Overlanding Malawi

From there we drove to the Machinga Falls and paid R15 each to go and have a look over the edge and were led by 4 little local boys who showed us the way. They nimbly hopped from rock to rock barefoot. We desperately tried to keep up with them as they took us on a trail along the side of the cliff which was as close an adrenaline rush as jumping off the Vic Falls Bridge. Again just one wrong step and that would have been the end of us. It just dropped down for hundreds of meters. We saw the cave behind the waterfall that the people used to hide in to escape being taken as slaves and then he took us for an incredibly steep ‘short cut’ where we had to grab onto tree roots to avoid falling back. My heart felt like it was going to just climb out my throat, and to top it off I really didn’t feel well either.

Day one started off about an hour late and we found ourselves releasing some serious tension build up after leaving! Yes, we started our holiday with a full blow argument LOL. It was months and months of endless preparation and planning to get to that day. We’d been counting the sleeps for as long as we could remember when and FINALLY we were on the road heading North! Zimbabwe, Malawi, Northern and Central Mozambique were our destinations and all were new territories for us. We couldn’t wait! The journey ahead was to be a very interesting 7000 odd km! So our phones started playing up and our radio packed in within the first 20 minutes. The phone was vital for obvious reasons including internet access, navigation, accommodation bookings etc. and the radio was our link to the BBC English channel to keep an eye on the political situation in Mozambique with their looming elections and Zimbabwe with their recent elections that had been held at the time. Thank goodness I had put all the songs from iTunes onto my iPad and brought an array of speakers and things to make it all play. A road trip is not a road trip without the music after all! First was a light snack just before Pongola which was a combination of cheeses, biscuits and biltong… Our favorite landed up being blue cheese and warthog cabanossi! What a combination!!! We followed the route through endless townships, roads with cattle, donkeys, taxis and heavy pedestrian traffic which made the going very slow. Later we learned that we had miscalculated the route and our Tom Tom navigation was taking us parallel to the national highway. Oops! A mistake that could have knocked off at least an hour or two from the days journey but I always believe there is an upside to frequently getting lost and in this case it was the unplanned backdoor tour of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. We arrived safely 11 hours later in Louis Trichardt at Lalapanzi Hotel/Chalets which were clean, spacious and highly recommended. We quickly discovered that it was the bar lady’s last night there before she jetted off to live in Miami and the bar was abuzz with the makings of a serious farewell party. With the trip to Harare and the unknown issues at Beit Bridge on our mind we only had one drink and then went off to get a few hours sleep before waking at 3:30am. Our plan was to miss the busses and trucks at what is well-known as the worst border post in South Africa. Had we known how bad it actually was and the traumatic experiences we were in for, we would have opted for a trip all the way around Zimbabwe via Botswana and Zambia regardless of the extra 1000km! But more on that on tomorrow’s blog of day 2 of our journey…

“People were getting hurt. Wayne had to jam himself in the doorway to rescue a young girl before letting himself through”

We left Lalapanzi at 3:30am with the bar lady’s farewell party still in full swing. Our plan was to get to Beit Bridge border by 5:30, miss all the busses and get through in an hour tops. How wrong we were!!! Queues were crazy long as the busses had already arrived at 3am. The South African side took us 2 hours to get through after being mobbed by crowds of people pushing to get through the customs doors. It was chaos! People were getting hurt. Wayne had to jam himself in the doorway to rescue a young girl before letting himself through. The Zimbabwean side took us 5 hours. There were 1000s of people and no form of organization with regards to standing in lines. People pushed in wherever they could and unfortunately if you caused a stink about it you got rallied to the back of the line and paying the runners put you back a lot of money and time, not to mention the fact that it had already cost us almost R700 to transit the country. After 5 hours I was eventually on my haunches trying to relieve the pain in my legs and back from standing for so long. It was HOT…dripping hot, and there was frustration and tension hanging in the air. As I stared through the broken window at the Zimbabwean flag gently blowing in the dusty heat I wondered if I would look back on this moment around some crackling bonfire one day and have a good laugh? I found it very difficult to bloom where I was planted for these few hours. So, some tips for crossing this border are, cool clothing, a sun hat, sun cream, water to drink, snacks, toilet paper and a ton of patience and smiles! Anyway, 7 hours later we left the border having absolutely having lost all sense of humor and an hour later were pulled over by traffic cops who we had to pay a R300 fine for “apparently” speeding but in no way were. It was originally R600 but we managed to bring it down. The traffic officer said that we could either pay it or spend the weekend in jail and bargain with a Zimbabwean judge on Monday, and it was right there that my love affair with Zimbabwe ended. Wayne’s comment as we drove off fuming mad, still rings in my head, “God left this country long ago”. Unfortunately there’s no anti-corruption hotlines that work here and no one would care if you called anyway. Generally you just feel very unwelcome in Zimbabwe these days… It was dry and desolate at that time of year…there were endless stretches of mopane trees and dust. It was quiet outside with nothing but dry heat, goats, cattle, chickens, road blocks and a land long forgotten by all. “The revolution has eaten its children. I see a river of dreams run dry..” Johnny Clegg’s words brought a chill to me as I stared and listened. The only things that seemed to work properly there were the things that brought the government money. Everything else around had fallen to pieces. There are remnants of what old Rhodesia used to be like, but it is almost ghostly to see it today..I think one of the most frustrating things for me when traveling through Africa is my indelible need to see things ‘like they used to be’… It’s sad because I will never see it, and neither will my children… The road was very narrow and there were quite a few potholes in the South. Passing trucks come onto your side of the road and sometimes force you into the chiseled edge of the road which becomes hair raising at times! The busses seemed to be the fastest things on the road which had its advantages and made them easy to hide behind. You got the feeling that because of their size they would take most of the impact from any oncoming traffic playing Russian roulette over blind rises and double white lines. The other advantage is that you can save a bit of fuel by getting into their slipstream. Jubilation arose in our car every time we managed to get behind one of these speeding missiles and go from 60km/h to 120km/h. And just when early depression was kicking in, it happened…..at precisely 1308km we saw our first parrot, which was the start of our birding list for this trip. Meyers Parrot! Spirits lifted we agreed to put the days’ issues behind us and concentrate on the exciting adventure that lay ahead. After 10 hours of driving we stayed over at Jeni Stables who has a simple yet lovely oasis in Harare. We ran a nice hot bath, jumped in and ate the biggest pizza IN THE ENTIRE WORLD and then hopped into bed for a well-deserved rest! Tomorrow Mozambique’s Tete province and the great Zambezi are our destination…

There were tons of granite inselbergs rising out of the dry landscape towering into the smokey sky almost like the children of the gods had been playing marbles on the bare land…

Woke up early with gippo guts!!! I can only put it down to having touched so many filthy surfaces at the border post and not being able to wash my hands and then it somehow getting into my MOUTH! Aaaaaaaaaah cholera! Clearly I was not a seasoned Africa traveler yet? I didn’t even get past day 2 lol We had a nice cuppa coffee to start the day whilst we chatted to Jeni’s daughter Debbie about various routes back home before setting our GPS to guide us through the winding suburbs of Harare which were again remnants of what used to be… So sad. We were excited to be on our way to Mozambique and set the mood with the “Into the Wild” CD playing its thoughtful words… Driving through the Highlands of Zimbabwe was really beautiful. There were tons of granite inselbergs rising out of the dry landscape towering into the smokey sky almost like the children of the gods had been playing marbles on the bare land… We got to the small Nyamapanda border post and to our delight there were no queues. Being the main trucking route from Zim to Tete we were expecting another terrible border post and the “Zim” customs had one last poke at us before the freedom of Mozambique. They wanted our police clearance certificate, (something we had been told we would not need) as we had all the proofs from banks, certified copies of logbooks etc. After much deliberation with his 3, non-governmental teenage girlfriends dressed in their fancy clothes and new hairstyles checking under our bonnet at the engine number with a cell phone light, they stamped our pass. The one young girl, bless her heart, tried to persuade him to send us back to South Africa, but I think a sense of humor and relaxed attitude got us through. Wheeeew! The few meters border walk from Zim to Moz already saw a change in attitude and with it our luck as we were to have no further border problems for the rest of the trip. Into Mozambique and it took us 5 minutes before we saw the first signs to beware of wild elephants crossing the road, and then another 5 before we saw the first Chinese man openly stripping telephone wire for copper on the side of the road… There were so many baobabs there that they almost looked like an invasive species. They were just too beautiful! The villages became randomly scattered huts in family groups and things got very rural, very quickly. People there are poor but friendly and there seems to be a number of tree planting projects at the odd school that we passed and crops and maize storages are protected from elephants by thick wooden pole fences. We arrived into a bustling Tete that seemed to have arisen out of nowhere and wound our way through the town past tuk tuks, motorbikes, and cars…The tete bridge over the Zambezi River is really impressive and I felt like we were in Africa’s New York City. We followed the directions to Gigi’s place and arrived to emerald green lawns with the sprinklers going (just as Wayne predicted in the car) and sat down for an ice cold drink… A nice relief from the dusty town. We were treated to dinner with Geniene, her hubby and some friends at a funky little restaurant in Moatize where we had the most divine fish and refreshing G&T’s! After that it was back home through the most incredible dust storm I have ever seen and then off to bed with dreams of what tomorrow would bring with a new country, Livingstone’s playground….Malawi…

We woke at around 6:45am to the birds chirping in the trees outside, packed our things and went for a nice cup of real filter coffee over at Geniene’s house before heading off to Malawi. The weather was nice and cool to travel in and was quite a relief from the searing heat we’d experienced so far. The 103 to Zobue border post was a terrible road!!! The potholes were just crazy and there were plenty of trucks too. We seemed to spend more time off the road then on it, as everyone vies for the piece of road with the shallowest holes and ditches. A new road was being built but at the rate they were going it seemed to be going nowhere.

As we headed off North it started to get greener and we started seeing loads of tall mountains which marked our first glimpse of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. From that point on bucket list items were being ticked off at an amazing rate!

The border into Malawi wasn’t too bad. We did have an hour long wait behind a lot of of trucks and the road seemed completely blocked up with them parked in both directions and gridlocked for about 500m, but even though Africa is chaotic at times it still manages to somehow work. By the time Wayne had stamped passports, bought 3rd party insurance, swapped a mixture of rands, dollars and mets for kwacha, I had eventually wound my way through the que to the gate. We had a very friendly welcome into the country and were looking forward to experiencing far more of where that came from…

Halfway to Blantyre our fuel light turned on with a full tank! Dirty fuel, shit! Wayne said that it was probably the fuel at the Tete garage. They were refilling the underground tanks while we were topping up and obviously this had disturbed sediment which made its way into our tank. We call Toyota and managed to carry on driving and made it to Blantyre safely… At that price we would have to skip eating today so we could stick to our budget! We were helped by a mechanic by the name of Sekane who was absolutely fantastic! Luckily we had brought a spare fuel filter with us but seeing as we were already at a dealership, we just bought a new one and kept our spare for ‘encase’. Sekane showed Wayne how to change and clean the filter should we have ever been in a place that we couldn’t get help. We felt great in Malawi so far! Super friendly people and it was so green that you could feel that you were no longer in Southern Africa and were now in East Africa BUCKET LIST!!!

We finally found a big shopping center where we stocked up on food for the trip as we hadn’t found anywhere in Zim or Moz. Blantyre is a proudly beautiful town. It is clean, the streets are lined with blooming, purple Jacaranda trees and little hedges which are all neatly trimmed into chairs, animals and stairs lol. We stayed at a place called Fisherman’s Rest which was high up on a ridge looking out over the Shire Valley. We arrived in the dark, settled in and then poured ourselves a Malawian Gin and ginger ale (for some reason tonic water was difficult to get in southern Malawi?). We had a glorious evening under a multitude of stars chatting away and somewhere in the dark the tots in our glasses were larger than we realized. We slept pretty lightly as there were impala and bushpigs crunching in the leaves all around our room at night but other than that we were well rested.

Tomorrow we go down into the Rift Valley to the great Shire River which was Livingstone’s Highway to the Zambezi…and a last minute change in accommodation that brought an unexpected surprise…but more of that tomorrow…

We woke up really early to a misty view over the Great Rift Valley and hundreds of birds in the trees. Unfortunately Wayne now had stomach problems but probably due to the half cooked chicken we’d bought in Blantyre and nibbled on for supper in the dark? We had a welcoming hot shower in the open faced bathroom overlooking the valley and then went for breakfast under the big trees before leaving to drive up to the Zomba Plateau.

The 60km drive took a bit longer than anticipated as our TomTom navigation detoured us on one of the worst possible roads imaginable, around the back end of some rural village, halfway up a mountain and back down again, but hey, what’s life without a little adventure?

We got to the quaint little town of Zomba and managed to empty 2 of the towns ATM’s drawing cash as our card didn’t seem to work anywhere else so we thought we’d stock up while we could. Not to mention that the locals weren’t too happy with us for doing that… oops!

Afterwards we wound our way up to the top of the Zomba Plateau through a mix of pine, indigenous and montane forests. Halfway up to the Sunbird Hotel there is a gorgeous lake with picnic sites and hiking/MTB trails through the forests and a great camp site too. The hotel at the top was spectacular! Built in 1969 with old red bricks, it boasts hundreds of little hidden coves and hallways with highly polished slate tiles (almost like an old castle) and the gardens are incredibly peaceful,green and colored with bright flowers everywhere. We sat under the shade of the giant trees sipping on a Southern Comfort and Lemonade whilst listening to Livingstone’s Turaco’s calling in the distance… Bliss! I would highly recommend this hotel if you are wanting to completely unwind. And guess what…. Friendly Malawians

Afterwards we were off to Liwonde National Park which lies on the southern part of the lake. Actually it’s just below Lake Malombe which runs into Lake Malawi. We booked for a campsite at Mvuu lodge inside the park which is really peaceful and right on the Shire River too. We set up camp under the trees and went for a drink while watching the sun go down behind the big baobab trees and listening to the fish eagles crying in the distant orange sunset…. We were really tired and so prepared an early supper of instant noodles in our big tin mugs and hopped into bed.

In the wee hours of the morning, we heard trees breaking and immediately knew it was elephants! We stood up in our tent and peeped through the mosquito netting along the top of our tent trying to make out the dark silhouettes of legs in the dark. They were really close to our tent and for a few moments we were contemplating between each other which door to exit out of to go sit in the car for safety. We unfortunately didn’t make it in time as the next thing the elephant was right next to our tent and so we had to sit it out and hope that she didn’t trip over us. When the night watchman came shining his torch there was a low, deep rumble and the elephants were off into the night and we slept soundly after that…

Tomorrow we’re off on a river tour up the Shire and in search of Livingstone’s Flycatcher

In full holiday mode, we woke early to the sound of the birds and a quick tap on the shoulder got me up in time to see the sun rising through the African bush… It was time for a cup of some genuine Malawian tea and biscotti as we sat on the banks of the Shire River watching the birds skimming past on the water. It’s amazing to picture Livingstone and his men sailing down this exact same river in a smoke bellowing, bolted – together steam boat so many years ago. At 07:45 we went to the main lodge to meet up for a morning boat ride on the river to go birdwatching. Our guide ‘Angel’ took us out for about 3 hours looking for birds, elephants, hippos, crocs and many more animals…. We got so many birding ‘specials’ as well as many others that we’d seen before and he even took us for a walkabout around Mvuu Lodge when we returned to try and look for Livingstone’s Flycatcher… By this time it was so hot that we’d decided to rather have a drink and relax in the pool for a while before heading out for an afternoon drive.

At sundowner time we ventured further north along the river and came across many elephants in the bush as well as in the river. At one point we saw a herd of around 15 elephants all crossing the river with only their trunks out the water like snorkels. We sat on the roof of the Fortuner and had an ice cold gin while we watched all the fishing dugouts passing by through the golden sunset,melting into the Shire River at dusk…

Back at camp it was time for a Malawian Rum and Coke with our feet up listening to the laughing hippos ending a busy yet relaxing day… The campsite lends itself to creature comforts but only at certain times of the day… I think one would greatly miss out if you were fussy in this place. The water is solar heated, the generator comes on at certain times and the bar rarely has ice or tonic water (actually all of Malawi so far), but if you just go with the flow and melt into ‘Africa Time’, you will enrich your soul far beyond what you can imagine… As we felt lazy and tired from the dry heat all day we treated ourselves to a dinner of salad, eggplant lasagne, veggies, potatoes and beef at the main lodge… At last a proper meal! One forgets how much you miss veggies when you don’t eat them for a couple of days. Tomorrow we’ll see the lake for the first time and the adventures that it will bring.

It was our last day at Mvuu in Liwonde National Park. We awoke again to the sounds of Africa! One can’t help hearing them as there are just so many and it is so loud, but so beautiful… Sometimes it feels as if you’re in some Hollywood movie with an unrealistic conglomeration of African noises in the background; there’s just too much to take in. Elephants, hippos, fish eagles, 100’s of birds, monkeys…It’s like a zoo LOL! WOW!

We got up and went looking for Livingstone’s Flycatcher again just as the sun was rising and we found them! There was a small group, very unlike other flycatchers but Wayne had mentioned that they do feed in groups. Shortly afterwards, Bohm’s Bee Eater, Collard Palm Thrush and Lillian’s Lovebird. All new birds for us and all specials in this area. What an awesome sighting to start the day. Another cup of Malawian tea with a tot of Amarula Cream (instead of milk) and then we’d managed to eat breakfast and pack up camp in 20 minutes flat. We were getting good at this now! Then we were off to Chembe Eagles Nest in Cape Maclear to see one of Africa’s mighty lakes; Lake Malawi!

We slowly wound our way back to the main gate passing through herds of elephants standing on the open plains among the hundreds of borasis palms and baobabs…the landscape is so vast and bare yet so beautiful in its simplicity. Wayne decided to take the road less traveled which sent the poor TomTom navigation lady into a flat panic and almost in tears begging us to find a road. But it was so worth the detour. Herds of waterbuck numbering in their hundreds, sable, hippos and elephants all congregating at the rivers flood plain as the temperature soared into the upper 30’s. Yellow baboons were on our bucket list too, and there were troops are everywhere. Seeing a new primate brings it home that you are very far from Southern Africa. East Africa rocks!!!

Out the gate we drove past many small villages where each family seemed to grow, sell or make their own sort of produce. The government had been running an agricultural diversification project here for the last 4 years and it seemed to be paying off. They sell veggies, fish, chickens, goats, fruit, baskets, mats and even honey amongst many other things. Very different to the long lines of tomatoes, onions, green peppers in the south and the Malawian people look happier and healthier for their diverse diet.

We got to Mangochi town which was teaming with people; mostly people on their bikes and walking as not many people have cars in Malawi. In fact, besides the taxis and trucks there are no other vehicles on the roads. No one drives there? Malawi gets a big tick for its public transport system and reducing carbon emissions!

In Mangochi, not knowing what lay ahead we stocked up with fuel, cash (yes the ATM’s only seem to hold about R2000 and we emptied another one. Oops), and a few groceries and Wayne found us strawberry soft serve! Well that went down like a homesick mole seeing as it was a steamy 38 degrees Celsius outside…

The road to the lake was through a local fishing village and we really didn’t expect to arrive at such an awesome place. We stayed at Chembe Eagles Nest which was right on the shores of the lake which was incredibly beautiful, calm and serene. The world is a very small place because as we arrived, we found people we’d been chatting to on Facebook about Africa travel for a few weeks before we’d left. Awesome! We got to set up camp next to them and all had dinner under the stars. Our Lake adventure starts tomorrow.

We woke early to the sounds of fishermen bringing in the evenings’ catch to the villagers. We had a lazy day sitting around camp and decided to not only recharge our camera’s batteries but our body’s batteries too. I downloaded my photos onto the laptop and mistakenly deleted an entire card!!! So I had to keep it to one side to try some sort of card recovery when I got home.

We went with “Skipper Jeff” on a sunset cruise on a catamaran called ‘Mama Afrika’ to one of the surrounding islands and were finally able jump into the clear water of the lake and snorkel with the tropical cichlids. The water was aqua blue, warm and clear as anything! We swam for about an hour before hopping back on board for some ice cold G+T’s as we watched the sun melting into the endless horizon with the water painted in gold and mauve colors .The water and the sky are as one out here and the horizon seems to stretch as far as the eye can see. We watched as three fish eagles raced each other to a couple of fish Jeff had thrown overboard and I was able to get some great photos of them in flight. We decided to have dinner in the restaurant accompanied by our new friends Tara and Ashley and were treated to a fantastic 3 course meal. Things went pear shaped when the Tequila came out and I was unfortunately ‘tent spinning’ drunk by the time I fell into bed. This unfortunately came back to haunt me in the morning as we had to paddle to our next destination….Domwe Island.

Day 9 of our Malawi adventure and I woke early with a terrible hangover from the previous nights tequila escapades! We had to pack up camp in the early morning heat and make our way to Kayak Africa for our trip over to Domwe Island. The “Feersum Endjinn”, a powerful beast of a boat about 25 feet long with a top deck for sun tanning , safely took our gear over to the island while we hopped into a double kayak and steadily made our way over the deep blue waters to the Island.

It took us about 45 minutes to paddle over and as we drew closer to shore we could see the steep hillside disappear far down with enormous boulders under the crystal water. We undoubtedly got thee best tent deck right up high and under a big baobab tree overlooking the whole bay of Cape Maclear and beyond. A fish eagle clearly also thought the view was great and used it as a perch whilst looking out for any unsuspecting chambo. Every now and then he would scare the be-jeezus out of us with his beautiful but very loud call.

It is a little pricey to camp here and the transfers are in my opinion a little over priced, but it is definitely worth it!!! I suppose you could hook a lift from the fishing village to the island as they head out there every night to catch Kapenta?

As a note to self, try not to pack too much as it all has to fit into your kayak on the way back and there is not much space. The Feersum Endjinn only goes to the island if it has paying fares, so if everyone paddles then you have to fit your camping gear in your canoe to cart it yourself. Saying that though, there is a full kitchen, tents can be arranged, as well as mattresses so you should be okay. You will need your own food, sleeping bag and can also pay the local cook to whip up some tasty meals with your ingredients or buy a fresh fish for dinner from a passing makoro. There is also an honesty bar on the Island which has a small selection of soft drinks, water, tea, coffee and alcohol to choose from. Bring your own spirits if you planning on going big on the island as it is impolite to finish the bar stocks single handed leaving the other campers gagging for a G&T.

That afternoon we set up our tent, prepared some Karoo Lamb flavoured two minute noodles for lunch in the well-equipped kitchen and then popped down for a swim. It is just amazing being able to swim in such tropical blue water that is not salty, “wavey” and full of things that can potentially eat or sting you. It’s like swimming in a big fish tank, swimming pool thingymabob! The fish were amazing and unafraid of people allowing you to study them from a few feet away. Occasionally you get surprised by a cormorant joining you under the water as he wonders if you’re having better luck at catching lunch then he is. Afterwards went back to our deck and lazily hung around in the hammock relaxing while fish eagles soared past us and the cherry on the top was spotting a red headed weaver building a nest in the baobab above us. Life on Domwe Island works on Africa time which suits me down to the T. We were in real relaxation mode by that stage…

For dinner we’d asked the local guys to catch us some fish. They caught us 2 decent ones and we cooked them over the fire on the beach . They charged us 2000 kwacha for each which is around R50 a fish. I am sure we over paid, but we have a policy that we are always prepared to pay what it would cost us in our own country. I find it in very poor form for well off tourists to try and bargain, to below market value, with someone who is living from hand to mouth.

After dinner we lay in our hammock overlooking all the fishing boats on the lake that are lit up by paraffin lanterns. I’m quite convinced that this is why Lake Malawi is called ‘The Lake of Stars’, as there are just so many of them and they do indeed look like floating stars in the water.

It’s day 10 and cell phone alarms have become a thing of the past as we had now become accustomed to waking up before sunrise every morning as we heard the fish eagles calling to each other.They were like roosters but thankfully a lot more of a romantic sound to wake up to. We went for an early morning paddle to the point of the island which was a bit difficult going out as we were paddling against the wind but when we turned around we drifted back to Domwe along the shore past cormorants and fish eagles while watching a myriad of blue cichlids swimming beneath our kayak. A really worthwhile experience and we were back before the sun got too hot. A quick dip and a snorkel back at camp and then it was time for lunch and an afternoon nap. I passed out for about 3 hours on our tent deck purely from just being so relaxed and knowing that there is nothing else I had to do or a place I had to be and so sleep it was.

I woke to the setting sun and we settled on the big boulder in front of the dining area to Malawian G+T’s before having another freshly caught fish for dinner. We sat at the dinner table chatting to the girls we had met in the day and shared stories till just before midnight.

That night the wind came up in the most tremendous gusts. It was like a hurricane descending upon us. It howled and blew the entire night! We lay listening to the sounds of the fishermen shouting over the dark, stormy waters as if in a panic but nevertheless they stayed out to collect the nights catch. It was a restless night for both of us and we didn’t sleep much at all. Little did we know that this wind was to follow us for the next three days and would result in one of the most horrendous nights of our lives.

What a terrible night with the most horrendous wind storm! We got up just as the sun was rising as we just couldn’t lay there for another single uncomfortable minute. The wind was howling over the water and even the thought of having to paddle our kayak back to the mainland made me sea sick. Thank heavens we managed to hitch a lift back on the big boat with the other girls which halved the time it took to get back and gave us a bit of extra time to find our way to Nkhotakota Bay for the night. Before leaving Chembe, we decided to pop into the Gecko Lounge for one of their well renowned pizzas and gain some peace and quiet before heading off to our next destination. Our Tom Tom navigation wanted to take us on a really long route around and so we opted to rather take a short cut hugging the side of the lake. Well, it took us on a road that was probably last used by a car about 50 years ago! There were only footprints and bicycle tracks and bits of broken tar that were long washed away. The grass had grown a foot long in the potholes proving my theory that this was no longer a vehicle road. Anyway what is life without occasionally taking the road less traveled and besides it cut our journey in half. As we drove, children ran from a local school that we passed as I am sure they had never seen a car in this town before.

With views of the lake on our right we arrived at Nkhotakota with storm clouds threatening. The campsite we had originally planned to go to upon arriving really didn’t look like much and was in the middle of nowhere. We had fortunately also seen a place called Sitima Inn in the Lonely Planet book which was a top choice according to them, so we pushed on to Nkhotakota town and found it just before dark. From the outside it was really the most unassuming place. It was an old building built in the shape of a steam boat which stood in front of the Nkhotakota Jetty with yellow paint peeling off the walls. We were seconds away from turning around but it was getting late so we thought we’d at least stop in and have a look at the rooms. To our surprise they were big, clean and decorated with a very basic Moroccan look & feel to them and so we stayed. We went to the upstairs bar which was decorated with old steam boat parts and had the tv on in the background with some arb soccer game playing. The hotel was taken over by a lady and her husband from Pretoria who have really done their utmost to make it a wonderful overnight stop. We had dinner there too which was a huge plate full of great food at a very reasonable cost. We were able to have a hot shower and the most restful sleep on our trip so far. She gave us very confusing information about the ferry we needed to catch the next day and a few frantic phone calls still left us in the dark.

We woke at around 5:30 to the sound of howling wind and rain beating down outside. Even the Malawians didn’t know what was going on as their first summer rains only arrive in late November? It seems we’d brought the weather with us again. We packed and had a great breakfast before leaving to drive to Nkhata Bay. On our way out we stopped at the St. Anne’s hospital to see the big fig tree that Livingstone camped under in 1861 when he had meetings to try and stop the slave trade. Amazing to stand in the exact same place as Livingstone did! WOW!

The thought of having to get onto the Ilala Ferry today was not one we were looking forward to in this weather but the thought of being in line with Tanzania today was exciting! The roads up north are very narrow and barely have enough space for one car never mind two. The bridges are all single lane and when you overtake you have to drive with one side of your car off the verge and the other scraping past the trucks on your left. Travel in Malawi however has been very easy, the roads are generally in really good condition, the police don’t harass and try bribe you and the people are incredibly friendly and helpful wherever you go. Driving through the towns there are loads of little trading stores which sell and do multiple things like hair salons, to video stores, to bat pest control, to clothing, to food, to bottle stores, to laundry services, tailors, bicycle repair shops, taverns, brick makers, day care centers, schools, people on bicycles, taxis with fish hanging on the windscreen wipers whilst air drying in the sun, goats, pigs and cattle. It’s organized African chaos and it seems to work well for them. All the children in Malawi wear the same school uniform which only differs in color from blue in the south to green in the north but the pattern is the same having a big white bib like collar and all below the knee length.

Day 13 of our Malawi adventure had us driving up north the scenery had started to changed. It was a lot greener and the lake had been on our right hand side only a few meters off the road for quite a long time. The weather had caused waves to crash up onto the shore which had made the lake look like the sea. The people too have changed and there was a lot more of a Muslim influence with the women wearing the traditional Muslim cloth on their heads and having finer features more like the Somalians. We got to Nkatha Bay early and went to Aqua Africa for some lunch before heading off to go to try and sort Wayne’s ear out as it was still blocked. After much driving around and stopping in at some very dodgy looking hospitals and doctors we eventually decided to buy a syringe and try and fix it ourselves. On our return to Aqua Africa we saw that the Ilala Ferry had arrived and so we promptly went to the ticket office buy our tickets before the first class on the top deck was sold out. After that it was much waiting around, first back at Aqua Africa, boarding at around 17:00 and then having a 3 hour wait before finally departing at 20:00. There were just so many people loading everything from 50kg maize bags to chickens to cement to plastic buckets and mattresses… I didn’t think that there would be space for even one person after seeing all that stuff but amazingly everything fitted in. The water was very rough and I soon decided to fill my stomach with some food and then get into a horizontal position as soon as possible to avoid the oncoming sea sickness I was feeling. It was cold, windy and the ferry was being thrown in every conceivable direction pounding hard against the waves each time it dropped. I just lay there saying a little prayer for safe travels as it was quite frankly hair raising. We had to stop at another island first to off and onload people which severely delayed our arrival time at Likoma Island. The night was really horrific and we found everyone either vomiting over the side of the ferry or flat on their backs trying to keep everything down. We tried to get some sleep on the filthy deck all huddled together trying to keep warm as well as protect our bags but we really didn’t sleep much at all. By 3am we couldn’t stand the stench of the vomit all over and proceeded to find another spot to lay our heads for the last leg of the trip. On arrival we saw the Nkwichi Lodge boat on its way to collect us and there was just an enormous sigh of relief to the end of a terrible night. An adventure nevertheless…

“I spotted the sunken outdoor rock bath and it was time to wash the Ilala stench off”

Well we were most certainly glad to see the back of that damn boat and so were our new friends Clair and Andrew. Poor Andrew got a blast of engine dust all over him which really made him look as bad as how we all felt!!! We were warmly welcomed onto the Nkwichi transfer boat with a cooler box full of ice cold beers which just made our entire day!!! First we had to stop at Cobue at immigrations first before heading off to the Lodge.We arrived at Nkwichi at around 10am after another hour and a half and very wavy ride through 3m swells. Nkwichi truly is a hidden gem in practically the middle of nowhere. It is high up in the Niassa region of Mozambique and is totally wild. We were given welcome drinks on arrival and shown to our room which was aptly named ‘Niassa’ too. The room is built around stone and rock that was already present and has minimal impact on its’ surroundings. I immediately spotted the sunken outdoor rock bath and it was time to wash the Ilala stench off of my body and bird watch from the bubbles for a while… The lodge had lunch set up for us on the beach under the thatched umbrella with colonial white linen,silver cutlery and the table adorned with bright pink frangipani flowers… We had quiche, homemade bread and a fresh green salad while we overlooked the lake… After that we retreated to our room for an afternoon siesta to try and catch up on some lost hours from the night before. We were absolutely knackered! We woke just before dark and just in time to join everyone for dinner. First we went down to the beach for drinks and snacks where they had chairs set up around a big bonfire with lanterns all over the place. Then we were off to the main lodge for a scrumptious 3 course dinner! The food was absolutely fantastic and a really nice change from the 2 minute noodles and other basic camp food that we’d been eating for 2 weeks. Our body’s were starting to really feel the need for some fresh fruit and veg… It was early to bed and I fell into a deep sleep while listening to the sound of the lake’s waves crashing onto the big boulders that line the beach at Nkwichi…

We were awake early again and I saw a glimmer of sun shining through the reed walls of the room onto our mosquito net. I took my camera and walked onto the white sandy pathway to the beach where the sand is so fine that it squeaks beneath your feet. Nkwichi lodge set up a scrumptious breakfast out on the deck at the main beach and we chatted to Kristina who helps run the lodge with her boyfriend Malcolm and we sat asking her questions for our article as the fish eagles flew by. After breakfast we went for a snorkel in the tropical waters in amongst the jagged rocks looking at the cichlids again and then lazed about in the sun soaking up the absolute beauty of this wild and untouched piece of Africa… It’s just so peaceful here…

Lunch was up on the main deck at the lodge and was an array of Moroccan salads, potato salads, fresh bread and spaghetti with a lemon and tomato relish…Feeling so unwound we headed off for another afternoon nap and then headed up for dinner which was set up on the beach with lanterns hanging around us under a blanket of million stars…truly romantic!

We had an early start to the day as two other people had to get to the Likoma airport for their flight. When we woke, the water on the lake looked like glass, but as we left it soon got windy and very wavy AGAIN! We were given big rain coats to avoid being soaked by the splashing waters of Lake Niassa spraying up on our faces. It was amazing traveling towards Likoma Island with Mozambique on our right, Malawi on our left and the huge mountains of Tanzania ahead of us in the distance. It’s surreal to actually be here after so many years of bucket list dreaming sitting behind an office desk looking at pictures that other dream makers have taken in far off Neverland places. It really takes some time for reality to sink in, but when it does you are in absolute awe of the reality…I had come to love Africa and its absolute simplicity. I love it for it is truly a land with the motto to me, “Ask and it is given, seek and you will find, knock and the most amazing opportunities will be opened up to you through the most unassuming doors… It is indescribably beautiful in its bareness… It is a land of dreams and failures, hope and fear, love and hate, home and distant lands…

We arrived safely at Likoma after 2 and a half hours and went to immigrations to get our passports stamped. The immigrations officer was a guy in a T-shirt that said “What Da Duck (pic of a duck)”… LOL only in Africa!

We were picked up in an old blue F series Land Cruiser by the Mango Drift Manageress, Georgina and taken on a 20 minute drive through rural areas and parked outside a little primary school where all the children hung out of the window waving to us . We then walked a short distance down to Mango Drift Backpackers which is set in a bay on the shores of Lake Malawi. Again very unassuming from the outside but on being shown our room, the reed doors were opened to a double bed with crisp white linen, surrounded with a big mosquito net and strewn with Bougainvillea flowers like we had arrived in the honeymoon suite. All the rooms are right on the beach and the dreamy blue waters are only a stones throw away… The bar is also right on the beach under a big thatch area with Jack Johnson singing the afternoon away. It is seriously relaxed and awesome there!

We sat having a few ice-cold Malawian rum and coke’s while Wayne carried on writing the article for Nkwichi. We met Tim who we recognized from the Ilala trip who was from Philadelphia and who worked in a vineyard farm in Virginia. He’d been in Malawi for 3 odd months helping to set up an agricultural program in the communities.

By this time hunger had set in and we ordered 2 pizzas to get us through to dinner time. They were FANTASTIC! I’m not sure if it’s because we were so hungry or because they were just good! Nap time! “Magies vol ogies toe”! Al veer!!! (tummies full, eyes closed AGAIN!)

They set up dinner around a big table where everyone at Mango sat together and they served us a huge plate full of chilli con carne while we sat and watched the trillion stars above before a good nights rest.

Another early morning woken by the birds at Mango Drift. It’s becoming quite pleasant to use them as an alarm instead of a cell phone. The wind is STILL blowing after 6 days now. It has been rippling the usually still waters so much that we can’t see below the surface making the temperature quite a bit cooler too, and I’m done with it now! We enjoyed a lovely cup of Malawian tea and poached eggs on toast for breakfast and are now contemplating what to do for the day. There is a dark black cloud hanging in the sky and we’re not quite sure what to do? We didn’t want to get caught walking out in the rain as we didn’t have our car with, eventually succumbed to just lazing around with some occasional snorkeling in the bay. We played games, ate lunch, read books, had drinks, played pool, watched a killer sunset, had dinner and crashed after photographing the big baobab under the night skies…Life is so blissful out there.

“We lay with our heads on life jackets looking up at the shooting stars all the way back to Nkhata and it was just beautiful!”

A nice early morning swim in the lake to freshen up was just what we needed. The wind was calm so far and we were holding thumbs that it stayed that way. We had to get onto the Ilala Ferry and there was much worried anticipation about it seeing as our last trip was so horrendous! We decided that should it look like it was going to rain we’d get a cabin and if the weather looked good, we’d risk the upper deck again. We had made a few friends at Mango Drift who would be traveling on the ferry too so at least we’d have company… We sat around waiting for our transfer to the Ferry until about 13:30 and then packed up and left. Georgina quickly took us to the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is the largest one in Africa, and we managed to get a few photos from the outside as it was locked up. I’m sad we didn’t have more time to look around and see more of it but nevertheless we got some photos and we saw it, so I was happy! We boarded the ferry via a small, wobbly fishing boat and then had another 2 odd hours to sit around waiting to leave, so I whipped out my nail polish and painted my nails to pass the time. It gave new meaning to the phrase “waiting for paint to dry”. Two of the girls we had met at Mango Drift along with another gentleman all decided they were going to jump from the roof of the Ilala into the water to cool off before we left, so I managed to get some great action shots! When we left, the lake was as flat as glass and we couldn’t even feel the boat moving! What a relief and a difference compared to our last experience! We lay with our heads on the life jackets looking up at the shooting stars all the way back to Nkhata and it was just too beautiful! We docked at about 22:30pm and went to Mayoka Village with Brett, an Australian guy we’d met, and he agreed to let us share his room for the night as we had an early start the next day and didn’t want to fork out a huge load of money. Mayoka Village is set on a steep hill overlooking Nkhata Bay and reminded me somewhat of a Tibetan monastery with all these little quirky huts jutted all over the place and wiggly pathways on the slopes. We arrived to a party and everyone there was dressed in animal suits from bears, to giraffes to crocodiles! Then some old Malawian guy pitched with his homemade guitar and played for about an hour and got the pub pumping with people dancing and singing their hearts out! No one seems to know who he is but he apparently pitches up every few months, entertains everyone and then leaves again…strange?

We left Mayoka Village at about 6am to make our way north to Livingstonia. My stomach was on its head today and I was seriously feeling the effects of dehydration set in. We went to Mzuzu town on our first stop as we had to try and draw more cash. Just our luck that not ONE ATM was working! The thought of having to turn back crossed our minds and it just wasn’t an option we wanted to even think of. We waited until the banks all opened at 8 and asked if we could draw cash inside the bank but still no one could help us. Eventually we tried the same ATM again and it finally worked! Thank heavens!

We made our way to Livingstonia through many winding roads. When we got to the top of the one mountain and had the most incredible view of the northern side of the lake right over to the Tanzanian mountains! We took the dust road turnoff to Livingstonia and wound our way up 15km of the most nerve wracking single track road that I have ever been on! The cliffs next to the car were just sheer vertical drops. One wrong move and we would have be obliterated into smithereens!!! The view from the top was just absolutely astounding! We stayed at Lukwe Eco Camp which has views right over a big gorge next to the Machinga Waterfall and over the lake to the wild and seemingly untouched mountains of Tanzania. THE VIEW, OH MY GOD THE VIEW!!! It has got to have the second best view in the whole of Africa next to standing on top of Kilimanjaro! This is one place you don’t want to miss out on peeps. We had homemade fishcakes and fresh salad grown in their own gardens and then took a drive to Livingstonia and went to the old stone house museum and saw a big old mission church with a stained glass window with David Livingstone on it. It is also the base of the Livingstonia University which I’m sure is the most hidden and tucked away university in the world! If you want to make sure your kids don’t sneak out of uni at night to go partying, then this is the place to send them to LOL

From there we drove to the Machinga Falls and paid R15 each to go and have a look over the edge and were led by 4 little local boys who showed us the way. They nimbly hopped from rock to rock barefoot. We desperately tried to keep up with them as they took us on a trail along the side of the cliff which was as close an adrenalin rush as jumping off the Vic Falls Bridge. Again just one wrong step and that would have been the end of us. It just dropped down for hundreds of meters. We saw the cave behind the waterfall that the people used to hide in to escape being taken as slaves and then he took us for an incredibly steep ‘short cut’ where we had to grab onto tree roots to avoid falling back. My heart felt like it was going to just climb out my throat, and to top it off I really didn’t feel well either.

I couldn’t stomach much more than just a salad for dinner and had some lemongrass tea before collapsing into bed for the night…

We had a yummy breakfast of cooked oats as well as eggs on homemade toast with some of their local honey and then decided to brave the hour-long journey back down the winding mountain pass from Livingstonia. When we were finally down and now making our way back up the other tar mountain pass we came around a corner and almost hit two crowned eagles who flew off in a flurry! We stopped and saw that they were on top of an adolescent baboon ripping the poor thing to shreds! He was still alive but in a complete state of shock. Behind us came the male baboon and was chasing the eagles to try to get them off the youngster. I felt desperately sorry for the little creature but I knew that there was absolutely nothing we could do.

In Mzuzu town we took another road that went straight to Lilongwe which was our destination for the night. Just past Mzuzu we witnessed the destruction caused by severe deforestation which seemed to stretch for kilometers over the mountains into the distance for as far as the eye could see. There didn’t seem to be much, if any, regulation to chopping the trees and no signs of re-planting either. Malawi’s only problem is total over-population and will unfortunately destroy the country if things are not done to change that.

It was a long day of driving and we drove into a very busy Lilongwe at around 16h00 and booked in at the Bridgeview Hotel. It was nice and clean and we finally had a bathroom all to ourselves!!! A small luxury that one doesn’t get often when traveling in Africa and one which we had not yet had on our Malawi adventure! We went across the road to the shopping centre and stocked up on some more travel food and mementos for all the family back at home and then sat down for some cheap & oily Galitos chicken for dinner! We unfortunately didn’t really sleep too well and were up at 4am with the sounds of the local mosque guy singing that whiny song they sing… If I’d have found him he would have got a slap!!!

Day 21 of our Malawi adventure and we woke to the sound of the early prayer call to Mosque and went downstairs for the hotel breakfast (baked beans, sausage,chicken livers and curried potatoes) yuk! but it filled the gap nevertheless! Today we were off to dusty Tete again. We had a packet full of ‘cold-drink bribes’ for any annoying cops that might stop us as we seriously didn’t believe in paying monetary bribes in Africa. We battled to change our Kwachas for Dollars but eventually found a bureau de exchange who didn’t give us too many hassles. Just a word of advice is to keep all your ATM slips etc to prove where you got the money from otherwise they get a bit suspicious.

The road to the Dedza border post is really good and goes through a very beautiful mountainous region and is about 80km from Lilongwe. The border was a breeze on both sides and we are happy to announce that we didn’t have ONE SINGLE OUNCE of trouble in the whole of Malawi! The 223 road to Tete is in really good condition as opposed to the EN103 which is terribly potholed and can only be traveled on at around 20km an hour. Soon our lunch time hunger set in and it was a mixture of lips and assholes, veins and tapeworms (and mechanically de boned chicken parts)! BULLYBEEF! (to be precise) oh, and ice-cold Savannas too…if you can overcome the thought of the ingredients it makes a super meal!

We pulled into Tete at about 16:00pm into to the shady and green little haven at Mozbife’s guest rooms. We relaxed under the shade of a big tree with a Malawian Rum and Cherry Plum soda before going to have a good scrub down in the shower. Dinner was again bully beef and 2 “ninute moodles” (I have gotten into the terrible habit of swapping the first letter of all my words around just for a laugh )

Day 22 of our Malawi (and now Mozambique) adventure got us up at 5:30 and a quick bowl of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes before heading off to Chimoio! So far we’ve managed to draw cash at the ATM, fill up with fuel and pay with our credit card and the EN103 on the other side of Tete is great so far as opposed to the other side.

Wayne had been looking to buy a used axe from a local for the past 1000km or so, and FINALLY he stopped on the side of the road and asked a guy making wooden curios if he would sell his. He said he couldn’t as it was his only axe but a young fellow standing next to him said that he would sell his axe as he had a spare one which was made by his grandfather. He returned with it and we paid 500 Meticals for it in a place called Nhazonia. When Wayne asked about the axe, the old man said “Yes, in this town this axe is called “The Maximum!” It had been through 3 generations and had quite a history behind it…

We also asked him about a mine on the side of the mountain and he said it was a “green stone” mine. He said the children usually look for emeralds that wash down in the river and when he finds one he is going to buy himself a 2 ton truck, start his own business and transport things between Chimoio and Tete!

Chimoio is quite a big, busy city with a ton of people, taxis and also apparently, other than parts of Maputo, the only other Mozambican city with drinkable water!

We booked in at the Pink Papaya, which in my opinion was a bit expensive for what we got. It was an eclectic mix of pink painted furniture,cheap Chinese trinkets hanging all over and a pink bathroom with an underwater kiddies shower curtain! Interesting to say the least… Nevertheless the rooms are clean and there are some other interesting travelers to chat to around the burning mosquito coils. We decided to all club in and do a joint meal of pasta with a homemade tomato relish, fresh veggies and a fruit salad for dessert!

We had an early start to get to the military convoy the next morning so we thought a good few rum and cokes should help us to sleep well and hopefully keep the mozzies off too! Unfortunately the security guard decided to rake the entire garden and water the plants right outside our window before the cock started crowing at 02:00am and some drunken man came banging and screaming at the gate, so not much sleep was had at all!

Malawi Adventure – Day 23 and we were up at 04:00am, made some coffee, dressed, packed and were on the road by 5:00am. Today was convoy day! The whole reason that we cancelled our Mozambique trip in the first place… With much trepidation we headed off to Muxungue where it started from.

We got there and the military guy asked us if we’d like to go ahead without the convoy and we agreed to go alone giving him a Fanta Orange and a smile! Our nerves were a bit on edge driving at 140km/h past burnt out trucks and cars but we made it through in just over an hour with no problems at all!

Time to get to the white, sandy beaches of Vilanculos! Baobab Beach was waiting! We drove into the town of Vilanculos and just over the rise there was this absolutely ‘postcard perfect’ aqua blue sea in front of us as well as the Bazaruto Islands in the distance! Oh my word…HEAVEN! We’d booked into one of Baobab Beaches’ en suite chalets, which to our surprise was only R225 pppn, which is ridiculously cheap considering that you get a chalet practically right on the perfect white powder beach and nestled between coconut palms, baobabs, frangipani and hibiscus trees with views of all the old, colorful wooden dhows resting on the sand waiting for high tide to return. After wading in the waist deep water for most of the afternoon in awe of being in such a paradise, we finished off the afternoon with a nice braai overlooking the sea,a few sun downers and a game or two of pool before heading off to bed.

We had managed to organize a day out on Isle Margaruque with lunch and snorkeling. When we woke up the wind was just crazy and I was beginning to think that we seemed to take it with wherever we went? Anyway, we packed our stuff for the day and headed down to Dolphin Dhow Safaris which was a short walk down the beach. We opted to hop onto a speed boat instead of the dhow considering that the wind was howling and the waves were all over the place and knew that it would mean less time to spend getting sea sick and more time to relax on a tropical Island. Well 1 minute into the boat ride we were soaked to the bone as the waves came splashing over the front of the boat with every wave we went over. The guy at the back was bailing water out as quickly as it was coming in, (which seems to be the norm on most Mozambican boats!)

We made it over the reef just before low tide and set ourselves up on the beach under a thatched sun shade and waited for a a hopeful break in the wind. After about an hour or so we took our snorkeling gear and walked about 100m down the beach and swam to the deeper side of the reef and floated down with the current as we looked at a myriad of amazing fishes! Despite the visibility not being great due to the wind, we saw angels, parrot fish, mussel crackers, eels, kingfish and so much more…we did the circuit a few times like kids on a super tube and then went back to where the skippers had prepared the most awesome lunch for us. We had fresh crab, kingfish, rice, curried vegetables, salad and then bananas and paw paws for dessert. After lunch we were back in the water snorkeling again and I think we must have left at about 14:30 or so. Considering we were out for about 7 hours and paid only R550 each, I think we definitely got our money’s worth!

By the time we got back we were both feeling the serious effects of being in the sun all day. Wayne’s face got really burnt and somehow my legs fried lobster red! By the time I went to bed my ass was on FIRE!

Mozambique Adventure – Day 25: I got up as it was just too hot and uncomfortable lying in bed. The wind seemed to have died down and so I decided to sit on the deck, watch the sunrise and catch up on some writing. Besides the sound of the rickety old fan blowing in the room it was so peaceful outside. It was already proving to be a stinker hot day at 34 degrees celcius!

We took a drive around Vilanculos looking for somewhere open to have a cuppa coffee and a bite to eat. We pulled into a place with a nice view over the harbor and sat listening to the whimbrals squawking and we managed to see a black heron sitting on a big old dhow only meters away from us. The heat was just a hot,dead heat. Not even a breeze to cool the sweat on our brows and it was only 8:18am!

From here we went back to Baobab Beach, poured ourselves a Tipo Tinto, Cherry Sobo and Coke, took our umbrella and a big red apple each and plonked ourselves in the warm, shallow, aqua water to cool off. We looked like two colonials sitting there wallowing.

Afterwards we wanted to find some lunch and so went to Smugglers where Wayne had traditional Portuguese chicken and chips and I had a pizza and R+R’s. we had a lazy afternoon back at Baobab lazing around in the Hammocks and then landed up back at Smugglers for dinner. There was at least a bit of a vibe with good music playing but still not much of a party to speak of. I went to bed and Wayne went to the bar for a while longer and waited for his ‘tiredness’ to catch up to him…

Day 26 of our Mozambique adventure and we woke, packed the car and had breakfast at Baobab Beach before heading off to Pomene but first we stopped in at Massinga town to buy some supplies at the local supermarket. Wayne came out with tinned chicken viennas, tinned polony and a 5l jug of red wine called a “Bombarril!” He said that the store was obviously owned by Asians who had a system of 3 different checkpoints at the till seeing that nothing gets stolen. After all that they gave him a free bottle of awful looking brown vinegar to thank him for his “big” purchase of R50.00? Needless to say, we’re too scared to even open it LOL!

We back-tracked 8km to the Pomene Rd turnoff and onto a VERY bumpy and rural road that became a puzzled network of a million others into what seemed like the middle of nowhere? We had a written map to follow which was much like following a treasure map. We felt like kids as we read things like “Turn left at the big boat sign, not the small boat sign, then right at the first fork and left at the second and left again at the one that says TUN (turn) LEFT!” Never mind the fact that there are a million forks in the road as you go but previous experience told us to take the road more traveled on. After roughly a 2 hour ride we arrived at Paradise Beach Lodge. It is set on the banks of the Pomene estuary with the sea on the other side and is littered with shells and pink flamingos all over the place. They are just too beautiful!

The rooms are big and spacious and are fully equipped to self cater, or alternatively you can order food from the restaurant. We opted for a seafood pizza which we were told was enormous, and enormous it was! Wayne and I shared one and only got through two pieces each as it was thick and jam packed with seafood and cheese! Definitely a winner!

We were in bed by 7 and slept like babies till 7 the next morning! (Oh babies don’t really sleep do they? okay we slept like logs!)

Malawi/Mozambique Adventure – Day 27 and I hopped out of bed a little earlier to get some sunrise pics and then hopped back into bed to snuggle for a while.When we got up we re-fried our left over pizza for breakfast and then packed a backpack and headed South for a nice long walk on the beach to the head of the lagoon where the mangroves were too thick to push through. On the way we passed flamingos, rural villages, mokoros, millions of shells and made our way through mangroves and over soft peat to the point where we could walk no further as we noticed the tide turning. When we turned back we had to cross a small section in waist deep water with our bags over our heads to avoid them getting wet as the tide had come in really quickly.

When we got back we were treated to a huge brunch by France and then went back to our chalet where we spent most of the day with our feet up feeding the birds pao (bread) crumbs and watching them drink from our makeshift bird bath. It was a lazy day all in all and we landed up at the restaurant for dinner where we were given fresh calamari and chips and had invented some cocktails before heading off for another early night. The wind was STILL howling by the time we went to bed and it was a restless night with more crazy dreams for the both of us thanks to the Mefliam malaria medication!

We got up, had breakfast and then went on a short boat cruise to the river mouth to see where it breaks onto the reef and where we were lucky enough to see dolphins and take a few snapshots for the lodge. When we got back we decided to leave and make our way south to Paindane! It took us about 5 hours to get there with much confused navigation with regards to TomTom as she seemed to be leading us on non existing roads??? We sort of used our common sense with direction and finally got there! To our surprise we were the ONLY people there! The only people at one of the world’s top 5 known snorkeling spots!!!

We paid a once off R226 and a further R170 pppn for a 6 sleeper chalet! It was really big and had spectacular views over the bay with whales breaching really close to shore. We had dinner at Jeff’s beach bar and then headed off home for an early sleep. It wasn’t a particularly great sleep as it was hot and our pillows were as hard as rock as well as no mosquito nets so we spent the whole night trying to whack the air in vain hope of killing the little bastards!!! No such luck unfortunately.

Malawi/Mozambique Adventure – Day 29. I woke up early and decided to cook some scrambled eggs on toast with some fresh coffee! I wanted to get into the water early as the low tide was on its way out and I thought it would be great to have a few extra hours of snorkeling in the coral gardens of Paindane which is rated one of the top 5 snorkeling sites in the world! The visibility was at least 30-40m which is just incredible and we saw a million different fish! It was absolutely amazing! We were out there for about 2 hours and then spent a few more hours on the beach under a big platted reed umbrella drinking a HUGE jug of homemade sangria. We enjoyed the sangria so much that by the time we wanted to snorkel again the tide was too high and we were just being flung around in the waves for nothing so we gave up. We bought some crayfish from the locals and froze them so that we could braai them back home and reminisce over our Mozambican memories. We decided to take a drive to Neptunes Beach Bar in Barra in search of some other tourists, people or humans we had met before and so we found them! It took us an hour and a half of thick sand driving with our music blaring like teenagers to travel the 50km or so to get there and we were back in a nostalgic memory of a holiday gone past over a year ago! Bliss! Beautiful weather and not much wind and we decided to stay over for the night! Love it! Barra Reef Divers is based right there as well as “Walk on Water” which offers a whole range of various water sports!

It was drinks and prawn rissoles to ease into the afternoon and we were hoping for the music to turn up a bar or two and for a party to emerge? So far Jack Johnson was lulling us into the night but I was still holding thumbs for some action…then Rodrigues oozed from the speakers and the mood was set. Okay so we waited and not much happened so bed it was! I think we’d gotten used to early nights and early mornings, although we’re always up for a good party if there is one around!

Our month long Malawi/Mozambique adventure has come to an end and we are all the richer for it. Early rise and we’re on the homeward bound stretch… Today we say goodbye to the coconut palms, baobabs, rural villages and middle of heavenly nowheres.Endings are always sad, but all the good things and blessings we have back home make it okay to turn back. There will always be more good times ahead, journeys and adventures to plan, places to see and memories to make. We had a 5 hour drive to get to Blue Anchor which is owned by Paul and Lizzie Hallowes who are old Zululanders and well-known to many, many travelers and good friends of Wayne and his family too. It was a long, long day of driving and the distance just seemed to take that much longer when you’re driving home. We played music, games, silence, anything and everything to just try make time pass quicker…we finally got to Blue Anchor at around 16:00pm, put our stuff in the room and I had a ‘moerse’ long shower to scrub the travel dirt off my body! Time to unwind at the bar with a drink and a nice home cooked meal before we headed off for another early night. The last 7 hour stretch lay before us the next day before we reached home to all our family & friends…

Malawi/Mozambique Adventure – Day 31 and we’re on our way home…We left at 04:45 from Blue Anchor in the rain and started to make our way back. Not much to do and an ETA of 12:30. We had 2 very effortless border crossings with no issues from any cops at all and arrived safely back in Mtunzini to friends and family, kids and dogs, chaos, hugs, laughter and smiles! What an AWESOME adventure and so many memories that have been made! Thank you for following us on our month-long journey and for all the shares and reblogs!!! You all ROCK!