Majete Crossover hike

Aloe plant



A goat corral we walked past before entering the park (our first 6km on Saturday was outside the park boundary)



Prickly Pear



Twisted Baobab




Monitor Lizard



Hippo guarding a beautiful looking play-wave for kayaking!



bathing/wallowing spot near the camp



flowers of an invasive species



large pod of hippos!



leopard tortoise



elephant family crossing to an island in the Shire River



A big bull elephant



Finishing off at the falls near the park entrance - see previous Majete post for more photos



Last week was rather stressful for us. Absence of key members of staff, looming project deadlines and large chunks of missing vital information – combined with an apparent lack of acceptance of any requirement for speedy action was not a good combination!

However, there were also some really good bits too. Sister A has arrived from the emerald Isle. This is her 8th or 9th year of volunteering in various areas of work in various African country and she gets around the apathy and lethargy which plagues most progress in the area by doing loads of fundraising before she leaves (by selling what sounds like a very popular recipe book) and arriving with enough money to make things happen immediately! A novel approach to us, but it certainly seems effective as she has already arranged for 2 boreholes in outlying villages in Rural Blantyre region, before her main body of work which is to take part in one of Rachel’s work camps building a school. She is quite an amazing lady, very very generous to us and to the locals, but also with a good understanding of the complex issues of aid. While understanding to a certain extent about aid dependency, she doesn’t take the approach we are heading towards which is rather pessimistic – she takes a more short term approach which is ‘these people are poor, I can help them, I’m going to help them’. This results in her being able to achieve her goals very quickly and easily. For Rachel and I it is harder, as we are walking the metaphorical minefield of trying to support Malawians to enable them to support themselves long term…a much bigger issue as it deals with culture change rather than just donations and infrastructure project. However, both are valuable and we have really appreciated Sister A’s presence and calming influence!

On Friday we finished early (apparently we should only work a half day every Friday anyway) and went to our favourite greasy-spoon in town to have a beer and watch the first game of the world cup. Having heard practically nothing else on the radio for weeks we figured, ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!’. We were the only asungu in the bar, but the locals were friendly and nonchalant to our presence as it is in the middle of Blantyre, so they are more exposed to asungu. The game was pretty mediocre, with some moments of interest, but it was great to be there when South Africa scored, as most Malawians seem to be supporting AAT (Any African Team), which is nice to see. After the game, our friend AP came to meet us for beer and food and then we headed back to her side of town to stay over night at her neighbour AB (who climbed Sapitwa last weekend with me). We needed to stay over as we had to be at the Blantyre Sports Club for 5.30 in the morning, and AB had a reliable taxi arranged from her place. It was also lovely to have a nice relaxing evening socialising with friends.

Saturday morning arrived far to early and the taxi was surprisingly on time. We arrived at the designated spot to meet up with the Wildlife and Environment Society of Malawi (WESM) for their annual Majete Crossover hike. Majete wildlife park is a reserve around 90 minutes from Blantyre with loads of wonderful wildlife and scenery (the observant among you will notice we have been there before…). Every year the WESM run a hike which requires the group to split into 2 teams – one enters the park from the North and the other from the South. Meeting in the middle to camp, vehicle keys are swapped and each group continues to the opposite side of the park to drive home in the vehicles of the other team.

We opted (upon good authority) to walk North to South and were very glad we had as this put us into a delightful group of people, meant the sun was behind us rather than in our face all day, meant that we did the longer day on Saturday and saved the best of the wildlife for Sunday. Also, our WESM organisers were L & J who spoiled the whole group of us with fantastic food all weekend, from croissants and fresh coffee on Saturday morning, a fantastic Bolognese with all the trimmings on Saturday night (including red wine!) and bacon rolls (on fresh home made rolls) on Sunday morning…we definitely landed on our feet! In case you are wondering, no we did not have to carry all this food in, nor did we have porters, but we had a crew of WESM members who drove a vehicle in to the campsite, loaded to the gunwales with our tents and food - very very luxurious camping!

As well as the culinary highlights we also saw some fantastic animals, and we had a few people in our group who were particularly knowledgeable about the various birds and beasts, so that really helped. We saw (in no particular order, and with lots of omissions and spelling mistakes)

• Boham’s bee eaters
• Little bee eaters
• Baboons
• Hippos
• Elephants
• Monitor lizard
• Tortoise
• Fish and Snake Eagles
• Ibis (or something like it)
• Hornbills
• Perhaps parrots, not entirely sure
• Wart hogs
• Élan
• Some other wild deer-type things
• And loads of butterflies and dragon flies

Once we got to the park (the first 6km of our walk on Saturday was outside the park) we were met by 2 park wardens who would act as scouts/guides/protect us from a charging elephant with their rifles, as well as making sure we didn't get lost. It was certainly reassuring to have them with us when we came across a rather large bull elephant near the end of Sunday who would have been quite a terrifying sight otherwise. How effective the wardens' rifles would have been against a charging elephant I wouldn't like to know...

It was great to walk along the banks of the Shire which looks like it would be a beautiful and exciting white water trip if it weren't for the massive population of hippos (and croc's too apparently, but we didn't see any).

A great trip, and a wonderful culinary experience (which as you will all know, is of almost equal importance for us!).

Tiwonana!

Sapitwa Sleepover - Another long post!

Dawn mists on the plains, from summit of Sapitwa

Peaks of the massif, from left: Khuto, Chigaru, Dzole, Namasile, Chinzama?, unnamed?

Chambe peak at dawn from summit of Sapitwa

Sunrise on the summit of Sapitwa

sunset on the summit of Sapitwa

self portrait on summit at sunset...chilly!

Our campsite

From left: me, J, E, B, A, C

The view from the summit when we arrived - we camped in the grass on the far right

J, and a little of E on the final scramble to the summit

C, A and a little of B in the dense undergrowth found in gullies on the peak

Steep slab on the lower slopes - tricky with heavy packs

Flowers on the way up the peak - I'm told they are Aloe

This sign should be on top, but is actually just next to the hut!

Chisepo hut, with lower slopes of Sapitwa behind

dawn on the plains, from Chisepo hut

sunrise from Chisepo hut

Chambe peak as the sun set while we were still 2 hours from the hut on Friday

B on the way up, near the bottom

Photos are in reverse order again...sorry!

Last weekend I joined up with the mountain club again for another trip, this time up the 3^rd highest peak south of the Sahara (excluding South Africa)…a bit of a convoluted title, but basically it’s by far the biggest thing for miles around.

Sapitwa peak (Sapitwa apparently meaning “don’t go there”) is around 10,000ft and is the high point of the Mulanje plateau. Of course, the “plateau” is not very plateau-like. I think it’s best described as follows: Once you have climbed up 3000ft from the plains, to an altitude of around 6000ft, it is quite like being at sea levels in the West Highlands of Scotland. Lots of hills and valleys and ridges still to be negotiated to navigate around the ‘plateau’.

The characters in this story are: B, leader of the group; C, a young lad from Blantyre; A, a German medical student out on elective; J, who works in malaria research; and E, who works in social development. And me!

B, C and I set off around 2.30 from the car park at Likabula. B & C had decided to hire porters, as most people do, but I figured I would see what it would be like without their assistance – experimenting in the name of science and so I can advise visitors when they come…Well, I think I would certainly have appreciated a porter, as I ended up carrying over 15kg (carrying communal food, fuel, etc which couldn't fit in the bags for the porters), but as it happened I coped ok, just sweated A LOT!

We took the ‘skyline’ path - so called because of the old cable that runs down from the “plateau” for the forestry operations. The weather was mercifully cloudy and we plodded up an ever steepening path through the woods, passing many beautiful flowers, and with regular views across the valley to Chilemba peak and beyond to the plains and the tea plantations. I continued to sweat.

Having reached the “plateau” in around 90 minutes, we had around an hour and a half of daylight left. We managed to successfully find the ‘short cut’ path which took us through recently felled forestry (the Mulanje Conservation Trust are trying to get rid of pine trees in order to let the endangered Mulanje Cedar take over again) which was disorientating for B, but we made it through and onto the main path again in daylight. A quick snack stop for much needed salts (C was suffering particularly with cramps) and we put on head torches and plodded off, up and over ridges and valleys, past what we think were baboons who made a rather funny noise a bit like the noise produced when you bounce a rock along an icy pond, and eventually arrived at the Chisepo hut at around 7pm. We’d beasted the “6 hour” hike in 4 and a half hours, and boy could I feel it!

A, J and E had left earlier in the morning and taken a more leisurely pace up to the hut. The hut was comfortingly smoky and basic, like so many huts in Scotland, and after a feast of spag bol cooked on the fire we bedded down for the night. (by this point the B and C’s bags had arrived courtesy of 2 porters – not the ones they had chosen. Some dodgy business was suspected, as these porters were not on the qualified list, and so had probably been subcontracted onto the job by the originally selected porters, who would have taken a cut of the fee).

We awoke around 5.15 the next morning, thanks to B’s warning of a beautiful sunrise. A leisurely morning of drying sweaty clothes and eating lots of breakfast, then we headed off up to the Sapitwa peak around 10am. A, J and E had porters taking some camping stuff up for them, but C, B and I were carrying quite big packs – which proved a little problematic when it came to some of the tight squeezes between boulders, climbing up narrow gullies, and scrabbling through dense undergrowth. When we left, clouds had rolled in – as they tend to do apparently between 10am and 5pm, but by lunch time we had climbed above them, and remained above them for the rest of the day. We arrived on the summit about 2pm, having taken quite a leisurely pace, and set up the tents on a strip of grass. The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting and either sunbathing or avoiding the sun, depending on sunburnability. The clouds stayed with us until after sunset, but the feeling of being isolated on an island in the sky was lovely.

After sunset we cooked and stared at the fantastically starry sky for as long as we could bear before the cold drove us all into our beds. The time was around 7pm! The night was long, and very cold (down to minus 2 celcius), and the winds were whipping our tents, so most people had disturbed sleep. However, when we dared to head out for the sunrise the wind had dropped and we huddled in our sleeping bags silently watching the African dawn develop for over an hour.

The colours were fantastic, and my camera work cannot do it justice. In all, I took over 130 photos this weekend, but this blog will only allow a small number per post, so if anyone is interested I have many more photos of hills, flowers and sunrises/sunsets which I can show when I get back to the UK. I could upload more into another post, but I think I’ll just leave you in suspense!

We headed back down the hill, and got to the hut around 10.15 – 10.30. C by this point was not in a good way. He may have had food poisoning from an inadequately heated meal on the summit, or it may have been sheer exhaustion, but he stopped for a quick vomit near the hut to clear his head. Luckily A had some pills she could give him for his condition, which at least kept him mobile if not particularly happy. He battled on, to his credit, and made it down with B, A and I. (E & J were staying up the hill one more night). C was on his first major hike, and didn’t have proper equipment, so it is no wonder he was pretty beaten when we got back down just before 4pm.

He perked up a little when we got to the pizzeria in Mulanje town. To my delight Rachel had come out to meet us! She had taken the minibus from town out to Mulanje and arrived about 1 hour before we did. She had spent that time reading at the pizzeria, and enjoying a cool beer.

So, that was my weekend – thanks for reading this far! There are far more details to tell and photos to show (lots of beautiful flowers), but too much for this blog entry, so I will have to try to remember them.

Recipes please!

This may look like vomit on spaghetti but it was actually quite delicious! (a tuna, veg and tomato sauce with a Kuche Kuche lager - yes, there is a bit of lime in there...well, actually an under ripe green orange from the tree!) Note also the wind-up solar powered radio...

Certain foods here are easily available and fairly cheap, however this does mean we buy the same things, and consequently end up cooking basically the same things all the time. So this is a call to request inspired (or just different) recipes for evening meals involving the following ingredients:

Beef sausages
tinned Pilchards/sardines in tomato sauce
kidney beans (actually, a reasonable selection of dried pulses are available)
Eggs
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
rice
spaghetti
nsima
carrots (sometimes)
Onions
Red Onions
runner beans
green peppers
fresh peas
tomatoes
courgettes/marrows
avocado
garlic
most herbs and spices
milk
yoghurt
'cake flour' which seems to be some sort of white plain flour
baking soda
sugar
salt
black pepper
tomato ketchup
vinegar
peri-peri spicey sauce
banana
tangerines
oranges
popcorn
honey
marmite

Any and all ideas welcome! please email us!

Now, off for the obligatory marmite and avocado sandwhich for lunch...mmm...

Rachel's update - busy busy!

(sorry no photos - didn't see any lions this week, so left the camera at home, however...)

In summary:
What a week!! Am SO pleased to say that productivity levels went through the roof and I have spent the past week zooming around the country. From 'Malawi Malaise' to clashing with Ban Ki Moon, from an expat birthday party to being in the capital city trying to meet with government officials on the day the Malawian Government dissolved the National Youth Council of Malawi (bear in mind my charity is called Active YOUTH initiative), the past 10 days has had plenty to keep me going and boy, have I enjoyed it! Oh yes, and did anyone hear about a couple of gay malawians?!

In full (and it really is very full, apologies for leaving it so long and therefore having too much to cram in):

The lowlight of this week has been my first bout of 'Malawi Malaise' which has seen me feeling a touch dodgy for a few days...but it didn't stop me!

I finally managed to hold meetings with the necessary colleagues to work out what I had to do and then I could finally really get on with it all! Hurrah! I have therefore spent much of this week
writing and delivering letters to local companies asking for donations (food, materials, drinks) for the workcamps (one of my roles is to organise projects over the next few months called workcamps, which are supposed to have volunteers from around the world and will last from 2 weeks to 4 weeks and be on a range of projects: including building classroom blocks, renovating parts of Lake Malawi National Park and painting educational murals at the Bangwe Youth Centre.);
'ringing' organisations around the country trying to get them to help me recruit volunteers for said camps; and
meeting officials to get their support for volunteering more generally.

I have to deliver letters by car as they take 2 weeks to get to the neighbouring town! I say 'ringing' as phones are pretty unreliable in this country! They rarely manage to reach the number you dial and when you do finally get through you usually have to yell down the phone and then it cuts off before you manage to complete the conversation. I can see why face to face meetings are still favoured here! Although my experiences of such meetings on Friday left a little to be desired...

I went to Lilongwe (the capital city) with my boss and a colleague on Friday to meet officials from the Ministries of Youth, Tourism as well as Wildlife and Parks and UNESCO. What a day it was. Some highlights:

*I had spent the week trying to make appointments to see the Directors of each of the above ministries but had the problems of phoning as outlined above. Therefore had only one appointment booked. In Malawi, this isn't really an issue as it is quite standard to turn up and request to see someone unannounced. We started at the Ministry of Youth (and sat for 45 mins before giving up, getting some mobile numbers to try and moving on to UNESCO). After a productive meeting with the Assistant Secretary to the National Commission of UNESCO, my colleague called one of the numbers that we had been given by the Ministry of Youth. After much negotiation by my colleague, an official agreed to meet us in 40 minutes. Slightly strangely though the official insisted that we meet exactly where we were at that moment, which was....a petrol station in the middle of town?! My colleague suggested maybe the official's office would be better, but he was having none of it. Luckily there was a fast food outlet where we could sit and wait...and wait...an hour went past and when my colleague called, the official apologised for the delay and said he was just finishing his meeting. So, we waited. After another hour, my colleague called again to be told that the official had just been reminded by his boss that he was to be in the delegation to meet Ban Ki Moon that afternoon so couldn't meet us. Best excuse ever for being stood up! I couldn't stop laughing. Who forgets they are meeting Ban Ki Moon?

*Turned out we were in town the day that the Malawian budget was going to be heard in Parliament. It meant that all the Directors of the Ministries were in Parliament hearing it, but we did have some useful meetings. For example, with the Assistant Director of Wildlife and Parks who agreed to lend us the ministry's minibus for transport for one of the camps at Lake Malawi National Park.

*Another implication of Friday's budget is the immediate disolution of the National Youth Council of Malawi - an organisation with which I had a very useful meeting just the day before! The biggest implication of the Council's disolution is that 500+ youth organisations have immediately lost their legal status. In the UK youth org's such as AYISE would be registered as a charity, but here they are registered by the Youth Council. Their loss of legal status could well have implications on their ability to access funding. Luckily, AYISE is one of 6 Youth Organisations that is also licensed under the Trustees Incorporation Act, so should be fine....although our Director will no doubt be tied up this week lobbying the government. This does now illustrate why the official stood me and my colleague up though - he thought we had got wind of the budget before it was announced and were there to lobby him.

Other excitement from the past 10 days, in no particular order:

*The journey to Lilongwe in which I got to hear from my boss about his upbringing - incredible! Some particularly striking bits are that he got his first pair of shoes aged 14 and an order of catholic nuns paid for his private education at a boarding school, but he couldn't afford to go home during the holidays so was there for fours years solid!

*Had our first social engagement when we received a personal invitation (rather than the group activities that we have tracked down online and gone along to thus far): a 30th birthday party of a girl who was at her first hash on the same day as us. Had a lovely evening last night at a VERY swanky house that she is staying in. Had drinks and a fantastic BBQ - prawns, steak, homemade burgers!

*I also went with a colleague on a site visit to where we will be building two classroom blocks at primary schools. Sadly I did not think to take my camera. At one school the classroom block is currently made of what look like grass mats, which are broken, falling over and obviously let rain in. At the other, the block is nonexistent - the children sit outside. Was good to get an insight into the importance of some of the work I will be overseeing. Was also interesting to get an insight into Malawian education: as far as I could gather, in January the government has a nutrition program, in which all primary school kids receive a portion of porridge a day. The schools therefore see an influx of students in January/February, who then drop out to go back to work/home to help in March. And this is primary school!! The lack of classroom facilities is also a huge issue for drop outs - there is little incentive to sit in the rain/scorching sun. Hopefully, the construction projects will help to alleviate this latter issue...but the porridge seeking issue is somewhat trickier and beyond my remit!

*The verdict and then pardon of the gay couple has obviously attracted a lot of attention and yes, really 'annoyed me', to put it politely (not the pardon obviously!)! I have thankfully had some faith renewed by the chats with colleagues and other Malawians that leaves me hope that there are those who understand the awfulness of such oppression and recognise that such laws (which incidentally the Brits are responsible for implementing) must be changed. Sadly, the numbers are just too few at the moment to be heard. One of AYISE's programmes of work is around Human Rights and so indirectly they are trying to get their countrymen to recognise the concept of 'equality'. As you may recall from an earlier email, the concept of 'gender' as different to human physiological characteristics is still foreign to most Malawians... sexuality is yet further away. But I and my Malawian colleagues live in hope.

As Andy said in his cycling blog post "what doesn't kill you..." Infact I think that line sums up a fair bit of my time and emotion at the moment. I am not actually close to death but I definitely feel that a stronger Rach in so many ways will emerge at the end of these 8 months. On that note, I will thank you all again for your emails - please keep them coming.

R

PS from Andy - Other interesting points: one of Rachel's taxis in Lilongwe ran out of petrol, and she has been fully instructed on how to hunt mice (for eating, not sport).

A busy week!

Rachel was dressed smart, but not this smart…read below for details!

This week has been great. All change from the slow start of the last couple of weeks. Both Rach and I have been in and out of external meetings, in the car getting out to people, getting decisions made and getting things done.

I am working on a funding proposal for waste and composting collection in the township, where there is currently no waste collection at all. I had a very encouraging meeting with a very high heid yin representative of the City Assembly who was excited by our proposals and even suggested we could hook up with a bloke making ‘biofuels’…of course I’m fully aware of the controversies of biofuels, so I will have to thoroughly check that it is being sustainable produced, but it’s a good indication of the level of deep support I hope we can expect from this representative of the City Assembly. Incidentally, I got smartened up in the ‘office’ clothes I bought at the market the other day. This is the first time I’ve been in smarts since March, and it felt a bit odd – but perhaps that was down to the cheap Chinese made shoes (already falling apart) and new cheap trousers. However, I’m reliably informed that I looked smart, so that’s all good.

Since then I have also had really exciting meetings with a local Environmental Youth group and the Executive Director of AYISE, who has been in the office an unusual amount this week. We have 2 or 3 new avenues of funding applications to make so we have been brainstorming for ideas for new projects. Additionally, in my spare moments I’ve been crafting a new Environmental Policy for the organisation, writing up a process for the compost operation, reading up on ‘Group formation and dynamics’ to assist me in the creation of an Environmental Youth Group to run the Compost project, and finalising the budget for the Compost project

One of the funding streams we are investigating is for Human Rights – and so the area that springs immediately to mind is the treatment of homosexuals by the judicial system. However , the E.D. , although recognising and agreeing that this is a significant issue of human rights abuse in Malawi, was cautious against this area because it would alienate us from all areas of Malawian support and political leverage (which we regularly rely upon for lobbying meetings on other topics) and the level of funding was not sufficient. He suggested the analogy of a battle, and stated we would not have enough resources to be able to safely complete the battle – we would therefore be sacrificing the organisation on the battlefield. It’s a tough moral call, but there you go – it’s his organisation, I can only give him my opinion.

Rachel has been out hand delivering begging letters for materials (such as building supplies and paints) for the volunteer projects she is organising. She had to hand deliver them as post takes around 2 weeks to get just 15 minutes down the road here! She also had a meeting today (for which she also got dressed up smart – maybe I should have got photos of these outfits…) with the National Youth Council of Malawi where she presented ideas to them on strategic development, and was applauded afterwards! Tonight she hopes to head off to Lilongwe to meet the National Secretary for UNESCO among other esteemed individuals. On top of all of this she is juggling various logistical arrangements for the (very fast approaching) work camps she is organising, along with fielding a host of questions and queries from interested parties – with some explanations being frustratingly lost in translation, and having to be repeated and repeated…

Anyway, this is just a quick note (while I wait to be summoned for another meeting) to say that this week has been really satisfyingly productive and we hope for many more like this!

The week of the cake and the cycling...

Photos are in reverse order - I'm still not a pro at this blogging lark!

Rachel's dusty legs

The final push on tarmac, Mulanje mountain


Tea fields and a hill called Milanje in Mozambique, near the border

The village crowds around

Going down...

Going up...

Mulanje massif from the track to Phalombe

Our start and finish point

Cake:mark1

This week Rachel succeeded (twice) in making fantastic sponge cakes with no electric mixers, no cake tins, no power (for some of the time), no recipes and no measuring facilities to use even if she did have a recipe. That both cakes have turned out to be total taste-explosions is down to some significant skills, and quite a bit of good luck (but mostly skills, I’m reliably informed…)

We are just back from our 2nd evening with the Blantyre Hash House Harriers. For those who haven’t heard of the ‘Hashers’ they are a very social running club who meet once a week (Monday evenings here) with some odd beer-and-song-related-rituals which serve as great ex-pat social clubs in many areas of the world. Apparently there is a group in Edinburgh, so we may investigate that when we get back – perhaps it will be full of travellers to Edinburgh. The emphasis is more on the beer and less on the running, so that suits us just fine! It has provided a much needed service of allowing us to hang out with other white people and not feel like aliens/celebrities/walking dollar signs for a while, and has allowed us to meet some really friendly and interesting people Additionally, it is a great place to hear of other events, such as the camping trip we may be taking this weekend (stay posted for updates on that!).

Last weekend we had our (now) usual trip to Blantyre on Saturday which was quite nice. The coffee shop was open this week, so we had some real coffee and good (but expensive) chocolate cake. Then we headed to a MayFair we’d been told about at the international primary school. We watched some incredibly acrobatic dancing which seemed to have an east-Asian theme to it, while kids rode petrol powered go-karts, or played in the foam slide, played 5-a-side or ran around shooting eachother with BB guns. There were many stalls and we gravitated to those selling cakes and books. We both came away with a veritable library of new reading (I got 3 old copies of National Geographic) and some coconut ice to keep us going on our Sunday bike ride…

Around 6.20am we were picked up by R, a Dutch ex-pat in a Landrover Defender 110 (the epitome of savannah transport but outnumbered by Toyota Hilux’s here). R had scrounged 2 extra bikes from other members of the Mountain Club of Malawi for the trip we were to undertake, for Rach and I. The route was a round trip from Mulanje town around the Mount Mulanje Massif, 113km in total, only 30 of which were on tarmac’d roads!

The start was inauspicious, riding off almost silently into the mist (after R had acquired his first of several punctures that day while his bike was in the car…very bad luck for him, but it did slow him down to almost human pace!). 8 of us rode off sweatily, even although it was only 7.30am, with at least 2 of us wondering why we were doing this, saddle sore already and tiring quickly of the almost continuous shouts of ‘asungu!’ from the constant strings of villages and hamlets we rode through. We were in Tea country and most of the people we saw would work in the tea fields. I’m sure they’ll have seen white people regularly before, walking the many paths of the mountain, but yet young and old still delight in shouting ‘white person!’ in Chichewa with the excitement a kid might shout ‘ice cream van!’…this will take some getting used to...

Fairly underwhelmed by the start, and feeling much slower than the main group who we hadn’t seen since about 7.35, Rach and I decided we would head back slowly once we had met up with the others at the agreed waiting spot of Phalombe, 35km further on. Around 10am Rach and I arrived in Phalombe, the mist had cleared from the lowlands by this point but was still clinging stubbornly to the massif. We were more upbeat at this point, and knew that the next section was over the Fort Lister Gap – this had the attraction of 12km of downhill, once you had slogged up 8km of uphill. And on the other side, R’s wife, A, would be waiting with cold water and a picnic. Well, as Rach and I are so ruled by our stomachs, and not wanting to shirk the challenge of the Gap, we decided to abandon our plans for a shorter day and just get on with it. We pedalled and pushed up through the gap, sweating profusely. The pushing gave us a great opportunity to speak to M, the youngest member of the trip, who is sitting his AS levels at the moment and had an IT exam the next day. Great conversations were had, and before we knew it we were at the top (again surrounded by people acting like we were Madonna – for all they knew we could have been! Unlike Madge we decided not to adopt any of the scruffy little kids.) Instead we zoomed off down the other side. The downhill was really fun and long, rough double-track road with large rocks and water worn runnels to avoid – great fun, and time to stand up out of the saddle and give the bum a bit of a rest!

When we got to the village at the bottom of the hill we met A and regrouped with a wonderful apple cake, fresh pineapple, and an attentive audience consisting of pretty much the whole village (see photo). R had by this point acquired 2 more punctures on the decent, and his front tyre was still leaking air. As he rides so much faster than us, and we were beginning to get fairly wierded-out by the odd celebrity attention we were getting from the villagers, Rach and I decided to head off. Next stop, the Mozambique Border!

It was shortly after this that the worst part of the trip happened, for me at least. The track was almost continuously lined with closely spaced houses and occasional markets. We were being constantly ‘asunugu’ed, but no more than previously. Then some bloke who may have had mental disabilities but we think was probably drunk tried to block us from getting past. We got through but he continued shouting incoherently at us in Chichewa and trying to grab us. Several rude words were exchanged (in both languages, I’m sure!) and as much body language as one can muster while still trying to cycle along. Eventually he gave up, having decided that we weren’t worth running after – or maybe forgetting why he was chasing us in the first place. The fact that this bloke was obviously not representative of the community (one of them severely reprimanded him) helped to calm us down, but it I was furious at the time.

This section of track to the border was long, hilly and rough. It was the heat of the day and we’d already covered 70km, so understandably we were a bit irritable. However, I do think the character of the ‘asungu’ing we got on this road was far less easy going and far more ‘give me money’. Not a fun situation, and we got through it by mirroring the people (asking them for money when they asked us, but trying to get in there first with a nice ‘how are you’ in Chichewa to steer the conversation away from their predictable impolite demand for funds – nobody says ‘please’ here at all…). On the positive side, the area is truly beautiful, with tea fiels, small villages shaded by mature trees, banana crops and views across the vast plains in nearby Mozambique. Once we got to the Border (by this point having been caught and passed by R, M and the gang once more) we fueled up on soft drinks and sandwiches and prepared for the final 35km of beautifully tarmac’d road back to Mulanje.

This section was enjoyed the best, although we’d been told to fear it for it’s long hills. The hills are long, but the tarmac is sweet relief after 80km of dirt tracks, there are very few villages - so no ‘asunugu’ing, and there is a camaraderie among the local cyclists who outnumber the motor vehicles 50-1. One kindly soul who was going along at our pace helpfully advised us of how far we had to go, and on hearing of our day’s activities said ‘you truly know cycling’…well, perhaps!

We staggered in to the pizzeria in Mulanje at 5.30 in a power cut. Luckily they cook on a stone, wood fired kiln so pizza and beer were had all round.

A tough day, emotionally and physically, but we’re glad we did it – what doesn’t kill you…

Love to all,

A & R

Zomba Mountain and the weekend

Warning, this post is a long one!

a camera-shy monkey

Rach and Doctor walking down the road (with Doc's stolen plant from our lunch spot!)

A dead tree among the dense forest of the edge of the plateau

Large flower on the plateau

quite high up the potato path

at the bottom of the hill, walking past girls rolling down fire wood logs

the view of Zomba town and surrounds from halfway up the path

Doctor getting his breath, as Rach drinks in the view

the potato path

This blog is beginning to reflect only our ‘tourist’ activities. Sorry! At some point soon I will try to get some photos of real life and do a wee note on that (which I’m sure you will all await with baited breath…ooh, honey and banana sandwiches, exciting!)

This weekend just past (our 4th in Malawi, time is fair flying!) we had a practical day around Blantyre on Saturday involving grocery shopping; failing to find the guidebook to ‘day trips around Blantyre’ by the Wildlife Society of Malawi, which is apparently fantastic; failing to get good coffee as the good coffee shop was closed as the bloke who runs is had decided to go up to Mangochi; succeeding in finding Doogles guest house, and being allowed to eat our sandwiches by the pool and getting instant coffee to assist with our curry bellys from the night before –

An aside on the night before: Ross’s last night in town, so we met up at Martins again for a few Stouts and then headed next door to Bombay Palace. Sitting next door we could see when it opened, and so we headed in about 15 minutes after opening, only to find it was already well populated with a few other groups. We sat down and Andy munched his way through most of the dips and nibbles (which didn’t help his belly the next day). We ordered a fish dish, chicken dish and mutton dish. All were absolutely delicious! We were then presented with a pile of sesame seeds, which again, Andy devoured. We ordered a couple of authentic dishes for pudding and were pleasantly surprised to receive a sort of icecream type of pudding, along with Rachel’s milkshake type pudding. All in all, delicious! – now back to the weekend!

On Sunday (while Ross was still travelling, having set off on Saturday morning!) Rach and I headed to Zomba. This meant getting a minibus to Limbe (we were kindly picked up by some local folk to save us the 10 minute walk along the dirt track), and then sitting in a minibus at Limbe market observing…nobody at the bus ‘stations’ has any sort of clothing to indicate their roles but we identified a few roles:

• Driver (obviously)
• Conductor who rides in the bus and collects money, and communicates with the driver
• “Fakes” who sit on a bus which is trying to fill up so that it looks more full, and therefore closer to leaving – thus making people believe they will not have long to wait if they get on that bus – then get off the bus before it travels to sit on another empty bus
• And “ground staff” who advise travellers of which bus to get on for certain destinations

Our bus driver was pretty fast, which would have got us there in very good time if it weren’t for their ridiculous system of rules to break and rules not to break. Outside Zomba is a fairly permanent police check – certainly it’s been there the 3 times we’ve been through at weekends. The bus had too many adults in it (apparently children don’t count towards the total) for the number of official seats, so about a mile before the police check 2 young men got out of the bus. The bus then approached the police check, got through fine (without being asked for any ‘gifts’ – see Cape McClear post) and drove on until it was out of site of the police. It then waited for the 2 young men to walk through the police check and catch us up – a ridiculous waste of time given that we were about 5 minutes from the final destination. It seems customer service does not exist in Malawi, you get what you’re given, there is no effort to provide a good service in any aspect of Malawian culture (except perhaps the restaurant and bar industry).

On arrival in Zomba (which was the capital of Malawi until the 1970s and has a fanstastic building called State House for the President when he visits – the building has turrets and an army barracks near by!). We were accosted by a bloke ‘Steve’ wanting us to use his Taxi to get up the mountain. When we explained that we were crazy asungu and wanted to sweat our way up through the jungle he took us to meet his mate ‘Doctor’ (“Doctor by name, not profession”). It is advisable to take a guide if you are white to avoid ambush and extortion – a rare occurrence but worth avoiding. After 5 mins of haggling we got Doctor down to a reasonable price and headed off with him (via his house to get his donated Merrell trainers, and the army barracks to drop off the car he was borrowing from his soldier boss). Leaving the barracks we headed up a newly tarred road and onto the ‘potato path’ – so called as locals grow potatoes on the cool, damp Zomba Mountain Plateau, and bring them to Zomba market by the fastest route. The path was beautiful, and the weather perfect – mixed sun and cloud, not too hot, a cool breeze at the top. Doctor was a former guide, who now just drives for a living, so was somewhat out of breath but still managed a fair pace. I guess he wanted to put in as little time for his money as possible! (perhaps I’m being overly cynical). He was nice company, not talking too much but providing fairly knowledgeable answers to our questions. We walked through lovely vegetation of long grasses, large flowers and huge trees. The upper reaches of the slopes were very rainforest-like. At the top there is a very expensive restaurant with purportedly great views, along with all sorts of ‘traditional’ tourist tat and some fruit sellers. We managed to avoid all of these by walking on with Doctor, who by now had got the idea that we were not wanting to spend money, and heading to a great view point in the gardens of a cottage on the edge of the plateau. After speaking to the landlady we were allowed to eat our lunch on her steps, while looking out at the wonderful view (you could see across the plains, back to the Blantyre hills and across to Lake Chilwa and Mount Mulanje). I’m sure the views could be even better, as we had quite a hazy day. We decended by a combination of the tar road and the potato path – all in all a lovely walk with lots of butterflies. We also saw a troop of camera shy monkeys on the outskirts of town! Back at Zomba we jumped in another minibus and the fun began again…Safely back though, and more knowledgeable about the minibus business, we had home cooked popcorn (very cheap here) and beer on our patio. Good times!