Malawi

MALAWI PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.646403660158.2079321.43700183&type=1&l=2bbe416681

The start to my time in Malawi was not ideal, as I had just come off a 25 hour bus journey, but luckily that was not indicative of the rest of my time there.  Unlike Lusaka, when I got off the bus, no one seemed to care that there was a tourist, which was great, but I was used to having dozens of people attack me from all directions shouting “Muzungu, Muzungu, taxi, taxi!” (“Muzungu” meaning “white person”), except this time I actually did need a taxi.  Lilongwe’s international bus terminal is nothing more than a stop on a dirt road which at 6:00 am is used as a rather putrid smelling fish market.  Finally I flagged down a passing car, and he was kind enough to take me to my backpackers where I promptly had a shower and a long nap!

Fortunately I was able to find some friends, we had a look around Lilongwe, and then made the most of our Friday night in town!  I turned up at the bus station again early the next morning, and made sure to learn from my previous experience and find a bus that was nearly full before hopping on, and was fortunate enough to sit next to the dearest man, Edmond, who was keen to practice his English, learn about America, and teach me about Malawi.  Because Malawi has roadblocks every 30 minutes, it seems, Edmond  helped me ascertain what all the goods were that were being shoved in the windows on sticks at every stop, and what was being sold on the side of the road at the blocks where we had to unload while police checked the bus.  It was clear to see which regions grew which vegetables, because every stop sold primarily one thing (tomatoes, bananas, avocados, peanuts, honey, etc.).  It seemed to me that surely they must be able to grow more than that one thing, and that they would all do a lot better to sell different things rather than having all 20 women running up to the bus all selling whole dead fishes on sticks, but hey!  Around mid-afternoon I arrived in Monkey Bay, and was pleased when a nice young gentleman offered me a ride in his matola (flat-bed Mac truck) to Cape McLear, and was careful to settle myself in the center among all the goods.  Turns out I needn’t have worried, since we proceeded to pick up another 15 people, as well as many more packages of who-knows-what, each time thinking surely we cannot fit another iota of things on the truck, and yet we did.  Finally we were full and took off on the African highway (very rough dirt road), until we came across a biker who had crashed and then piled him, his bike, and his massive load of goods on, as well.  The ride was actually a blast, and they had great fun making fun of my fear of losing everyone off the side.  Cape McClear was a welcome sight, though, and it was absolutely stunning as we approached the gorgeous lake, and I was happy to spend a few days on the beach snorkeling in Lake Malawi and eating loads of fresh fish!

My trip back to Monkey Bay was much the same (I was just glad not to be in the back of the pick-up carrying the cow), and I spent a whole day missioning up to the North of the lake to Nkhata Bay, again having the most delightful day chatting to locals on the bus who were the warmest, most welcoming people I’ve ever met, and it was clear to see why they call Malawi “The Warm Heart of Africa”.  If I thought Cape McClear was impressive, it’s because I hadn’t yet seen Nkhata Bay!  It was dark when I arrived, but I already knew I was in heaven, and planned to spend several days there getting my Open Water SCUBA certification.  Fate had other ideas, though, and I met a great group of people there, and after a few days of playing on the lake by day, and trying out all the local bars by night, we all decided to head off together to one more stop in Malawi that was highly recommended.

One guy in our group had been traveling around the world by bike (on three years and counting), so we had to bid farewell to him, as we weren’t able to convince him to throw his bike on top of the minibus—maybe the fact that the door fell off the hinges and they couldn’t get it back on was a dissuading factor??  The rest of us piled into minibus after minibus (at one point we counted 20 people in a bus meant for 12—the African sense of personal space is a pretty faint line) until we reach Chitimba, a tiny village at the bottom of a mountain, 10km downhill from where we wanted to be.  We were extremely fortunate to have a truck pass going uphill, and I ran to catch it and we piled in for the long road up the mountain.  It was well worth it, though, as it would have been a torturous climb with our bags, and the campsite was perched on the side of the cliffs with views of the lake and surrounding mountains that was second to none.  There were no buildings, just a couple shelters, a composting toilet, and a shower that had only three sides, the fourth side which was open to the world overlooking the view—most stunning shower I’ve ever seen.  We spent a few glorious days there, and got to visit Livingstonia, the old Colonial village named for Dr. David Livingstone, and were fortunate enough to come across Darlington, the kindest, most nimble (none of us could keep up with him) 65 year old we have ever met, who showed us the way to the waterfalls and caves, as we acquired quite an entourage of local boys who wanted to come along, as well.  It was an incredible day, and we rounded it out with a rowdy night before having to say goodbye to Amy and Laura as they were off to hike Kilimanjaro before going back to graduate medical school in the UK!  

As Luck would have it, Dave (the biker), had boogied up the mountains and surprised us all at the campsite in the morning before we departed, despite having pushed so hard that he had passed out in the street the previous evening and been taken in by the village chief.  We had a hearty breakfast before Rory, Rob, Brad and I had to set off to hike down the mountain and head off to Tanzania!  

Malawi was indeed a special country, and it set the stage for a fantastic two months to follow.  

Zimbabwe and Zambia

My stays in Zimbabwe and Zambia were both fairly brief but great, and today marks one month since I have last seen a cloud in the sky!  Though it took quite awhile to clear the Zimbabwean border post, the wait was well worth it thanks to the elephants who strolled on by while we were waiting for our visas.  Victoria Falls wasn't far from the border, and we were happy to check into a backpacker's after another full week of camping, and then quickly headed off to see the falls!  

Mosi-oa-Tunya, or "the smoke that thunders" certainly lived up to its name.  It was a gorgeous day, but it looked like there was total cloud cover over the the falls, and as we approached we got drenched as if we were in the middle of a monsoon!  Zimbabwe is just coming off rainy season, so the falls were at their highest of the years, and we were bitterly disappointed to find that we weren't able to go white water rafting on the Zambezi because of this.  On the other hand, I was grateful I didn't have to make the decision of whether or not to go in "Devil's Pool" (the pocket of water on the edge of the falls that you can swim in), as it is only possible when the water is very low.  The next day I was to walk over to Zambia, so I packed up my things and a couple of us stopped on the bridge to jump off ... with a bungee cord of course!  In fact, we chose the economical option and got a package deal to do a zip-line across the ranging Zambezi, followed by the bungee jump, followed by the gorge swing (a second free fall off the bridge, only to swing out away from the bridge and just hang above the river for the longest 3 minutes of your life as they pull you back up!).  It was exhilarating to the max, but I think I've ticked that box for now and won't need to do that again anytime soon!

Livingstone, Zambia, is about 12k from the border, so luckily I found a fellow backpacker at the bridge who was traveling Africa on his motorcycle, so I got a free lift back to town- an unexpected treat, although it must have been quite the sight with my bags!  I spent the next couple days hanging out in Livingstone before catching a bus up to Lusaka for a night.  I bought a bus ticket for 6 am the next morning to Malawi, turned up at 5:30, and promptly waited 11 hours on the very hot, smelly bus for it to fill up, at which point we departed on the 14 hour journey-- I suppose I shouldn't have been worried about getting into Malawi in the dark, since it was light again by the time we arrived.  Busses in Africa don't leave until every seat is full, so regardless of the scheduled departure time, they will sit in the bus station and rev their engines all day long until enough people board- not sure that's saving any gas, but hey!  Fortunately and unfortunately, I passed the time by shooing off the constant stream of vendors who boarded the bus selling everything from food and drinks to watches, underwear and clothing, radios, cell phone chargers, newspapers, and pretty much everything else under the sun.  

Botswana

BOTSWANA PHOTOS: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.643064142578.2078697.43700183&type=3&l=9a616cd1d8 We crossed the border into Botswana very unceremoniously, but were immediately treated to much better roads and easier travel through the Kalahari desert. Unlike most of the places thus far, though, instead of the animals being fenced in from the people, the people are (generally) were fenced in from the animals. Botswana has more of both goats and cows than people, and it is home to 70% of the world's elephants. Just driving on the major passes we often saw kudu, orynx, zebras, pumbas, giraffes, baboons, and of course elephants. Our first stop was at a camp in Ghanzi where were stayed with the San (bush) people and learned some of their traditions and dances. We had to keep moving though to Maun, the launching point for the Okavango Delta, one of my "big five" reasons I came to Africa. The delta is the largest inland delta in the world, and is home to infinite types of wildlife. A huge 4x4 truck took us into the delta, through multiple rivers, to the mokoro (long, skinny dug-out canoe) station, and we loaded them up and met our guides/polers who would be with us for the next three days. My guide, Casey, was wonderful, and we had a great time getting to know all of them over the next few days. The guides were all born and raised in the delta, so they are expert polers (the mokoros are moved by sticking a pole in the water and pushing off the ground), and they navigated through the tiny canals formed in the tall grass to our island. When we arrived at camp, we were startled to find plenty of elephant droppings in and around camp, only to be warned by our guides that we needed to wake them at night if we had to use the toilet (hole in the ground), as the elephants wander freely through the camps, and often the hippos come on land during the night... I was sure to schedule my bathroom breaks strategically! We had a couple hours to go have a dip in an area of the delta that the hippos supposedly don't frequent, then went for a nature walk to learn about the area. We we're up early the next morning to go on a bush walk, and got within 15 meters of a herd of zebra and wildebeast just casually grazing- it was exhilarating to see them on foot rather than from a vehicle, but a little unnerving, as well! We cooled off again in the swimming inlet, and one of the polers took me out to have a try at poling the mokoro, which is far harder than it looks, but was great fun. In the evening we took the mokoros out for a sunset spin and came across a lagoon full of hippos playing and happily chomping on the water lilies just a few meters away. I was very glad to have the guides, as hippos are responsible for more deaths than any other animal in Africa, and my poling skills weren't quite up to snuff, just yet. After dinner over the fire, we organized a "nationality night", as we were representing 10+ counties between the 20 or so of us, including the guides. Each nation stood up and preformed something representative of their county, but of course none held a candle to the incredible spirit and life of the Botswanan songs and dances, and it ended up being one of the best nights I've had so far (especially when someone brought out sparklers and the polers loved them!!) Much as I didn't think the delta trip could get any better, a couple of us organized a helicopter flight over the delta on our way out, and it was absolutely breathtaking, and a thousand times better than I could have ever imagined (especially as I had never been in a helicopter before!). Our pilot swooped us all around, getting so close to the ground when there we no animals, and hovering high enough above when there were. Because the vantage point is so much better from the air, not only is it a stunning view of the delta, but it is miraculous to see just how many animals there are all together, and I felt like I was watching a scene out of the Lion King. An absolute highlight of the trip, thus far! Next stop was the Chobe national park, and we took a boat cruise along the Chobe River which goes in to the park, and was spectacular. It was a simple boat, you bring your own sundowners, and we were saw more hippos than I could possibly count, as well as dozens of elephants swimming around in the water to get to the lush green island (our driver brought us right up next to them, and they didn't seem to mind), a giraffe drinking among hundreds of baboons, and a few crocodiles, kudu, buffalo, etc. Feeling that couldn't be topped, I skipped the game drive in the morning and took the opportunity to explore the nearest town on my run, adding probably half a mile to my run from continuously having to dart across the road to avoid families of pumbas and baboons who seemed to have the run of the town early on Sunday morning. The pumbas look very sweet from the car, but on foot those nasty horns sticking out look quite scary, particularly when you realize that you have inadvertently gotten closer to the babies than the mama is! All in all Botswana was a pleasure, and certainly wowed me!