 200m in about 1.4km, and took us about 40 minutes. Unfortunately the view was again hazy but worth the effort. Next on the route was Jalawe Rock where, on a clear day, you can see the northern shore of Lake Malawi. It was hot and we had enough exercise for one day, so instead of walking to the viewpoint proper we settled on lunch where the 4x4 track ends and made do with the view on offer from there. With binoculars, you can see animals grazing in the valley far below. Nyika turned out far more pleasant than we anticipated, with more animals and birds than expected, excellent driving opportunities, and more than adequate camping facilities. We found the booklet A Visitor's Guide to Nyika National Park particularly useful, and if you cannot find it in one of the bookshops elsewhere it is available at the Chilinda Camp reception where we paid K500 for it. Being US dollar based Nyika is not that cheap, but still far cheaper than offerings in Tanzania and Kenya. After the pleasure of the 80km circular route, we did not relish the dusty 60km back to the park gates. The plan now was to spend the last couple of days in Malawi at the lake shore and then head off to Tanzania.
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Left: the stunning view from the Jalawe Rock; Right: what do you do when your truck breaks down in the middle of the road? Simple: just leave it there! |
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| Diary entry summary: |
| Camp sites/places to stay: |
| Place | GPS position | Costs | General comments | Our rating (*) |
| Nkhwazi Lodge | S11.89401 E34.16698 | MWK250 / person | Good place to stay for as long as you want to: (I) clean ablution facilities with hot water; (II) grass, shade, braai drums, water taps, rubbish bins, wash-up area; (III) in front of private beach; (IV) good value for money; (V) bar and restaurant, boats, snorkelling, fishing. Cottages also available. |  |
| Kazuni Camp Site | S11.13349 E33.65170 | USD5 / person | Average place for a night or two: (I) average ablution facilities with cold water; (II) no grass, no shade, rubbish bins, braai areas, tables and benches; (III) cleared area near the marsh but very dry; (IV) poor value for money; (V) no extras. Reed and thatch huts also available. |   |
| Chilinda Camp Site | S10.58452 E33.79924 | USD5 / person | Good place for a few days: (I) clean ablution facilities with hot water; (II) grass, shelter, rubbish pits, fire places with free wood, tables and benches; (III) cleared area with big trees around; (IV) average value for money; (V) no extras. | |
(*) stars represent (I) ablutions, (II) camping facilities, (III) setting, (IV) overall value for money, (V) anything extra that warrants an additional star
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