Views of Africa - Diary entry #4

6 October 2003 - Goodbye to the Lake of Stars

After tackling the dusty 60km back to Nyika National Park's main gate, we tried to decide where to head for next. We do our best to not drive in the dark so we had to decide whether to look for a place to stay in Rumphi which we would reach just before sunset, or drive to the lake shore near Chiweta but get there at least half an hour in the dark. This time we made a mistake and the safe option turned out to be the wrong option. We settled on one of only a couple of options available in Rumphi, which was mentioned in our travel guide. As there are no camp sites available in Rumphi or surroundings we settled on a local dive called Lunyina Motel. The less said the better.

A small section of the escarpment road to Livingstonia

The Livingstonia museum is just about the only worthwhile attraction

For dinner we walked to the best eatery in town (which does not necessarily mean much) called Chef's Pride Restaurant. Certainly nothing fancy, in fact extremely basic: you sit, you eat, you leave. But there was nothing wrong with the food: chambo with chips for me and chicken with rice for Isla. And of course 2 beers to get the whole lot down. All this for the nice sum of K420 (less than R30). This was our first chance to pop into a local eatery and we found the experience somewhat enlightening because the food comes with only a fork for cutlery (but the chap serving us brought knives afterwards which we did not really need); there is a basin with a bar of soap to wash your hands in the restaurant itself, no need to waste time going to some dingy outhouse; you can gauge whether the food is any good by the number of locals that frequent the place; and after dinner you do not get asked whether you want anything else, you just get the bill. Neither of us had any overnight stomach problems so the food was ok and we can at least recommend something in Rumphi. Perhaps the one positive thing about the Lunyina Motel was that we got out of there just after sunrise so we had a nice and early start.

The early start also meant sharing the road with the locals, who start their day very early. As we were more keen to leave than dawdle around and have breakfast we did not even have a cup of coffee, so within half an hour we wiped out the remaining bananas in the basket. The views of the lake as you descend the Rift Valley Escarpment are stunning. Because we had such an early start we decided to take a drive up to Livingstonia to use up the morning. The road from Chiweta northwards was in excellent condition and we reached the Livingstonia turn off by mid-morning. The drive up and down the escarpment with all the hairpin bends is not as challenging as we expected (but still requires careful driving), and Livingstonia is a bit of a yawn and should stay off the travel map. However, the views over the escarpment as you climb 700m above the lake shore are stunning. The hairpin bends are pretty tight but only 1 required a 3-point turn with a Defender 110, the first 4 on the way up are simple and I am sure they were put there just to warm you up, the next 17 are more serious. We counted them as we drove and counted 21 although there are supposed to be 20! Perhaps an extra one has been added at the bottom after the roadworks to link the track with the new tar road. Only one of the hairpins, number 8, is still numbered, the rest of the boards have dissappeared/stolen.

Once at the top, there is very little to do and see apart from going to the museum. Seems that the restoration in 2002 helped as the items and information on display were nicely labelled and logically presented. There is now a not-unreasonable entrance fee of K50 per person. Isla and I stood and looked at the photographs for long moments, thinking about the early missionaries in those days, the hardships, and what it must have been like in those very early days when the Livingstonia Mission was moved to its present location at Khondowe village in 1894. Apart from the museum all the other historical buildings are still in use so there is nothing else of the old Livingstonia to visit. We chatted to a couple who were camping on the lawn outside the museum (looks like you may camp there and use the facilities in the rest house in the back half of the museum building) and are backpacking their way to Europe. On our way down we decided to check out the nearby Manchewe Falls. Serious little waterfall, worth popping over to the viewpoint if only for the view of the valley below. When the usual array of people looking for money arrived it was time to make tracks. There is a friendly store owner across from where you park your car, buy your (warm) cokes and beers there.

Manchewe Falls and the valley below

On the way further down, we dropped in at the Lukwe Permaculture Camp hoping to buy some lunch (they do advertise food on their board) but although the place looks lovely and it is all eco-everything, there was nothing to eat. The staff showed us around the whole place, including the eco-toilets and eco-showers and the new cottages they were building. The camp is great, it even has a few level places where people with roof-top tents can park and camp. At $2.50 for camping and $6 for a cottage, per person, we seriously thought of staying the night... A little further down the road a new place has mushroomed: The Mushroom Farm! The nice new varnished board mentioned the words "cafe, bread, salad" so we thought "here comes lunch". Hah. Chatted to the owner Mick, an Australian, who is building the place. There is nothing there yet apart from a few levelled camp spots right on the edge of the cliff (really, I mean it, on the edge - make sure you put your door zip on the hill side, and don't drink too much) and some water from the last spring on the side of the mountain before the escarpment drops off. He is slowly building up the site with a bit of money that he makes from the few campers that do come around and the people that come for the abseiling from the Chitimba Beach Campsite. While the place is being built he is charging only $1 per person to camp. Nice guy, said he came through as an overlander a while back, went up to Livingstonia, saw this area and the view, parked off for a few weeks, liked the vibe of the place, and decided not to go home. We wished him well, looked at his broken Land Rover 110's rear axle hub, looked at his other Land Rover Series 2 with the tree that fell on top/next to it, commiserated a little, and went back down to the lake shore, still without lunch.

Despite the huge entertainment area at Chitimba Beach Campsite, it's still the best place to stay in the area

The view of the lake and escarpment from Chitimba

Cassava has taken over from traditional maize cultivation in
large parts of Malawi

Once safely back on the tar road, we kept our eyes open for a place to spend the night at the villages on the lake shore but all the options appeared either run down or closed. We ended up at the only place that looked open for business, Chitimba Beach Campsite. They had a restaurant with food so we overindulged in rather greasy cheese, egg and sausage triple-decker sandwiches. The place looked nice enough so we decided to stay for the night, and besides there are no better options further north around Karonga. The downside is that in addition to the restaurant there is an even bigger bar and sound system - recipe for overlanders. Sure enough there was an overlanding truck in the camp site, but we decided to stay anyway as the beach looked great. After lunch we set up our Landy among the overlanders' tents - grin - often it works the other way around in that the overlanders pitch their tents all over the place, surrounding you. One thing I cannot understand is how the owners can put so much money/effort in the entertainment areas, and yet let the place down by its ablution facilities: for all the campers and people staying in the cottages they only have 1 basin, 2 toilets and 2 showers for the men and the same for the women, and nowhere to wash clothes or dishes. I wished the owners would arrive at their own camp in their own vehicle and see how they managed for a few days doing all the things that we normally have to try and do. Unfortunately this is not a problem specific to Chitimba Beach Campsite but virtually everywhere else too. Obviously the owners plough their money into areas that make them money and spend the minimum on facilities that some of us actually prefer and/or need, and probably rely on the fact that the majority of their clients only spend a night and then move on so any complaints move on with them. Perhaps this is why very few camp sites frequented by overlanders (truck or independent) last for long or are owned by one person for long. Around Chitimba village, for example, 2 or 3 of the other camps we looked at have all closed down for one or other reason (at one of them, the bar burnt out so they closed the camp down!). Further south at Cape Maclear, camp sites have come and gone for years. I later found out that Chitimba Beach Campsite is for sale, so that probably explains the general lack of interest/maintenance around the place. The beach section is lovely, with a large sandy section where you can relax and read a book for hours. Just choose your spot carefully otherwise the touts, who are not allowed on that section of the beach, walk up to you from low down on the water's edge where the camp staff cannot see them. We did not sleep well either as the night watchmen kept on chatting loudly the whole night instead of doing what they were supposed to. When I shouted at them, they went on their rounds but always returned after a while. Never leaving things be, I complained the next morning but the owner was sick so spoke to the guy at the bar instead.

It was not difficult to leave the camp nice and early, so we had a nice slow drive to Karonga. I stopped outside the PTC supermarket to buy bread and a local came up to me to find out if the 2 ContiTrac tyres on my roof were for sale as he was looking for those. Told him I could not sell those but I wondered if he would have been interested if they were BF Goodrich tyres! After changing a little money at the only bank in town (on the other end of town) we heard the best yarn of our trip so far: I have tried in South Africa and in Lilongwe, in vain, to get a good topographical map (or sets of maps) of Malawi. We drove to the Department of Surveys' map sales office in Lilongwe the previous week, but they had no maps at all (did wonder what they do all day there - talk about a cushy job). Karonga also has a map sales office that allegedly sells the official maps so we went there to see if we could buy a set. Found the place easily enough, but the officer in charge had died so the office was closed until a replacement is sent so that the new person can do a stocktake before they can start selling maps again. And no idea when the new person is coming. No wonder the Malawi government has no money: it has a huge civil service of unworked people! While driving around town looking for the bank and the map sales office we went past the only camp site in Karonga at the Mufwa Lakeside Centre and decided it had been a good idea to rather stay around Chitimba as their camping area appeared neglected. After filling up with diesel, it was time to head for the Tanzanian border. We had become used to the neat small villages that lined the roads in Malawi, but as we travelled further north it struck us that the countryside was drier, the villages less maintained and more people laying about. Don't know why this would be so, but it was odd to notice this. We stopped at a couple of small villages to buy some vetkoek by the roadside and at a local market for some hardboiled eggs, vegetables, fresh (raw) peanuts and bananas.

As we arrived at the Songwe border post one of those 1-in-a-million chance things happened. We chose the wrong lane and ended up at the arrivals section instead of departures. As I was ready to reverse, a GP registered Landy arrives from the Tanzanian side and parks on the other side of the barrier. I just had to go and have a chat and who does it turn out to be but the O'Sullivans who had left for their East African trip the month before us. Isla and I were in their neighbourhood the day before they left so popped in to wish them well and as usual, when you leave, you always say to each other "maybe we will see each other on the road". So how is that! Of all the places that we could each possibly have been, we end up at the same place at that time. Unfortunately we could not exactly bring out the frosties and have a good chat at the border post, but we managed to get the highs and lows of their trip thus far. Most worrying was the week that Noel spent in a hospital in Nairobi and after all the tests, nobody knew for sure what was wrong with him. But it sounded like thay had had a great trip so far, and were now heading for their Southern African section of the trip. We wished them well, drove to the other side of the border post and left Malawi.

Diary entry summary:

Camp sites/places to stay:

Place	GPS position	Costs	General comments	Our rating (*)
Lunyina Motel	S11.02253 E33.85834	MWK450 / room	No worthwhile comment other than don't go there (unless you sleep in your own tent in the car park).
Chitimba Beach Campsite	S10.58505 E34.17515	MWK260 / person	Average place for a night or two: (I) average ablution facilities with cold water; (II) sand, shade, shelter, rubbish bins, no braai areas, water taps, no wash-up facilities, no tables or benches; (III) on semi-private beach; (IV) average value for money; (V) restaurant, bar. Reed and thatch huts also available.

(*) stars represent (I) ablutions, (II) camping facilities, (III) setting, (IV) overall value for money, (V) anything extra that warrants an additional star