Transit Tales

When planning for the Africa leg of our trip, we made a very conscious decision to do our internal travel independently by road, rather than flying or through organised group tours.  Apart from the significant budget savings, we also viewed this as an opportunity have a very ‘real’ experience of travelling in Africa in addition to giving us the challenge of navigating local transport systems.  During the last 5 days, we have well and truly had a decent taste (or rather buffet!) of African transport systems as we made our way across the length of Tanzania and into Malawi via commercial bus, local mini-bus, motorbike, walking, shared taxi, private car, hitch-hiking and on the back of pick up trucks. In some steps we feel we negotiated the local systems wisely and fairly and are rather proud of ourselves.  In others, our experiences have considerably increased our awareness about local systems and the marked inflations on tourist prices (though in the scheme of things the odd $10 here and there means very little to us compared to how far that can stretch here).  

Thanks to the expert advice and bookings from Alick’s step-sister Kate at the Responsible Safari Company, our journey has been suitably broken up by a two night stay at Mayoka Village in Nhkata Bay and two nights at Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi – from where we’re currently writing this post.   We have learnt to never estimate journey length by kilometres – it can take 6.5 hours to drive 240 kms; to never again think a car is full just because there’s a person in each seat; to never take loo stops for granted; that we foreigners (Mzungu) are a source of utter fascination, and sometimes fear for small children, to always be prepared to resort to a plan B for mode of travel and above all, that the transit journey is often just as much of an experience as the destination we are trying to get to.  So in saying that, we thought it worthwhile to jot down some notes about the last five days as we are now sitting safe, sound and well rested by the water in Cape Maclear.

Moshi to Mbeya - 1,180km

We set out at 6am from our hotel from Moshi to catch the 7am Hood bus from (in Tanzania’s north) to Mbeya (in Tanzania’s southern highlands) – an anticipated 15 hours which was meant to see us arrive in Mbeya at 10pm; and perhaps that would have been an accurate estimation had our driver not gotten into a fight with a neighbouring bus driver a few hours down the road related to a very near miss which saw us waiting on the side of the road for quite some time while the two drivers vocalised their frustration with one another.   Being the only white people on the bus, the other passengers exchanged many kind glances with us during this time when it was very uncertain when, and if, we would ever resume our journey.  When we eventually did resume our journey, our driver was definitely a little subdued, with the overall pace noticeably more gentle.

One of the highlights of the journey came shortly after a stop at the Hood bus headquarters in Morogoro in central Tanzania.  As the sun started to set, we entered the Mikumi National Park, in the mid-south west of Tanzania.  Not really sure what to expect, we were both very happy to have the opportunity to have a ‘safari from the bus’ as we drove along.  First spotting antelopes (we think probably Impalas) and a couple of warthog, we later saw lots of elephants, giraffes, zebras and a couple of monkeys!  It was amazing to catch our first glimpse of African wildlife from the windows of a rickety old bus hurtling through the countryside!  Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures (being very cautious about bringing out cameras in front of fellow bus passengers), but it is one of those memories that will stay with us.

We eventually arrived in Mbeya at 1.30am.  We had previously called ahead and booked a room at the ‘Rift Valley Hotel’ in Mbeya, and luckily their reception was still open when our cab dropped us there at about 1.45.  Having been shown to our very basic room, we hit the single bed for a few hours rest before the border crossing into Malawi the next day...

Mbeya – Nkhata Bay  428km

At 6.15 the next morning, we made our way back to the bus stand.  Having been descended upon by a mob of touts, we were whisked to a booking office and sold tickets for the border (which we later found to be at a markedly inflated price!).  We reached the border crossing at about 10.30am and with the help of a fellow minibus passenger, boarded motorbike taxis from where the bus dropped us to immigration control. 

After an uneventful border crossing (having dodged all of the touts offering money exchange) our passports were stamped and we were into Malawi! It was amazing how different the tone of two countries can be; from the frantic, slightly edgy feel of Tanzania, it was quite a relief to move to the very relaxed, almost lackadaisical attitude of people in Malawi.  We shared a taxi with our the guy we’d met on the mini-bus to Karonga, which looked to be a good idea until we were stopped at a customs border post, and one of the other people in the cab was asked to pay additional taxes on the goods she was bringing in – interestingly they didn’t even cast a glance at our bags, and appeared only interested in things that could be used for trade purposes.  We eventually covered the 40-odd km to Karonga in around an hour, and boarded a minibus to Mzuzu, the main town in the northern region of Malawi. 

On departure of the minibus, it was clear quite early on that this was going to be a longer trip than we expected.  Our friend had advised us to expect to reach Mzuzu at around 4.30 (it was midday when we left Karonga) – we couldn’t really see how it would take 4 ½ hours to cover the 220km, but accepted that we were in Africa and things just ‘took longer’. It seems that we had boarded possibly the slowest minibus in Malawi!  That, combined with the bus being stopped at another customs post and again two people being hauled off and asked to pay hefty duties on their goods, made the trip probably the longest 220km that either of us has ever endured.  At one point, as we heaved our way up a long hill, there were baboons and monkeys trotting alongside the bus – and then running past and overtaking us!!  It was quite laughable, although Alick did lose a little patience with Africa when, after 4 ½ hours of travel, it was clear that we still had over 70km to run into Mzuzu.  Tess calmed Alick down, and eventually we rolled into Mzuzu at around 6pm.  By this time we were utterly exhausted, and just wanted to get to Nhkata Bay – another 45km west, on the lakeshore.  We had previously read that minibuses from Mzuzu to Nkhata Bay took around 1 ½ hours; we simply didn’t have the energy for this, and resorted to a taxi – which while being significantly more expensive, felt like a much more manageable option.

We had our first experience in this taxi of a problem that has gripped Malawi for a number of years – the continuing fuel crisis.  There was a queue of probably 15 cars lined up outside one of the petrol stations in town, which we joined with our driver Francis.  It was really something to witness – people pulling up in their cars and filling not only the fuel tank, but also every kind of container imaginable.  We eventually reached the front of the queue, and having put in just enough fuel to get his car from Mzuzu to Nkhata Bay and back, Francis was on the way.  It was probably one of the most nerve-wracking taxi rides either of us have ever done.  Francis freewheeled down hills in neutral to save fuel and not wanting to brake around corners in case it killed the momentum. In the end, Francis willingly delivered us safely to the gates of Mayoka, and helped us with our bags down to the bar to check in.  That bar was a real sight for sore eyes!! 

Mayoka Village, Nhkata Bay

The beer was possibly the sweetest thing that either of us had ever tasted, and after only a couple we both passed out in the four-poster bed in our lovely Banda, sleeping for around 10 hours!  Lovely!  The next day, we treated ourselves to a bit of a rest - reading books in the sun, swimming at the beach, walking through town and chatting to some of the locals (in particular, three guys called Sunshine, Happiness and Fresh Potato).  

Nhkata Bay to Cape Maclear – 448 kms

The advice we received in Nkhata Bay about the trip to Cape Maclear seemed very straight-forward compared to our travel two days earlier – catch the 6am bus from Nhkata Bay to Salima, mini-bus from Salima to Monkey Bay and cab or pick up truck from Monkey Bay to Cape Maclear by mid afternoon…and we’re sure that plan would have worked well had the bus not experienced some ‘technical difficulties’ about an hour and a half down the road which saw the engine overheat and the entire bus fill with smoke.  We have never seem 60-odd people move so quickly, scrambling for personal belongings while jumping off the bus – we’re sure that most of the passengers were sure the whole thing was about to go up in flames! After about 30 minutes waiting on the side of the road, the driver stated that everything was fine now and we could leave again.  There were three young American Peace Corps volunteers who had also been on our bus, and between the five of us, we were slightly hesitant about jumping back on the bus but in doing a quick weigh-up of our options, didn’t really seem to have much choice.  So we go back on the bus and sure enough, 15 minutes later the engine overheated again!  Thankfully, the American girls were quite comfortable with the African hitch-hiking systems and managed to flag down a car who was happy to drive us a further 100kms down the road into a town called Nkhotakhota (which was then only 100kms short of Salima – our original bus destination).   On reaching Nkhotakhota, the American girls found a mini-bus headed towards their destination of Lilongwe, while our only option to get to Salima was on the back of a pick up trip – so we climbed on board and hung on for dear life!  On that pick up truck, we were seated next to (or rather, on top of!) an elderly woman named Serema who explained that she was also on her way to Cape Maclear with her friend Ivy.  That was music to our ears and at that point we decided that we would be Serema and Ivy’s shadow for the rest of the trip! About an hour down the road, the pick-up truck stopped and we were all moved onto a different pick up truck (the driver said that us Mzungus should ride in the cab with him – we think he either took pity on our white skin in the full sun, or decided that with our need to hold onto the edges of the truck at all times, we couldn’t make ourselves as compact as the locals and therefore they could fit a lot more people in the back if they moved us into the cab!).

Regardless, we made it to Salima in one piece, followed Serema and Ivy into a local minibus (travelling with locals meant that we could easily deflect the many touts trying to sell us bus tickets!) which got us half way to Monkey Bay, and from there, it was simply a matter of following Serema and Ivy into a further two pick up trucks and cab until we got to Cape Maclear at around 7.30pm (Serema and Ivy thought we were hilarious and kept on bursting into laughter each time we pointed out to people that we were going wherever they went.  During the length of the final pick up truck, Ivy steadfastly held and patted Tess’ hand, just saying ‘Tess, Tess’ over and over again).  One of our favourite moments from the pick up truck journey was around 30kms outside Monkey Bay.  There were around 40 people crammed onto the back of the pick up truck (and that’s excluding the babies, chickens and goats!) and one of the guys was travelling with a double bed frame – which was strapped onto the back of the cab and was working as a much needed handrail during transit.  He was unable to make the journey from the drop off point on the edge of the main road to his village while carrying his bedframe so the driver agreed to take him all the way into his village (all in all about a 45 minute detour in our trip across very bumpy dirt roads!)  By the time we drove past a couple of houses, kids started running out screaming at the tops of their lungs ‘Mzungu!  Mzungu!’ (Foreigner! Foreigner!) and then, after seeing the both of us on the back of the truck the cries changed to ‘Azungu! Azungu!’ (Two Foreigners!).  Within five minutes of being in the village, we were swamped with kids – with everyone wanting to point, wave at us and shake our hands (even though when we said hello, some of them were so embarrassed they had to hide behind a tree!).  The others on the back of the pick up truck thought it all most amusing!

Cape Maclear

Cape Maclear is an absolutely stunning place and our accommodation is literally right on the beach.  We have spent another relaxing day in the sun swimming and paddling kayaks out to some of the nearby islands where we snorkelled with the gorgeous electric blue fish.  Pure bliss!  We'll put some photos from both Cape Maclear and Nhkata Bay on the Flickr account shortly...

From here we’re making our way down to Liwonde National Park tomorrow for a three-day safari – which we are so excited about and will be sure to update you on our adventures from there shortly... 

Tess and Alick xx