Karonga
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2002
1
121
157
Trip End
Ongoing
Karonga,
Malawi
Monday, June 16, 2008
Karonga 16th June 2008
Well now this was a mission of a day.......!
It started off by changing some dollars (we keep some as back up should the ATM fail and yes you guessed it, it did) at the hotel Mbeya Peak we were staying at. Then it was off to the local bus station to hop on a bus to Songwe bridge which is the land border between Tanzania and Malawi.
We rock up to the bus station and where about 12 guys surrounded us all saying they had a bus going to Songwe. We were ushered to a rather nice looking 25 seater bus where we took our seats. To our surprise the bus left within 5 minutes of us boarding. Mmm this is to good to be true......sure enough our suspicions we right our next destination was a massive bus terminal some 10 mins further down the road
Canoe repairs
. There we waited for a further hour and half until it took off again! Yes it was totally full by this time with people, bags of rice, suitcases, and even a television balanced on someone's lap. Just when you think there is no more room the bus takes off and then stops again further down the road to load yet more people on. This is Africa!
Eventually the now more than loaded bus headed off in the direction of Songwe bridge. When I say headed I do mean headed as after an hour of our journey the driver swung the bus into a small but busy bus station where ALL the passengers got off. Is this Songwe bridge we asked ourselves? "Oh no we have to change busses here." But you said this bus we going all the way to Songwe....yes but now you change buses to go to Songwe.......We just don't get it, why do the people lie? What is the point? We just can't get our heads round it. We would still have to take the same bus and just change like we had to all along. They just don't get it.
So we change into a small mini bus which resembled a cut 'n shut number (Was two busses at some point).
The driver had to bump start it backwards down the hill...not always a good sign at the beginning of a journey. Then he had to rev it and jam it into gear before we choked and spluttered down the road
lakeside, Karonga
! And yes you guessed it we left with more than the normal 12 passengers it was capable of taking.Another hour down the road and we get told we have now arrived at Songwe bridge. When they say 'we have arrived at Songwe' that is another bend of the truth as it was actually a good 1km walk but luckily all down hill.
At the border we had our passports stamped out of Tanzania we then walked across the bridge just a 100 meters and the got our FREE visa for Malawi.
Then we took a shared taxi to the first town south of the border called Karonga.
Some 40kms and a few check points later we arrive at Blue Marine our chosen hotel by Lake Malawi.
We went for a walk by the shore line and got chatting to the local children and a couple of fishermen tending their nets. We saw first hand the dug out canoes they used. Some were really well loved with make-shift patches of lead and all sort of material used to stop it leaking.
The next morning we woke up to bird song. We went for breakfast and it was then that our second day in Malawi should take a sudden twist for the better. Not long after our breakfast a dark cloud descended all about us
Our hut by lake Malawi
.As we looked closer it was very apparent that this was not just an ordinary storm cloud but a cloud of tiny flies. We got talking to some other people who said they were lake flies. This mass invasion (and when I say mass I really mean MASS) happens every 2 weeks or so. As we watched these tiny flies envelope trees and plants we got talking to a local man who it turns out is a candidate for a political party here in Malawi. As we chatted for a while we mentioned that our aim whilst travelling is to find the REAL people of each country we visit. It was at this point that he said he wanted to show us the REAL Malawi and proceeded to invite us his house for the evening. It was all quite a shock for us but we had heard numerous times how friendly the Malawian people were.
We asked the owner of the hotel if this was normal (as he was a good friend of his) and he said o yes go and have fun.
So that evening we were taken to Cornelius's house situated right by lake Malawi.
There we had a fire right on the beach and ate fresh locally caught fish and rice.
We stayed in an nice little hotel/resort next door.
His generosity was quite overwhelming
Weaver bird nests over our hut
. As the beers flowed and the laughter increased our host decided that he wanted us to stay around until at least Saturday. During the next 4 days he took us to visit 2 rural schools to talk and meet with children and teachers and he also arranged for us to attend a couple of traditional dance, drum and singing sessions with a political theme of course as you can see by the photos! The male and female groups that sang sounded incredible. It was definitely a unique experience.
They loved it when I summoned up the courage to join in too with great cheers from at least 300 adults and children.
We will always remember Cornelius's genuine Malawi hospitality. Not wanting to out stay our welcome we left his house on Saturday for our next stop some 20kms south to Chitimba Beach Campsite.
