Malawi: More than just a lake

Let me tell you all more about life here in Afrika. As we have been travelling now together for more then 3 weeks things are still very good. We have been in Malawi now for more then a week of which we chilled at Lake Malawi for most of the time.

What can I tell you so you all get a better picture of how things go here. Regarding travelling the main roads (so far) in Zambia and Malawi are paved, smaller roads are dirt roads. The dirt roads are the most fun as our car is really tested on these classic African roads.
The people here are (not) surprisingly all black but in the places interesting for tourists you see white people working at NGO’s or travelling like us. We met already quite some westerners who are doing similar trips like ours. Some drive it all the way back to Europe or come down from Europe, motorbikes no exemption. I am already creating plans for getting my motorbike licence and drive from Holland down south along the west coast of Africa which also suppose to be amazing, Anybody interesting to come with?
As driving around you see allot of poverty and people are really trying to do anything to get some money, when we need some sugar cane or vegetables we drive around to find exactly that woman with some kids around and buy what we need from here, giving some extra as we know that it will be spend wisely in the family. I expected actually more people begging for money or food but mainly children are asking for that empty bottle, pens or a little bit of money when you are passing by.
We are taking care who to trust and we always look twice if the car is locked but in general so many people we meet are really friendly and of course in the places where tourists come the market people ask for more money when they see that you are not African but we get better in bargaining every day.

As we have a certain budget per day we camp in our car as often possible, this costs us on average US 5$ per night, we sleep once a week in an hostel which is a real treat sleeping in a normal sized bed compared to our 1.20m / 1.50m bed. Diesel here in Africa costs us around a US dollar per litter, sometimes more like here in Malawi sometimes less like in South Africa.
For cutting costs we eat meat once/twice a week (also because our Cool box isn’t the best) and the rest of the days lots of cheap vegetables prepared in nice garlic or spicy sauce.
We found a nice name for our dish; CoErdish. Ok so we met this German/South African couple who were driving their Jeep to Germany and they had “Manic trip” on the side of their car, this standing for Marvin and Nicole. Mocking their idea we came up with Co(pray)Er(nst) dish an oath to my good friend Mirko’s background (Kurdish)

Arrived in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe we got our car checked (as this is normally to prevent breakage) and we renewed the oil filter which is recommended to do every 5000km. We were relieved that we finally could get some money with our normal bankcards from the ATM’s instead of going into banks and get it from our credit cards.
We planned a week or so at the lake, first 3 days in Senga bay and then Cape Maclear. Nice blue water, camping just 2 meters from the lake and chilling in our hammock. After a day of kayaking to a remote island and some snorkelling Linda got a bit sick.
With some fever and of recommendation of some volunteers of the clinic nearby Linda started a Malaria medicine course of 3 days. The next day we went to the hospital to get her blood tested to see if she has Malaria, the test was negative but the days after she still felt a bit sick, with today doing already much better, her sick days resting in a proper bed in an hostel in Blantyre. To this day we don’t know yet if it was a minor form of Malaria or something else.
At the moment we are in the city of Blantyre waiting to get our Mozambique visa tomorrow, this is because we can’t get the visa at the border crossing we want to use.
Getting some groceries and Dollars before our Mozambique adventure, northern Mozambique supposed to be quite remote, wild but also beautiful with white beaches and crystal clear water.
Our plan is to stay 2 or 3 weeks in Mozambique and then following Zanzibar in Tanzania for a week.

Hope your summer is just as good as mine.
greets

This is real Africa

Hello people

At the moment I am in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. In the last 2 weeks Linda and I have been crossing Botswana and Zambia and what a ride it was!!!

After my return in Port Alfred from Cape Town with Hans and the Toyota Hilux 4x4 D/C aka “The Beast” I had 3 days to buy some last things for the car like a jack for lifting the car, 2 new tyres, a bed in the back and some other things. It felt good being back and to see my fellow students again. Many of the Humanitarian group left already travelling through South Africa but all of the other Dutch and South Africa students were there and everybody was planning to leave on that Thursday the 2^nd of July just like me.

Erik a friend of mine was also planning to go to Johannesburg and he would be driving with me the 1200 km in 2 days time. Said goodbye that morning to some people on the campus and thanked the coordinators for the awesome stay at their campus. For many students these 10 or 20 weeks were their highlight of South Africa but mine it was just the early breakfast of the huge dinner called Africa. ;)

That night we slept in a small town called Windburg just passed Bloemfontein and the day after we drove to Johannesburg where I would stay at Kas a friend I met 2 months earlier while travelling near Lesotho. But first I had to go to the AA (Automobile Association) to pick up my Carnet de Passage, this 10 page documents has all the details of the car on it and it helps with crossing borders and for some it is even necessary to have or else a South African car is not allowed in that country.

After driving around Johannesburg to find it we got stuck in some serious traffic jams but finally I managed to drop Erik of at his girlfriend’s place and I made my way to Kas his place inside a huge gate were my car would be safe. Quite necessary in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Linda had a delay of an hour and a half so I could sleep a bit more, she finally arrived around 11:30 at Johannesburg International Airport. After only seeing each other on web cam with shitty connection it felt good to have her back for our huge Africa trip.

The next 2 days we stayed in the northern province of Limpopo to rest and buy some camping equipment before crossing into Botswana were we stayed at a Rhino Sanctuary seeing about 8 rhinos and other wild animals.

As you might ask how can we sleep in the back of our car when it is only 1.20m by 1.50m and 0.50m high but diagonal it is about 1.85m and when you zip 2 sleeping bags together you manage.

When we headed up more north we experienced the mosquito’s so I created a net inside the back to prevent us from being bitten. We are not taking any malaria pills as a few doctors told us that it is very bad for your health when being in malaria region for 9 months. It is safer to get malaria and then treat it with medicines which takes 3 days which we carry with us, this way you build up some resistance against the disease.

Botswana is an enormous country with less then 2 million people in it, we found that the people were not that friendly and the prices were almost European and the amazing Victoria Waterfalls in Zambia were waiting for us. In general the roads in Botswana were really good. The last 80 km we encountered the pothole roads which make Africa so infamous for.

As the South Africa-Botswana border was hassle free the Zambia border wasn’t. This 750m crossing over the Zambezi river on a small ferry was extraordinary and when we reached the Zambia side we had to visit 5 counters to get all of our paper work done. 208 dollars in total; 50$ for a visa each, 20$ for the ferry, 20$ for road tax, then carbon tax, then third party insurance. But with the friendly Zambians on our side it took us less then an hour. Arrived in the small city Livingstone we checked in a nice hostel where we stayed for 3 nights. The following day the Victoria waterfalls were on our list. Just like the waterfalls between Brazil and Argentina, these falls are amazing. Raincoats were really necessary as we both got soaked wet even wearing them. A month has passed since my last two bungee jumps in south Africa. But the bridge jump between Zambia and Zimbabwe was yet on my list. What an amazing jump this was with a spectacular view over the Zambezi gorge.

Of course I heard of the sad news of Michael’s tragic death but amazingly I found in a cinema a live concert which they showed on a huge screen. Just amazing. After resting for 3 days in Livingstone we made our way to the north-east of Zambia.

Zambia is the real Africa: friendly people, dusty cities and friendly police officers. After overtaking a few cars on a part were I wasn’t really allowed to, the police stopped us, and we got a fine of 270 000 Kwacha equal to 50 euros. But with the least amount of hassling I got it for 50 000 Kwacha (about 7 Euro). Who says corruption is bad??? Changing our plan from first visiting the south Luanga national park which would cost us 75$, we headed to Malawi where we are staying now. After walking around a small market we bought some nice shirts and food. And some specific moments in life you buy the best things; and what did Linda find?.... an official McDonalds shirt for 13.000 kwacha not even 2 euros (check the photo with my white/red stripped shirt) How sweet is that and that in a country where there are no McDonalds!

The main difference between Botswana and here are the warmer nights, especially recognisable of the condense in our car the next morning, the friendlier people, the mosquitoes which are still hated really badly by Linda and the natural candies of cold sugar cane (type of bamboo stick were you suck the sugar water right out of).

Just been in Malawi for a day this country is easily classified as one of the poorest and most populated of Africa. Of the 12 million people, half of the population is under the age of 15. The car is still doing amazing and many people look back to see the German and Dutch flag shining in the front of our car.

Today the amazing Lake Malawi is waiting for us and we will chill out on the beach, doing completely nothing.

Again for photos check http://picasaweb.google.nl/jcopray/

Greets from amazing Africa.