The long way up to Livingstonia - Malawi

Friday 26.04:

We drove back to Mzuzu and had an excellent lunch at the Indian restaurant in town. Then we stood in the long queue in front of the ATM machines to get the 130000 Malawi Kwachas = 250 us dollar for the Visa we will have to buy at the Tanzanian border. We felt like rich people with the thick pile of money in our pockets. In the eyes of the very poor Malawian populations we of course are actually rich people.

Another 3 hours’ drive up north through mountains and valleys covered with rain forest we arrived at the the shore of Lake Malawi again. It was already dark and we still had to drive up the mountain to the campsite near Livingstonia. It was a terrible extremely steep zigzag road. It was definitely the worst road so far on our trip. Ju did a great job steering our huge car up to the Mushroom Campsite. The two dutch caretakers greeted us surprised to see someone arrive that late. Our camping spot was located directly at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Lake Malawi hundreds of meters below us.

Saturday 27.04:

When we woke up the clouds came up from the valley and it lightly started to rain. We put on our rain coats and hiked up 2 hours to the town of Livingstonia. We visited the small market, the orphanage, the old stone house and church built in the British colonial past.

In the late afternoon we were back at the camp. I had a great dinner cooked by the Dutch couple. They were our age and decided to run the place for a few years. Although it is a unique place I could not imagine living here for longer than a few days.

Lawronga Forest Lodge - Viphya Plateau - Malawi

Thursday 25.04:

Via Mzuzu we drove up to the Viphya Plateau. Huge granite domes rise here from the earth. Large areas of forests on the plateau were unfortunately cut down to leave a barren landscape behind .

  From the main road we turned off to reach the Luwawa Forest Lodge. We were greeted by the English owner who guided us to our rooftop campsite. The surrounding densely wooded hills, the little lake, the fog and the cool temperatures could have been a place in Northern Europe as well. We immediately went on a 2 hours hike through the forest up one of the hills. At night we went into the sauna in the middle of Africa! It was heated up by firewood. Afterwards we went to the lake to with the full moon lighting us the way.

Chizumulu & Likoma Island - Malawi

Saturday 20.04:

At 7:30 am we arrived at the small ferry dock to catch the local ferry to Chizumulu Island. In a chaotic system the small boat which looked like taken from a Bud Spencer in Africa movie was loaded heavily with everything with alive chicken, caught fish, mattresses, barrels of oil and plenty of people.  We were the only tourists on board. After 6 hours we arrived at the island.

We were paddled to the pirate like lodge of Nick. Originally from England he had been staying on the island for the last 19 years. A bit like Robinson Crusoe he is the only white person on this tiny little island and he seems to be as desperate to leave it as soon as he finds a potential buyer. However this seems to be difficult without any business. We were the second visitors in this month. We walked once around the island. In the main village we watched a football match were all islanders seem to be watching the only two teams playing against each other.
At night we had plenty of beers with Nick who told us all about his misery.

Sunday 21.04:

We stayed the whole day on the island. Again we walked to the village and had lunch at a local “restaurant”.  It took a while until all ingredients where brought by the neighborhood. One lady brought rice, a fisherman brought the fish and a young boy brought the eggs.

We rushed back to our lodge just in time to catch a heavily overloaded small ferry boat to the neighboring bigger island Likoma. After 3 hours we arrived in the dark at the small harbour. With the full moon lighting us the way and with the local boy Alexandri guiding us we still had to walk 1 hour across the island to the beautiful beach of the Mango Drift Lodge. We pitched our tent at the beach.

Monday 22.04:

We spend a nice day relaxing at the beach , reading books, snorkelling, kayaking. Ju was also job hunting for the time when we are back. In the evening Christine and Peter from Cologne arrived to our surprise. Now we have met them for the fourth time on our trip.

 Tuesday 23.04:

At night we walked to the local village and had dinner for a few euros at the local restaurant seriously called “hunger clinic”. Together with the guys from the village we watched Bayern wiping out Barcelona by 4:0!!!
We spent the night at a mosquito local guesthouse close to the harbour sharing the room with plenty of mosquitos.

Wednesday 24.04:

We took the same ferry that brought us to the islands back to Nhakata Bay. The waves on the lake were up to 2 meters that day. It took uncomfortable 9 hours until we could step off the boat.
A Taxi brought us back to the lodge were our car was waiting for us. I watched Dortmund win 4:1 against Real Madrid together with the lodge personnel. Unbelievable! It looks like Bayern will play Dortmund in the final in Wembley.

Night dive at Nkhata Bay - Malawi

Tuesday 16.4:
 
We left Senga bay and drove 5 hours further north to Nkhata Bay. It is surrounded by large forests and kautschuk plantations.
We found a lodge build on a steep cliff with huts placed on different levels on small terraces. For dinner we went to a nice restaurant in the village that surprisingly had Thai food on the menu.
Back at the lodge we were allowed to sleep in one of the huts because the lady at the bar was too lazy to show us the campground. We did not get much sleep as the music in the bar next door was at full volume well after midnight, people were yelling at each other, and glasses broke.

Thursday 17.04:

 We spent the day in the village and changed to a much nicer lodge where we could do rooftop camping. Again we were pretty much the only guests.
With Chris, the local dive instructor, we went out with a boat to do a night dive. We descended 18 m down into the moonlit lake. With underwater torches we flared past giant granite boulders. The endemic dolphin fish followed us for the whole 45 minute dive.
Afterwards we had a few beers with Chris before he dropped us off back at our 'home'.

Friday 19.04:

 
With a traditional Malawian canoe or better with two tight together we paddled along the shore and went snorkeling in the crystal clear warm water.

Senga Bay - Lake Malawi

Saturday 13.04:

It was time for us to leave Cape Maclear to head further up the shore of Lake Malawi to Senga Bay. First we gave a ride to an English backpacker. At a bus stop we dropped him off. Right after we gave a lift to an Israeli backpacker  nearly the whole way up to Senga Bay. We were never asked by one the whole previous journey. It seems Malawi is a backpackers country.

We picked the campsite ‘Steps’ directly at the beach of the Lake. It belongs to a fancy beach resort that is next door. We walked to the village to go to a local restaurant to eat some fresh barbequed fish from the lake. 

The night a storm hit the shore. Our tent was shaking heavily and we heard the sound of the big waves until we fell asleep.

Sunday 14.05:

                                     Breakfast wearing our new fancy Malawian made straw hats

 After a nice relaxing beach day I organized fish and firewood from the campsite guard. I started a little fire and cooked our two fish above the charcoal. After one hour they were sort of ready to eat. I was not happy with the result. It tasted way better when the locals cooked it for us.