Wowee Malawi

Sunset over Lake Malawi

Our students were on a two week break as we have finished the lecture portion of their semester. We thought we would take this break to do some travelling and get to know more of Southern Africa. Many people have told us about how amazing Malawi was so we decided to go and see how beautiful it was for ourselves.
We first had to bus from Mongu to Lusaka. Our high priority was to try a veggie burger at Steers, the local fastfood joint (seriously there is no where to eat in Mongu). We were excited to be in the big city and be able to blend in a bit more. Then we took another looooooong bus ride to Chipata in Eastern Province, Zambia. This bus ride was suppose to be 5 hours as promised by the bus operator. However it took us 15 hours! The bus left 2 hours late, broke down for 3 hours and we had to wait on the side of the road in the blistering sun for someone to drive the part to us from Lusaka. Then while we were driving, someone threw a rock at the window and smashed a window two seats up from us. It was like being in a war and a shot was fired and everyone hit the ground. But don’t worry moms, we are ok. The plan was to get to the capital of Malawi that day, but we spent the night in Chipata to avoid travelling at night.
The next trek was from Chipata to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. It goes as follows: cab to border, change money illegally inside cab, flirt with border guards, stamp passports, cab to the nearest town, grab a minibus, and finally off to Lilongwe…In the capital things were a little hectic as always. Jessica luckily made a friend on the bus who “helped” us get a cab to our hostel. He was a little upset when she wouldn’t kiss him, but what did he expect, they just met right? Ohhhhh Africa.
We spent two nights at a great hostel where we met some fun people and lounged by the pool. Our favorite ones were two guys from Israel, they would make us their traditional coffee at their campsite..on their little campstove. Has anyone ever had Israeli coffee before?? It is strong stuff! This was just the beginning of the many Israeli’s we would run into during this trip. We learned that the reason for meeting so many young Israeli’s is that they all must put in 3 years of Army service once they turn 18 (both men and women). Once they are out…they all just want to see the world and travel!
We took another bus to get to Mzuzu where we spent one night to avoid traveling in the dark. The next morning we mini bused to Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi where, after 5 days of travelling long hours, we decided to spend an entire week just relaxing.
Our resort was beautiful. There was no room in the hostels when we got there, but the owner let us stay in a chalet for two nights at dorm price (4$). The chalet was so amazing that we ended up staying there all week (10$ a night thereafter). We had a private little beach, and the view of the lake was outstanding.

The chalets where we stayed on Lake Malawi

We met so many fun travelers from all over the world. We ate at unreal buffets where our plates were heaping with both comfort food and local dishes as well. The majority of our days were filled with swimming and sun bathing. However, we did frequent the markets in town and a few boat trips as well. It was free to borrow snorkel gear from the hostel so every morning we snorkeled and saw the glorious cichlids (over 850 species of cichlids in Lake Malawi) which is the fish found in the lake. Lianne went scuba diving and saw mama cichlids fight off predators and then all the babies would hide in her mouth when she felt threatened (up to 40 fish in her mouth!!).

Chiclid Fish we saw while snorkeling

The feel of Nkhata bay was extremely laid back. The place was filled with Rastafarians and mostly every night the place had live music. One thing we did notice was almost everyone smoked, which is quite different from Zambia as no one there does! This is probably because Malawi’s primary export is tobacco..so that means supply is plentiful for the locals.
We were very sad to leave Lake Malawi as we knew that we were leaving behind such a beautiful place. We also knew we had to make that loooooooooooong trek all the way back to Mongu.

Well we made it back, no break downs on the way back ..or rocks thrown at our bus! We stayed an extra day in Lusaka, to stock up on a few things from the big city that we can’t get in Mongu. We were so excited to go grocery shopping and get items that we are unable to find at our local grocery store (which I must say is lacking in many things!!) Our most exciting finds were hair conditioner, mustard, salad dressing, salsa and taco shells. In the big city we went out with friends who took us bowling and for sushi. Yes we had sushi in Africa, it was actually pretty good..but really expensive.
The last leg of our journey was the bus ride back to Mongu. Pretty cool that to get to Mongu we have to drive through one of the biggest game parks in Zambia. On this trip we saw zebras on the side of the road! (as well as the usual elephants, antelope, impalas, warthogs, etc) It was so nice to be in familiar territory again. We got off the bus station and instead of being hassled and ripped off by all the cab drivers just waiting for the tourist mizungus (white people)…we had our local trusty cab driver Max waiting for us! It feels so good to be home. It got HOT in Mongu in those two weeks that we were gone. We are worried because everyone keeps telling us that October is the hottest month. We are both already sleeping with no covers, and fans on continuously. We are going to be in big trouble once October hits!
We were also very excited to return back to Mongu because Cam had just returned from a trip back to Canada. He was waiting for us with so many care packages from home. It was really Christmas in September!!! Cam was also able to bring back much needed textbooks, and computer software that will go to help the school of nursing. Thank-you to everyone who sent stuff with Cam, it was the best Christmas ever.