No water in the Vic Falls

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls

I also left Lusaka fast. My next aim was Livingstone close to Victoria Falls. The Vic Falls are most imposing in or short after the raining season. There is nearly no water in october or november. There is more water on the Zimbabwean side than on the Zambian, so I was thinking about going to Zimbabwe. As I did not have a double entry for Zambia, this would have been a rather expensive idea.

Bovu Island

In my hostel in Livingstone I got to know 2 people from England, who also longed for rest. Thus we had the idea to leave the city for some time for going to Bovu. This is a small island about 1-hour journey from Livingstone. On the island, there is only one small hotel. There is no electricity and no mobile phone reception! It was very quiet and peaceful. There was a lot to do, mostly by boat, like sunset boat ride, all around the island or an excursion to the village nearby. Here, Brett and Evelyn, the owners of Jungle Junction Lodge, support the construction of a school. Volunteers for that are welcome any time! Currently the small children are in school in the church, the bigger ones must walk every day 5 kilometers one-way to go to school in the next village!

Bovu Island

Back in Livingstone, I cancelled the idea to see the falls on the Zimbabwian side. Brett had the idea about taking a flight over the falls. He probably thought rather of a helicopter flight, but, nevertheless, a micro light sounded a lot more fun! And it was simply great! Of course, first I was a little bit nervous as this micro light is really small and it also shakes quite a bit. But I forgot about this completely, as soon as we flew over the falls and gorges! After the flight, people can buy the CD with the photos, the pilot has shot during the flight. The camera is on one of the wings.

Animal visitors on the campground

Strange visitors at the campground

From the border it was not far to Chipata. Here, I spent the night in Deans Hill View Lodge. A very relaxed and inexpensive lodge with the best (hot) showers for a long time. Dean is from England and likes to help travellers with all kinds of information. Dean knows a young local man, who offers a taxi service to South Luangwa National Park. The insiders info that the young man had to fetch customers in the park was a good one and it was a lot easier then to discuss the price of my journey going there…

Crazy driver in the park

You can also go there on public transport or by hitch hiking, but it is very time consuming and one can easily spend a whole day on this dusty road. In this nice taxi, it took me only 2 hours.
Croc Valley Camp is located directly along river Luangwa only a few kilometers of the national park entrance. Due to the nearness to the river there are quite a view regular animal visitors in the camp. During the day we had a visit of some elephants. Apparently they do not have affection for small yellow tents (as mine!)… Anyway, the camp manager made me leave my tent in a hurry, when the elephants came too close. The elephants were apparently quite attracted by my tent and got closer as I wanted them to be (especially, as I was laying in there)…

Big cats already waiting

South Luangwa National Park is one of few national parks, where they offer night game drives. Rather exciting thing, because then you can see the nocturnal animals. Of course hippos, but also hyenas and leopards, smaller bush cats and a lot more. The entry fee of 20 US is valid for 24 hours, so most people combine a night and a day game drive on the same ticket. During daytime there are many elephants, different antelopes, zebras, giraffes and lions.

Unfortunately, our safari van driver was not exactly the best of all Zambian drivers and put our vehicle twice in the sand. We got stuck so badly, that all guests – despite the lions around – had to get out of the car and push….
As all this took us nearly two hours, our group got a free game drive the following day…. Unfortunately, it was the same driver who tried something new this day and got stuck in a gig hole on the track. So, we had to raise the vehicle by carriage siphon and stones on one side to get free again!


The way back of the national park to Chipata
was easy travelling, because I was invited to join to a group of italians in a small truck. This was comfortable travelling for these 3 hours to Chipata, thanks a lot to Francesca and Stefano for their help!
The next day, I went by bus to Lusaka. That is about 7-hour journey through a very dry area. Every now and then, there are small villages, otherwise prickly bushes, some bundles yellow grass and a more or less straight street.

Lusaka

Lusaka is the capital of Zambia. It has got a very modern centre with quite a few skyscrapers, which reminded me of soviet constructions. In the main street, there are many banks, assurances, a big supermarket and some boutiques, also lots of fast food restaurants, mostly chains from South Africa.
A little bit outside the centre, there are two big shopping malls, which could just stand in Europe or America. There is also an uninspiring museum, some not really attractive markets – that’s it basically!
No wonder, that this is not really a tourist

Moneychangers at the border

I spent my last day in Malawi in the capital Lilongwe. There is a big market, where one can find just anything. The afternoon I spent with Guenter and his dog – with the typical Malawian name Anton – outside of Lilongwe for a nice walk. This was rather interesting as Guenter could explain many of the plants. He has even written a book about the plants of Malawi.
The following day, I travelled to Zambia. Border crossings in this part of Africa are usually very easy, you just turn up at the border, pay usually 50. – US and then you go!
Finally, before in Lilongwe, I was able to solve my bank problem which was left over from Karonga close to the border with Tanzania. At that time I tried to pull out of the ATM the amount of 100. – Euro. I got a receipt from the machine, but unfortunately, no money! The branch in Karonga could not solve this problem. The whole thing was transferred to Lilongwe with the statement that the money would be returned to the credit card within the next 24 hours…. These were African 24 hours. Nearly 2 weeks later I showed up at the headquarters of the bank in Lilongwe to sort that problem out. Well, at the end it was not possible to transfer the money back on the card. I got it instead in cash, in Malawian Kwacha. Usually no problem, but this was on my last day before I left Malawi…
It is usually not a good idea to show up at the border with such a high amount in local currency, as every moneychanger knows that one must exchange the amount urgently. Malawian Kwacha is not the kind of currency you get easily rid off later in Zambia.
Moneychangers at the borders are usually creepy characters, but on this border they were especially audacious. One of them tried to cheat me even in so silly -audacious way that it was almost insulting!
First he smuggled between his 50000th notes some 10000th which look quite similar. When I confronted him with that, he stated, I gave him not 18000 Malawian Kwacha, but only 11000…. However, there I already pocketed his money! I proceeded to the immigration leaving him to think about the following options:
1. We cancel the whole deal; each one gets the whole amount of money back
2. We leave everything as it is
3. We go to the police
For sure, this guy was not happy about all that, but at last we cancelled the whole transaction and occupied neutral people with counting of the money.

Malawi - high mountains and a very big lake

Travelling in Malawi

Then, finally, after 2 very strenuous days in the bus, I arrived close to the border with Malawi. Bus rides in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania are quite strait forward and are usually relatively quick. In Tanzania it is possible to travel 300 or even 350 kilometers in 5 or 6 hours by bus. In Kenya many streets are under repair at the moment, so it takes a little longer, in Rwanda the distances are very short anyway; you can cross the whole country in something like 4 hours….
Well, Malawi seems to be a little different, when it comes to public transport. Most busses are extremely slow, drive off if they are crammed full, to some destinations no public means of transport goes, e.g., to Livingstone….

Mushroomfarm

However, Livingstone lies at the end of a bad street on a mountain. At last I had luck and after waiting for nearly 5 hours, a truck with a big load of sand and 30 passengers on top took me uphill. It was only 10 kilometers up to my camping ground, the so called Mushroom Farm, but at least we sat on sand on this very bumpy road…
Mushroom Farm lies directly with a precipitous slope, from where it goes several hundred meters downhill. There are small platforms, on which a tent well finds place. The view is great, however, for a run to the toilet at nighttime the setting is a kind of adventurous…

Jacaranda

Some staff from Australia celebrated his birthday one evening, so all guests were invited for a barbequed pig, great salads and potatoes and a lot of drinks. Drinking at a setting like this one can not consider as safe, the only accident that night ended just with some painful bleedings….
Next, I went to Mzuzu, one of the biggest towns in the north of Malawi, which does not necessarily say much. This was a very easy travelling because Richard from the States filled his jeep with backpackers, who wanted to go down as well. As we shared the petrol costs, this helped everybody.

Lske Malawi

In Mzuzu, I spent the night in a hostel with the amusing name Mzoozoozoo. Tasty burgers and cheap beer make the bar with restaurant a magnet for all kinds of travellers, locals and others, who got stuck here already for months and seem to belong already to the inventory…

Dani, Nkhata Bay

From Mzuzu it takes only 1.5 hours by minibus to Nkhata Bay. The street winds down the mountains and each 5 minutes it becomes warmer a few degrees. Nkhata Bay is a rather tourist place mainly for backpackers. In Nkhata Bay, there are (still) no expensive hotels. I stayed in a place called Mayoke Village, which is some 20 minutes walk from the village. It caters mainly for backpackers. From the englishman, who is already 10 years on the road to expats, and volunteers, who come from various parts of Malawi to the lake for the weekend. Travel tips are available from other tourists as well as from the staff. According to the funny geography of Malawi, the main question among travellers was, whether someone was travelling north or southbound. So, one gets info for onward travelling or people rave together about things they have seen on the way coming here…
After I met Dani, a German lady running a restaurant called Kaya Papaya in Nkhata Bay, I also had a nice place for Thai and other food in town.

As we got along pretty well, we decided to travel together for 2 days by ferry to Ruarwe. One needs about 5 hours there by ferry. There is also a street to Ruarwe, but this one is in very bad condition, so everybody advises against using it, because too dangerous. The journey by ferry was an experience for itself. Most tourists travel first class on the upper deck, we took the whole sportily and travelled 3rd class together with the africans. It was quite a mess with loads of luggage just anywhere, congested wooden seats, but the malawians are ready with pleasure to make some room for newcomers. So, this was nice traveling with friendly people.



Ruarwe is a rather small village in the northern part of lake Malawi, which is served twice a week by ferry. The only other way to reach the place is this extremely bad street.
Zulunkhuni Lodge is located close to the waterfall with the same name about 15 minutes walk off the village. There is a big garden with big trees, flowers and veggies. The chalets allow a wonderful view over the lake and here the water is particularly clear. It was a wonderful time there, without electricity, without radio or television, also mobile phones do not work here as there is no reception. It was very peaceful and quiet and a good spot for a rest.

As we did not want to use the road, there was only a choice to stay here for one or for 8 nights, because the ferry northbound has only one more place to go and returns after that coming back to all the places in reverse order.
After a few more nights in Nkhata Bay, I went by bus to Senga Bay in the southern part of the country. After picking up more and more people on the way, this bus was completely overloaded. Apparently, this was so obvious, that we got struck in a police control. The driver had to pay a fine, then all passengers were allowed to board the bus again! This is once again a very African logic.
Or another funny story yesterday at the market: 2 bananas cost the exorbitant price of 20 Kwacha, there are 4 for the special price of 50 Kwacha…. Some people in this market will not win a price for the best mathematicians in this world!

Senga Bay is a very extensive village with about 30,000 inhabitants. There are no mountains in the background like in Nkhata Bay, but they have a nice sandy beach. The hostel Cool Running, where I stayed, is very pleasant with a big garden, many trees and particularly comfortable couches under shady trees near the beach. Very nice for a lazy afternoon.
One morning here I spent with the local army who had parachute training. The commander was very happy about curious tourists with their cameras… Just imagine tourists with big cameras in an army camp in Germany!
Next step was Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. This was an especially easy travelling because the owner of the hostel had to go by car to Lilongwe the very same day as well. Somewhere outside the city I was picked up by Guenter Baumann, a friend of a friend of my mum. As I arrived very early in the morning, I got a superb breakfast with self baked brown bread and self-made jam. Great!
Lilongwe is a very green city with lots of trees and gardens, but so far, I could not find a real city center here. Walking here is not the best choice as everything is very widespread and far away. Actually, there are at least two city centers, one with a big market and the other more quiet and modern city center with banks, insurances and supermarkets.
My first evening in Lilongwe, I was invited with Guenter and Marianne Baumann. They had some friends for dinner in their house. Dinner again was very delicious with meat, different veggies, hash browns and salad. After dinner, we sat together for some card games. Apparently, I learned fast, as I won…. Many thanks to Guenter and Marianne Baumann, who are wonderful hosts and Marianne is a great cook on top!
Today, there is my last day in Malawi, a country I enjoyed a lot as people are very friendly and calm. Tomorrow, I will leave going to Zambia. This is going to be another story.