Chilling In Tanzania & Malawi

[ by Stian ]

The journey across Africa is a long one, and some days we had to drive for hours and hours. Some places didn't even offer a lot to do or to see either, except for a certain few things. Thankfully the G-Adventures company had picked out pretty amazing campsites for us to camp at – so even though there was not so much to do during our two last days while in Tanzania, and during the trip through Malawi, at least we had very very nice surroundings to enjoy:)

Mikumi

So, we are still in Tanzania though. We left Zanzibar in the morning and had to catch up with TJ and the truck again in Dar Es Salaam. We then had to drive for approximately eight hours, but this time included a slow drive through the Mikumi National Park, as this park is crossed by a highway – though speed limit was just around 60km/h. We also had to be very quit so that we did not disturb the wildlife in the area. We did spot some wildlife of course, but not much of interest except for a pretty lard herd of African buffaloes and also a new animal – the pygmy elephants:) We eventually did arrive at our new campsite, which was the Tan-Swiss Campsite, located close to the Ruha River. It was the least interesting campsite during the whole trip I think, as there was nothing to do or to see here – other than geese – which TJ tried to scare away with his whip...ah well. Thankfully we had Silje with us who did some crazy yoga moves, which entertained us (though I don't think it was supposed to be so entertaining;) haha.

Iringa

We had already passed 1/4^th of the total Africa adventure tour by this date. The day was really hot and nice, and the drive from Mikumi to Iringa, where our next campsite was located, was thankfully a short one. On our way we stopped to explore a baobab-tree, which Julian referred to as the rafiki-tree – as the baboon Rafiki in the Lion King movie lived in a baobab tree. For the one who doesn't know (which is probably 95% of you): «Rafiki» is the word for «friend» in the Swahili language;)

We also did a stop at the Umaki Neema Crafts Guest House, which was nice enough. This arts and crafts place, which also functioned as a hotel/guest house, was run mainly by deaf and disabled people. We got a tour through the center where we were introduced to the craftsmen and got to see them working. Afterwards we got the chance to purchase stuff of course. As this was the last stop where we could spend our Tanzanian money, quiet a few ended up purchasing something, which was nice. We then had lunch at the spot right afterwards – and this time we had couscous with vegetables – a meal that we had several times during the trip, not to everyones pleasure unfortunately, but I found it nice:)  

We arrived our destination at the Kisolanza Farm Campsite in the afternoon. This turned out to be a very very very very nice campsite. We were introduced to the very friendly lady who runs the place and we all got maps so that we could go for a walk in the area. We chose to go for the lake-walk, which was nice even though we got «lost» and walked way way further than we were supposed to do, haha. The extra exercise was just wonderful though, as we have been sitting way to much on our butts during this trip so far. The campsite was also very very very nice as it offered really hot showers, which we rarely experienced during our Africa-tour, and after having been served a really nice meal by Julian once again, we all could enjoy our time with hot chocolate and amarulla by the fire as we had a nice chat, and where we could admire the most amazing starry sky we have seen so far on the trip. It was a really really nice evening, despite the night being pretty much back to freezing again.

MALAWI

It was about time to cross another border and enter a new country, and this time we would be passing through the country of Malawi. I have to admit – the only thing I knew about Malawi from before was that Madonna adopted her babies from here, and got in trouble for that, but they changed the law only for her so that it would work out... well ok. That was it really.

Well Malawi is not a big country, it's not even a third of the size of my native country Norway. There are though more than 3 times as many people living within this area compared to Norway, as the population of Malawi is around 16,4 million. Malawi borders to Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi, the third largest lake in Africa, and the ninth largest lake in the world. Malawi is one of the least-developed countries in the world, and a the majority of the population is living in poverty. Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality and there is a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which is a drain on the labor force and government expenditures. The future aspects of Malawi seems to look better though as there is a slight improvement in development, but the country is still in need of heavily support of foreign subsidies.

4 Days In Malawi

We would be spending 4 days in Malawi and our itinerary did not have any heavy plans for us at all during this time. The first day was a long ride, as it included border crossing. The most popular activities during our long rides was of course card games, actually the Norwegian card games «mattis» and «idiot». We did try other games as well but seemed to always fall back to mattis, as it is a very simple game to play and easy to teach others as well. Also, I loved the way Natasha was pronouncing the name of the game, as what I "heard" when she asked us if we wanted to play mattis was: "Who want to play my tits?" 

The other major game of our trip was Ludo, which every Norwegian know very well of, but obviously not the foreigners. Kenneth had the Ludo application installed on his Ipad – so his Ipad was probably in use almost every day for this purpose, haha. I have though never perceived Ludo to be a very hostile game, but our travel companions' competitiveness proved that you CAN make «enemies» by playing this game, haha.  

Day 1: Chitimba Beach

Our next campsite was located at Chitimba (beach) by Lake Malawi and close to the city of Livingstonia. This turned out to be by far the nicest campsite we had been to so far during this trip. The surroundings were really really beautiful and the beach was amazing. Almost everybody of the group chose to upgrade from camping to a nicer room, except for me, the Danes and Matthew and Gavin.

The Sad Story of the Drunken Kid

There was only one problem with the place though: Extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY pushy kids begging for money on the beach. It was actually so unbearable that many chose not to go to the beach at all. Some had already tried to go to the beach, as I met the Danish when I was on my way myself. They told me it was no use as the kids were so pushy, so I shouldn't go there. I then told them that they should just say no and tell them (the kids) to leave you alone. One of the kids overheard me saying this and became extremely angry with me. I mean – REALLY ANGRY. He came up to me and asked me why I was so rude, and why I told the girls to say no to them. I just replied that we did not like that they were asking for money all the time. He refused that they had asked for money, and claimed that anyone who said otherwise was lying. I told him then that he was the one not telling the truth now, as all my friends said that they were asking for money. He then started yelling at me, informing me that I was in his country now and that I had to respect him, and that I was no better than him just because I was white – obviously trying to make me look like a racist.

There was a second young guy though, who came up to us and pushed the other one away from me. He excused himself on behalf of the other guy and telling me that I should not listen to him as he was drunk. I was pretty sad to hear this. These kids could not be more than 15 years old maximum, and they were hanging at the beach, drunk. The calm boy apologized again and told me that the other one really did not mean what he was saying so we should not worry. We still decided to go back to the camp and leave all our belongings there before returning to the beach for a swim. When we did return and got to go for the bath I could notice the drunk kid trying to get into the water directing towards me. I suspect he wanted to have another «chat» with me. The other guy though stopped him – and then it looked like the drunk kid tried to hit him with the fist and it then looked liked they were in a fist fight. I am not sure though as I was in a distance from them. It really was all a very sad experience really.

There are clearly marked signs on the beach which said: «Don't give money to the children, they are supposed to be in school». So I guess that in this area the children is of the belief that it is better to beg for money from tourists than to actually get an education. It really really is sad. Anyways, the rest of the evening of this day was very nice though as we had a pretty nice steak for dinner and spent some time by the bonfire on the beach, where we also met another group of travelers from another company.

Day 2: Kande Beach

The next day we were heading for the road once again and it was a very nice morning, not to stressful (as some mornings seemed to feel). Our next campsite was located at the Kande Beach, where we would be staying for the next two nights. On our way to the campsite we stopped by a latex-tre plantation where Julian gave us a quick explanation of how to use a condom.. ah no I mean, how they process the latex from the trees and then what they use it for later – like for example condoms.

The new campsite was really really nice and for once I chose to upgrade. Typically me I ended up with a single room which was NOT so nice though... and which was located closest to the toilet, so I could hear everything that went on really as the walls were just made of the thin bamboo trunks... If I had know that before the upgrade I would NOT have upgraded of course.

The lunch for the day was chipati with an amazing guacamole (made by ME) and salad, it was a really nice lunch indeed. The rest of the day we spent hanging at the beach, bathing and having fun (as Naomi had a waterproof camera we were playing around with photos). As Mun is Muslim she was dressed in appropriate bating outfit, which for many might look funny I guess – so there was a few local guys who were becoming very annoying as they were kind of intruding our private space, as they obviously wanted to have their photo taken with Mun. Eventually we got them to understand that it would not happen though.

First Party in 13 days

In the even the first major party of the tour took place and after 12 evenings it was about time I guess. Though I was not participating so much – only observing mostly. It was of course the British, the Danes and the Swedish girl, along with our guides who really got the roof lifted, by dancing on the bar counter even. I discovered the funniest name for a beer ever this evening as well: "Kuche Kuche". As the name implies – it did not taste great. Otherwise I was hanging mostly with Natasha, Mun, Naomi, Ingrid, Silje, Sadie, grandpa Raymond and of course Kenneth – entertaining ourselves with silly games made up by Mun ;) It did not go so well unfortunately as Mun prefer the games where one actually has to pay a bit of attention... which at least Natasha was horrible at. We all had a great laugh for most of the evening at least. Ah yeah – and we also had a pool table available of course – which was fun:)

Day 3: Kande Village Walk

The next day we had a free day were we could participate in optional activities. I chose, along with many others, to take part in a village walk through Kande, as well as snorkeling later in the day along with some of the others. It also seemed like the local boys like to skinny dip in the morning, and we were told that they do like to show themselves off, to the white girls especially. Ah well I am sorry I didn't see more of them – they should not do the dip THAT early in the morning, as the guys do look really nice in this area ;-P.

The village walk was nice indeed. We were guided by no other than Mel Gibson. TRUTH! He brought us to his grandma's house, where we got to see her bake a bread in the traditional way. We were also taken through the center of the village, got to see the market, the local school and the birth clinic as well. It was indeed a nice walk, but it of course ended with us being asked to give a donation to the clinic. We had been told NOT to give anything by Julian and TJ before the trip as they know for sure that the money wont be used for what they say it will be used for... but I gave a few dollars anyways. The money was supposed to go to mosquito nets for the beds at the clinic (to prevent malaria), but the money is instead most likely used for fishing nets we were told. I even kind of doubt that it was a real birth clinic as there didn't seem to be any kind of equipment there – and the «midwife» of the clinic was a man, which must be extremely rare in Africa.

There was also a bunch of extremely pushy young sellers who sorted us out right after we left the campsite and than hang by our side during the entire tour. The same two guys was chatting with me all the time, trying to show as much interest in me and my stories as possible. They were of course hoping that I would buy stuff from them at the end of the tour. Even though they were friendly enough I did not feel like purchasing anything. They even overpriced their stuff greatly – but I ended up buying a bracelet though anyways (which broke not long after). They then asked me if I had something to donate for them – even filthy clothes or broken shoes. I told them I did not have anything... but they still wanted me to check, so I agreed I could do that. I did not see them again though.

Life At the Kande Beach

Back at the campsite we hang at the beach until it was time to go snorkeling. Many of the others chose to go horseback riding, but I opted out of this as it was fairly expensive. Poor Angelika and Johan ended up being extremely sunburned while horseback riding as well... Our campsite also had two watchdogs obviously, as every time there was a beach seller approaching the area they barked intensively at them. Poor Muneira got terrified as she has a phobia for all creatures walking on 4 legs, even kittens! At first I thought the dogs were racists as well, as they only barked to the black people, but it turned out that they only bark to the people who were actually selling stuff on the beach... not to other locals. Funnily enough this was also the first place during this trip where I was approached and offered to buy marijuana (which usually happens a lot when I go traveling). At that very moment I was walking with Ann Sofie, and this guy came up to me and told me that he wanted to ask me something. Ann Sofie stopped as well, but he just looked at her and told her that it was a secret so she had to go. I politely thanked him for the offer, but told him I was not in need of any.

«I, A Molester?»

So it was me and Natasha, Muneira, Naomi, Ann Sofie and Katrine going snorkeling. I have to admit it was a pretty uninteresting area to do snorkeling so I was disappointed. Also the equipment was not the best, so I ended up swallowing water all the time, making it difficult for me at times. My fins almost kept falling off all the time, so I had to watch out for them as well. If I had lost them I would have had to pay for them. The snorkeling turned out to be a hilarious event though at the very end, were we ended up with the infamous «molesting-of-Natasha» incident. That is, I did not MEAN to molest her – but she really was a heavy bag of potatoes and was not able at all to get into the rubber boat on her own at the end of the snorkeling. Therefore I had to be the rescuing angel, and I had to push her into the boat from behind – which by SOME, almost was considered «molesting» considering the way I had my hands placed on her buttocks. I then tried to help Naomi in the boat as well – which was even harder, and we ended up climbing each other in every possible position, which must have looked even worse than me and Natasha, haha. The incident was very funny but is very difficult to explain in words – one must have had to have been there to actually understand how funny it was. Muneira tried to make a graphic description of it for the others, and it seemed like most had a crazy enough imagination to actually picture how it all went by. The incident of me "molesting" Natasha was repeatedly mentioned during the entire trip from then on...

Mel Gibson and Lucas

This evening Mel Gibson was our chef and on the menu we had grilled goat which then turned into a typical stew from this region. It was an interesting meal indeed. The evening rounded off for me by having a really nice chat with Lucas, along with a few beers. He really is a nice guy and it was really nice getting to know him a bit better as well:)

Day 4: Singa Bay

The next morning we were to switch campsite once again. On our way to our next destination, Singa Bay, we stopped in the small town of Salima where Julian had to purchase some groceries again. The new campsite was called Steps, and was another very nice campsite – though not as nice as the previous one. We discovered right away that this place was pretty much invaded by baboons all the time, so we had to be careful with our belongings. TJ was using his whip frequently trying to scare the baboons off, but it did not help really. This campsite was way more windy than any of the others we had been too as well, there was still surprisingly a lot of bugs around as well. This was actually the very first place in Africa I really felt I was to be eaten up. For a few minutes I was about to go mad really.

Once again we headed for the beach and for a nice bath. This time we had the «pleasure» of being the attention of some local drunk people who were roaming around in a pedal boat, though they were not of the annoying kind as the pushy kids or the photo-crazy guys we had experienced on the previous campsites. Especially this one drunk local guy, who by the way acted extremely feminine when he was both running and jumping in the water, wanted us to join in on the fun – but we were fine really, haha.  

Final evening in Malawi

Later in the evening it turned out to be VERY windy, almost feeling like a storm, though without rain thankfully. To my happy revelation the bugs had disappeared as well, hooray. We went on to a very nice souvenir place close to our campsite, but as usual, I just did window shopping and let the girls do the real shopping. An exceptional thing with Malawi is the concept of trading. We were told all the time that IF we could trade something they would give us a discount on the souvenirs. Both Ingrid and Muneira did trade some of their clothing items, but I feel that they still ended up overpaying deluxe for the stuff they got. I have as a rule that I should NEVER purchase anything which I know I can get cheaper back home in Norway. It shouldn't even be possible to go to Africa and end up having to pay more for the same souvenirs wich you can find at markets back home in Norway. They really do know how to take advantage of the tourists in this country though.  

So after the short visit at the souvenir market, we moved on to the Sunbird beach hotel, which was located close to our campsite, and which the campsite actually belonged to. Here most enjoyed themselves with a chocolate cake and more, though I only had a chocolate milkshake, which was yummy (mostly as it had been forever since last time I had a chocolate milkshake). Afterwards we headed back to the campsite for dinner, and then we had a few beers at the bar. The poor bartender had left for the day though, but the manager of the place forced him to come back to serve us. I did find it strange that he would close up the bar even before evening fell upon us. He did though return and we got our beers. So we were sitting there in the bar, chatting and occasionally watching African Big Brother on the television, and enjoying the really loud and pretty strong wind in the background (at least I did). It really felt like an autumn evening back home in Norway, though a bit warmer of course – so I was very happy as I love this kind of weather:)

Some final thoughts

So the last two days while in Tanzania was nice, but not to exciting. In Malawi we ended up staying by Lake Malawi all the time and had a very nice time mostly, as the resorts were amazing. It is though very unfortunate that the poverty of the people in this country is effecting us tourists so much that it becomes tiring and annoying in the end. We ended up making "fun" of the "Malawian" greeting by the kids, which pretty much goes like this «Hey. Give me some!» then stretching their hand out for you, expecting you to give them something. I really hope things will become better for Malawi as it is a beautiful country, with a beautiful lake and very good looking people.