Malawi (1): 2011.06.26-28 Zobue/Mera border post; Liwonde (Shire Camp); Senga Bay (Steps Camp)

2011.06.26 - 28


This post follows the posts in www.mi60mozambique.blogspot.com. Click on the above link to see the 5 posts which tell the Mozambique part of our MozMalZamZim (MMZZ) trip. 

Here is the report of the Malawi leg of our trip. The map shows you the Mozambican Road 103 winding its way from the south towards the northwest where ZOBUE is the border post between Mozambique and Malawi. Past Zobue/Zobwe we continued to Bawi and slept near Liwonde at Shire Camp.

It was a long journey, but eventually we reached the Zobue border post from Tete. Getting through the border took a long time as the generators weren't working! So, obviously the computers were down!

We travelled through beautiful country side between the two border posts. It's a large no-man's-land!

Even before we arrived at Mera border post proper on the Malawi side, we had many offers to help - and their exchange rate as well as the TIC offers were honest and efficiently handled. We bought Third Party insurance for 8000 MalawiKwacha and TIC for a further 5000 Malawi Kwacha - a total of +-R530. "Can I take a photo of you?" "Yes, of course ...!"

As a result, Mera border post was easy - I didn't even get out of the car!

It was getting dark and the many pedestrians on the road told us that we were no longer in the deep Africa bush. It was dangerous to travel at night.

As Malawi was experiencing a petrol and diesel shortage due to political bungling there were many bicycles and pedestrians on the road making driving dangerous. However, the beauty of the sunset compensated for the difficult driving. See the power lines along the roads? At least Malawi's power supply seemed safe.

We could not find any camp sites along the way and had to push through to LIWONDE - it was a long hard day's driving. We wondered whether there were any guest houses available - but just pushed on.
We arrived at Hippo Camp (Tracks4Africa lists it as a camping site), only to find that it now is an upmarket establishment and that camping was not allowed!

At 21:00 we arrived at SHIRE CAMP - situated behind a building on the banks of the SHIRE RIVER. It is certainly not camper orientated (in spite of the bill board's wording - photo taken when we left).

Unfortunately all the bungalows were occupied and we had to pitch tent even though it was 21:00.
The camp site is small, the facilities virtually non-existent, but it is well-fenced, safe and has lovely trees. We're ready to start packing everything back into our trusted Toyota.

Andy and Wieske - ready to leave the next morning.

Exhaustion is a wonderful narcotic - so after a prawn supper (rustled up by Eugene and Lalie) we slept soundly in our hastily pitched tents. 
The beautiful sunrise the next morning helped to set the tone for the next day.

Early risers comb hair later - dare I say: "Confucius says ...?"

Walk through the building (to the loo) and be rewarded by this magnificent view across the river.

The view upstream gave one an inkling of the Liwonde National Park's bush, but time did not allow us to revisit the park. Pity.

After a good night's rest, we planned to take it easy as our day's destination was not far. This is a typical scene of Malawi roads.

This is one of the many schools we passed along the road.

Here a bicycle is put to good use.

One the many roadside markets.

The most popular "taxi".

A colour coded mother.

Use us and you can be sure of heaven.

Malawi has a high percentage of Christians.

A typical scene in Malawi - much waiting and much carrying.

We decided to visit SENGA BAY for lunch en route to Nkhotakota. We made the detour to STEPS CAMPS where Jelliengs Mwenengana (01263222) welcomed us.

We allowed ourselves the luxury of resting after lunch.

On our way again - what do we need? People's Store is a modern well-stocked shop.

As we were driving towards Nkhotakota, we passed these mounds directly next to the road. What are they? We don't know.

Each mound had a name on it! Somebody suggested that they were compost heaps - I doubt it. Perhaps something was being brewed there?

Onwards to the north towards FISH EAGLE BAY LODGE which is just south of NKHOTAKOTA. Once again we travelled through lovely bush,

 

and drove over a good noisy wooden bridge - one way traffic only. What a nice sound! Click the arrow to watch the video (it might take some time to download.)

We passed this upturned truck - as we crawled past, one young man swore at us. I still wonder why? This was the only negative incident during our 5 weeks' trip.

We were pleased when we found the sign showing us where to turn off towards FISH EAGLE BAY LODGE.

This is the end of the first post for the Malawi part of our Mozambique Malawi Zambia Zimbabwe (MMZZ) trip.

You can either return to the top of this post and select Malawi (2) to read the second post for Malawi
OR click on
http://mi60malawi.blogspot.com/2011/08/malawi-2-20110628-0702-nokhotakota-fish.html