2011 – Chintheche, Malawi

We woke up to another glorious sunny day; one can never tire of the breathtaking sun rises and sunsets in Africa, whether it be over bush, mountains, sea or lakes. Lake Malawi gives you the surreal feeling of being on the Indian Ocean, with water stretching as far as the eye can see, little islands peppering the seascape and gently lapping waves on the white sandy beaches. Fisherman paddle past on their dugout canoes and a gentle breeze helps them on their way.

This tranquillity was kind of shattered as the sun rose into the sky – it was camp admin day. Clothes and dishes needed to be washed, blogging is so far behind, e-mails checked and Robs needs to do some school work.

The physical camp stuff was a breeze and everybody pitched in (also helped by the fact that our clothes could be washed at the camp office). The admin, relying on technology, proved infinitely more difficult and challenging. Network coverage in Malawi is near impossible, it took me around 7 hours to post 2 days of blogs. Gray gave up on his e-mails after ½ an hour and much to Robyn’s delight we couldn’t even begin to connect to Moodle – Saints portal to connect teachers and pupils. Home schooling is proving to be more difficult than expected. She wasn’t going to hang around, in the hopes of getting a maths or some other assignment to do and headed off to the beach with Kirsty.

Kirst has been the biggest surprise of this trip; normally she endures our camping trips by burying her head in a book and humouring us with her presence around meal time, or when we are heading off to do something she might find vaguely interesting. Not sure what the transformation is; 6 months of fending for herself in varsity res, discovering camping can be fun or just plain growing up but she has turned into a regular ‘Camel Girl’. She can set up the tent pretty much blind folded, she can get the fire going (mainly so she can have her regular cups of tea), she is the first to hop up to do the dishes after a meal and not even a moan if the showers are cold. Last night we hadn’t planned on desert but still she had made our favourite camp pud – bananas filled with chocolate and braaied, so the chocolate melts.

Around lunch time one of the local fishermen walked past and offered us some of his catch. For the equivalent of R40 we bought two butterfish, Gareth went off with them and called us ½ hour later. Not sure what he had done but we were treated to the tastiest fish with salsa that I have ever had. Thank heavens he learnt something at chefs school.

After a lazy afternoon, it was time to eat again. With a kilogram of mince at our disposal – back home, I would have decided what I felt like and the family could have had anything from bobotie to lasagne. Here we had ingredients for either curried mince, spaghetti bolognaise or hamburgers on toast. After much debate and input from all, hamburgers won. While I was making them the girls disappeared and returned with 5 beautifully plated pieces of chocolate cake. They decided we needed pudding again and resourcefully went to the chef at the restaurant and organised it.

With the time change and it being winter here, not that one would think so temperature wise, it gets dark around 6:00. We were in bed by 7:30.

Sunrise

Fisherman

Sunset

Day 78: 1/07/2011 – Sangilo to Chintheche, Malawi

After breakfast we travelled up the pass to Mzuzu, it is a stunningly beautiful drive up into the mountains with a view of the lake below. It is positively liberating not having to sit on edge the whole trip wondering if the next truck will wipe you out or having to witness some mangled truck every couple of kilometres.

The town of Mzuzu is the largest in northern Malawi and is compact and friendly. Unfortunately, as before, there was no diesel to be found and so we headed off to the bank to draw Kwacha and shop at the ‘People’s store’ for food. We bought some pretty decent steaks and mince, bread and a few other items. They had very little in the line of fruit, veg or salad ingredients so we headed off to the locals outside. They sell all sorts of fresh produce at really cheap prices and stocked up with as much as our storage space would allow, with the kids on board, this is not much. While Gareth and I sourced our next few meals, the girls chatted to some Mzuzu locals and Gray disappeared. We eventually located him buying a mini charcoal burner from a Rasta guy – he was so excited – boys and their toys (guess it’s better than a motor bike, that is until it landed up under my feet for the rest of the journey).

All stocked up we headed down to the lake, Gray at last able to relax on the road, went through the first speed trap of the trip – yes, it was a 50km limit in the tiny town and he was going around 60km/hour. The cop arrived at the window smiled and asked us to be please be more careful when travelling through the towns and wished us a pleasant journey – no fine, no asking for a bribe, just a friendly and kind human being.

Without further incident we passed through the unremarkable town of Chintheche and headed along the Chintheche Strip, a beautiful sweep of sand, littered with hotels, lodges and camp sites. Each one is secluded in its own forest of trees. We were now back in virgin territory and elected to stay at Chintheche Inn. This is possible one of the best camp sites we have stayed at: green grass and huge shaded trees (being the only campers here we feel like we are on a huge farm field), we chose a spot right on the banks of the lake. We have hot showers and even hot water in the dish washing area, electricity and a bar area with a T.V.

Now that we have some fresh produce we are back into ‘proper’ camping, with camp fire, braai for dinner (and dishes). Gray has the ‘piet vluit’ kettle boiling full time on his new coal burner.

This really is a very special time, the whole family, relaxed and happy, braaing and camping on the banks one of Africa’s most beautiful lakes.

Robs on the beach

Chintheche Inn

Gray and the girls at sunset

Day 77: 30/06/2011 – Utengule, Mbeya – Tanzania to Sangilo – Malawi

Happy 19th Birthday Gabi – we are celebrating your birthday with a Malawian G & T.

We are getting into a routine with packing up the extra tent and baggage and got to breakfast in record time this morning – either that or we just have hungry kids. Again, the kids begged to spend an extra day here. We did, however, delay our departure by having our hair cut. Before becoming a lodge manager in Africa, Sharon worked as a hairdresser in the U.K. and we kind of hinted that our hair was getting a bit long. Sharon arrived with razor and scissors this morning and generously offered to cut it for us. In a week Gray has gone from looking like Father Christmas to a mercenary (the kids, more unkindly, are calling him pimple) – beard gone and now he is sporting a shaved head. I just had a trim – no major transformation.

Only 2 big truck accidents from Mbeya to the border post at Songwe. The climb back up the rift valley was beautiful, we missed out on the scenery on the way day down as the area was shrouded in mist. We filled up with diesel at the last garage in Tanzania, before the border, in preparation for the fuel shortages in Malawi. The border crossing at Songwe was absolutely painless and soon we were on Malawian soil. You can immediately feel that life slows down a couple of notches here, the trucks seem to disperse and slow down, the children run to the side of the road and wave and you just generally get the feeling that life is more relaxed. Gray also finds the driving so much less stressful here.

We are back on S.A. time zone, having lost an hour – so all watches, GPS’s, lap tops (the working ones), cell phones etc. have to be changed (some do it automatically and some don’t). We stopped in the first town after crossing the border, Koronga, to draw Malawian kwatcha – it’s amazing the admin involved in travelling a few metres from one country into another.

We again headed to one of our previously tried and tested camp sites – Sangilo Sanctuary Lodge. The lodge with the camp site at the back of the main house, the non-midget friendly ablutions, the stunning beach cove with the best beach bar on lake Malawi and not to forget the gay turkey.

Robs and I went for a long swim in the lake and then it was back to the bar the bar for our old favourite – Malawian G & T’s. We didn’t have a great night’s sleep, it’s funny how just an hour’s time change messes with you and we landed up getting up ‘an hour earlier’.

Farm lands

Scenery along the Rift Valley

Robs is out there

Day 76: 29/06/2011 – Kisolanz, Iringa to Utengule, Mbeya

Breakfast could have been photographed for a food magazine – the fruit platter was spectacular, the bread was freshly baked, the sausage and sweet potatoes mix were perfectly seasoned and the cheese and tomato omelette was the best I have tasted. The kids decided that we needed to spend another day here but by 9:00, after having had a long chat with Nicky, one of the owners, we were on our way.

After the first 100km of the 340km’s for the day, we had come across 4 overturned trucks and 1 bus, on its head, all in the dongas on the side of the road. I was tempted to turn back but pressed on ahead, passing through bustling Mbeya and arrived at our favourite coffee farm, Utengule, without incident.

Sharon and Tony came out to meet us; it is wonderful to have such welcoming hosts. The girls spent the afternoon at the pool and Ga read in the beautiful gardens. Gray and I spent some time linking up my lap top to the office computer and downloading the blog stuff onto the hard drive so we could link it up to Kirsty’s lap top – how did Livingstone and latterly Rhodes cope, imagine how it would have helped during the construction of the Cape to Cairo railroad. Once the lap tops were synced and ready to roll, the network went down, at least the explorers were spared the frustration of technology, at times like this, I think a penned letter attached to a carrier pigeon would have been a whole lot easier.

As we settled down for a few drinks on the veranda, to watch the awesome sunsets they have here, Sharon and Tony joined us. We have met amazing and interesting people along the way, even though we only met Tony and Sharon for a few days on our way north, they felt like old friends and we chatted and laughed until well into the evening.

After a late dinner we all fell into our tents or in our case up into our tent.

Drinks on the veranda

Sunset

Day 75: 28/06/2011 – Tan Swiss to Kisolanza, Iringa

We all slept the best we had in ages, Gray, the African explorer, thinks it’s because we are camping, personally and more practically, I think it’s because it’s a lot cooler inland, than on the coast. After breakfast, we were back to running the gauntlet on the Tan Zam Highway.

This is really déjà vu, as for the first time this trip, we retrace our steps. For the next 4 days we will be travelling the same route back across Tanzania and northern Malawi. Traffic wise, we were not as lucky as the day before and were witness to numerous serious truck accidents; this is not something one becomes immune to seeing, it makes my hair stand on end. Robs and Kirst bury themselves in the novels they are reading but Gareth grips the end of his seat and with wide eyes cringes as the oncoming bus or truck passes within inches of us.

If it wasn’t for the trucks, this would be an awesome road; we meandered our way over the pass through the Udzungwa Mountains, the Little Ruaha River in the valley below and the golden baboons on the side of the road. At the base of the pass are the baobab forests, which then make way for the green forests of the upper mountainous slopes.

We decided to stop at the ‘Old Farm House’ on Kisolanza Farm, a 250km trip, rather than push onto Mbeya, 590km away. This really is an awesome stop over point for people travelling this way. The camp sites are set in the bush and they are clean and tranquil, the staff are helpful and friendly but best of all is the food.

During the camp set up we had a bit of a disaster, Ga left my lap top open on the seat, with his ear plugs in, Gray moved the car and knocked the screen – breaking both screen and ear plugs. We tried downloading the last few days of saved blogs and compressed pics onto the external hard drive but with no success. We had had limited network, so we had not been able to post for the last few days and now we were unable to access the files, not to mention we were now unable to retrieve e-mails etc. I was thrilled, grrrrrrrr.

After settling in, unable to sort out our daily admin, we headed off to the bar. This is made out of mud and thatch, like the restaurant. For the first time in Tanzania, I tried the local spirit, Konyagi, with tonic – it’s not bad at all, tastes like a mixture of gin and vodka. The kids soon followed suit (not Robs), Kirst prefers hers with Sprite. We have to be fairly careful on what we order in Africa: lemonade produces water with chunks of lemons, Robs favourite Kola-tonic and lemonade produces a bottle of coke, a bottle of tonic water and a Sprite.

It got considerably colder here as the sun went down and a cold wind blew through the trees. This sent us back to the trailer to find our winter clothes, naturally packed at the bottom. Then it was back to the restaurant for one of Florien, the French Chefs, delicious meals. After dinner we spent some time gazing up at the stars, with no electricity and lights, the Milky Way and constellations were breath taking. Eventually, the cold sent us under our duvet and the kids into their sleeping bags. Just as Gray and I had settled in, Robs called to say that there was a bush baby in the tree above their tent, so Gray and I climbed out the roof top and watched the little creature moving through the branches. Just as we had settled back into our roof top, Kirst asked where her sleeping bag was, of course it was in the trailer under us, so we had to climb out again open the trailer and get her sleeping bag out. The way the kids are going we might really be looking forward to an empty nest.

Setting up camp

Dinner in the mud hut

Day 74: 27/06/2011 – Tulia Beach Lodge, Pangani to Tan Swiss, Makumi

Gray and I were woken by Gareth at 5:45, immediately we knew something was wrong, he never gets up voluntarily before 11:00, and had been moaning that we were going to wake him at 7:00 for our 8:00 start. The African stomach bug had attacked him, he had been up most of the night and looked green. After medicating him, he promptly threw that lot up. – looked like our projected 7 hour trip was going to be fun.

Clearly they work on Africa time at Tulia and it was 9:00 before they had managed to sort out our bill and payment. During this time, Gareth had managed to keep down some coke and we spent some time chatting to Kirsty, the turtle lady, about using some of her materials for the Paw Print Club.

After leaving the ocean behind, we travelled along a winding and badly potholed road through local villages and sisal plantations to the ferry crossing on the Pangani River. Only the driver was allowed to cross in the vehicle, so the kids and I joined the locals and their luggage on deck. It was a fairly painless exercise and a short river crossing. The town of Pangani is pretty shabby and we had to stop at the Tanzanian Revenue authority office in order to extend our road tax papers. They are only valid for a month before they have to be renewed – I can’t believe we have in Tanzania for a month already. This process took longer than expected and cost us US$25, with the official putting US$10 of the change in is pocket. After waiting around for an hour to get this done, we were not going to fight this.

The next 30 km were along the most horrendous roads, through some poor villages. It’s pretty scary to think, this is the access road to a main beach destination. If this was a beach access road in S.A., the beaches at Ballito Bay would be totally empty. From the potholes to the trucks on the main tarred road. Our route took us south to Charlinze, where we linked up with the dreaded Tan Zam highway and travelled through Morogoro to Mikumi. Not a bad day on this road, we only saw two major truck accidents. The kids eyes were really opened as to how the people drive in Tanzania.

We arrived at Tan Swiss, where we had spent a couple of days on our way up north, making plans for the road ahead – it seems like a life time ago and yet only yesterday. We have seen and experienced so much in between.

This is also our first night back camping, since the Serengeti and the first night of camping for the kids on this trip – we were all looking forward to it. Gray and I had a pretty good routine going and now we have a 3x3m tent to set up, sleeping bags, pillows and extra bags to unpack and sort out – we also have an extra 3 pairs of hands to help. The sense of humour of the kids (mainly toilet humour) keeps us all amused (we really are bad parents) and the chores don’t seem like chores, as we giggle our way through them.

There are no supermarkets around, so we will be eating at the camp site restaurants till we can source fresh supplies. We all opted for the Swiss menu tonight – Gareth managing to eat his first meal of the day.

The kids boarding the pontoon

Gray and car boarding

The girl’s tent

Day 73: 26/06/2011 – Tulia Beach Lodge, Tanzania

We had a lie in and a late breakfast, then we walked through the coconut palm forest to Emayeni Logde. We spent the morning swimming in their pool and sun tanning, with occasional dips in the sea. The sea, like in Zanzibar, is flat and one can spend hours lolling in the warm waters. As far as the eye can see, both north and south, there is flat ocean, then white beach sand (with a fair amount of sea weed) and then tropical palm forests. We were the only people on the beach.

After a lazy morning we returned to Tulia for lunch and then we packed up as we will be back on the road tomorrow. Then it was a relaxing afternoon on the loungers and under the huge baobab on the beach.

As things cooled down, Robs and I headed off on a long walk down the beach. Next to our lodge is the local village, it is built like a squatter camp but the houses are made out of coconut palm leaves. The houses start on the beach and stretch back into the palm forests; they house some 600 people and rely mainly on fishing for a livelihood. After the village are a couple of other lodges, like ours, they are built out of local vegetation and discretely hidden in the palms. This section is apparently one of the top holiday destinations along the Northern Tanzanian coastline – we are lucky to be here out of season.

Twenty minutes into the walk we found some people playing beach volley ball and Robs joined in. It turned out they worked at the lodge we were walking past and played regularly, so they were pretty good but it was lots of fun.

We arrived home just before dark and went for a swim and then the girls and I played board games until dinner. Dinner was on the beach again, with a gentle breeze cooling us down this evening – it was back to fish on the menu with chocolate mousse for desert. We have eaten so well in this part of the world; I must have put on 10kg.

Our Beach front bar

Our baobab

Dinner on the beach

Day 72: 25/06/2011 – Sazani Beach, Zanzibar to Tulia Beach Lodge, Tanzania

It was very sad saying good-bye to Kathy, Mark and the friendly staff at Sazani Beach. On our travels, this was the longest that we had stayed in any one place and we felt very at home here.

We were picked up by Karim and the taxi headed off to the Kendwa Rocks Resort to catch our boat. This north western side of the island is much busier than the less populated north eastern side, where we had been staying. Clearly the western side is more tourist orientated, with accommodation ranging from 5 Star hotels to backpackers hostels.

Yannick, the manager of the lodge where we will be staying in Tanzania, was there to meet us with his skipper. From Zanzibar to Tanzania was a 42km boat ride and took us around an hour and a half. It was a very smooth ride and we came across a few fishermen in their wooden boats and flocks of birds feeding off shoals of fish. After having watched the ferries arrive and leave from Stone Town to Dar, I was relieved to be travelling with just the five of us in this high speed motor boat. The ferry ride takes 3 hours and is loaded to the brim with people and all their luggage.

We were dropped off on the beach in front of Tulia Beach Lodge, where we will be spending the next 2 nights. We were greeted by Nem (who informed us her ‘nem’ was Nem – ‘her name was Nem’ – took us a while to work this one out), she is a very friendly lady and welcomed us with fresh mango juice. Our huts are again basic but comfortable and right on the beach.

After dumping our bags in our rooms, we headed along the beach, to the lodge next door (where Gray stayed before Zanzibar) to fetch our car and trailer. Along the way we met Kirsty (another one) and Wim, they are involved in a turtle protection program and have an enclosed area, where green turtles have laid their eggs and dates when they will be hatching. They have another area at the local village next door, where eggs have been laid and are due to hatch any day, they have promised to let us know if it happens while we are still here.

It was pretty exciting to see our car, it’s like seeing an old friend, and it was so clean. Robs drove back to our huts on the roof of the car. We then had lunch – fish and chips (Kirst – the fussy one – doesn’t eat fish, so her meals are kind of limited, she is dying for a big steak).

After lunch, the girls and I played board games and then headed next door (the lodges are linked) to swim in their pool and try out their cocktail of the day. As we arrived back, Gareth called us to say Wim had popped past to say a nest of turtles had hatched. We set off down the beach to find Kirsty and a few locals at the nest. The turtles were fairly weak as they had finished the yolk of the egg and would not be strong enough to leave the nest and make it down the beach. We helped her collect the baby turtles and assisted them by taking them down the beach, so they could make their way into the water. This is possibly a once in a life time experience, watching these little reptiles take their first swim into the ocean. We have dived with leatherback turtles in S.A. and it always a great thrill to watch these somewhat ungainly creatures glide under water. The little turtles were about 6cm and as a mature adult they grow up to 1.2m in length and live for around 120 years. Only 1 in a 1000 turtles reach maturity, 40% of the babies don’t make it to the sea as they are eaten by birds and crabs. Adults are often eaten by the locals. With the turtle projects like the one Kirsty and Wim are running, they assist the babies down to the ocean and so the majority of the turtles hatched make it to the sea and they are educating the local community and assisting them financially, as much as possible, to aid in the project.

We returned to Tulia to find that they set our dinner table on the beach, complete with flowers, lanterns and candles. To make the day complete (for Kirst) we had steak for dinner.

Our huts

Turtles on thier way to the sea

Turtle’s first dip

Dinner on the beach

Boat ride across from Zanzibar

Day 71: 24/06/2011 – Sazani Beach, Zanzibar

The kids slept in late this morning and as Gray and I were about to give up and start breakfast, they ambled down around 9:30 to join us. Our travel routine has gone up in smoke with them around, especially when it comes to electronic equipment. They are able to do weird and wonderful things, as only the young can, but the down side is my lap top is now always low on battery and there are 5 phones needing charging and so on. I wouldn’t swop it for a second, I love the chats, laughs and debates over meal times, watching the girls giggling and swopping outfits and Gareth loving the sea creatures and getting all philosophical about life.

It is also great to see them looking so tanned and healthy, after bundling up in the South African winter. Possibly a little too tanned, after yesterday’s snorkelling and boat trip. Today we all spent a lot more time chilling in the shade of the trees and only venturing out to swim or go for a walk along the beach.

We are seriously going to miss Zanzibar – the people are so friendly and especially, the staff at Sazani. I am going to miss the amazing food, especially the fresh fruit and fish (and evening cocktails).

Day 71 was another lazy day of chilling on the most amazing beach, sipping cocktails, eating fresh fish and enjoying life.

Gareth

and the girls

Day 70: 23/06/2011 – Sazani Beach & Mnemba Island, Zanzibar

We had an early start, much to the disgust of the kids, as we were taking a boat trip to Mnenba Island, to snorkel on their reefs. Tropical breakfast at 7:30 and we were waiting at reception for our lift at 8:00. Then Karim, our smooth tour operator on the island, phoned to say he would not be picking us up by taxi but the boat would fetch us from our beach at 9:30 – so Gareth went back to bed and the girls hit the hammocks.

Our sail boat arrived at 9:30; it was locally made from wood, with an outboard motor. We waded through the water with our towels and snorkelling kit and climbed aboard. Then I was in heaven for the next hour as the boat gently cruised over the water; I think Robs and I should become sailors, or fishes. The water was amazing and we must have passed over every colour of blue God created, from pale baby blue, to turquoise, to teal, to deep dark navy blue.

Mnenba Island is small and forested, with a fairly shallow reef. It was amazing to be back under water; the crackling of the coral reef, the amazing fish of all colours and sizes as they meander through or over the coral. B.C. (before children), Gray and I spent most weekends and all our holidays under water, scuba diving. With 3 toddlers running around top side it was not P.C. (parentally correct) to head down under. Gareth & Kirsty are also qualified divers and Rob’s needs to find some time between polo and springboard diving one summer to do a scuba course. I really want to get back into it.

After a few hours in the water, we returned to the boat, our family was the last back on board. We shared the boat with tourists from Brazil, Israel, Turkey, Russia and of course the local Zanzibarian skipper, cook and helper. There were a lot of smiles and nodding, smatterings of English being the only common language amongst us.

Once settled, we set off for the mainland and lunch. Lunch was freshly caught Barracuda, braaied with garlic, ginger and local spices, rice and a local tomato sauce with fruit – it was delicious. After lunch we sat on the beach and watched the local children doing gymnastics (Lina Woodard would have had them all on the diving board before we could blink).

Back on the boat and the wind had come up a little, so the sail was hoisted and we gently lulled our way back home. All aboard, except the skipper (I hope) were lulled asleep. Too soon we were back at Sizani and wading back to the beach. Robs and I went back into the water for a nice long swim. Kirst and Gray headed to the beach bar and Gareth into the kitchen. Sizani had just built a pizza oven asked Ga to help their local chef with their first pizza evening.

Kirst and I tested some new fruit cocktails, the fruit being juiced in front of us, so I guess it was pretty fresh, while Ga slaved away in the kitchen. It was worth it as the pizzas were pretty good.

Gray and the girls

The beautiful blue sea

Boading the boat

Chefs at work