To jo'burg and step on it

Well so now we want to get to Jo'Burg as quickly as possible obviously that would mean flying, but there isn't a flight till tuesday and at $270 for the flight i figured it was quite expensive, so i took bought myself a bus ticket on a 26hr jouney. Josie and miri however took the oppertunity to go to an orphanage for a couple of days in blantye and plan to catch up with me in Jo'Burg a couple of days latter.

so i go up to a camp site set up a tent and chill for the rest of the day and miri and jo pile on to a crowded minibus to Blantye.

Long way to lilonge

Well as Nkhata bay has no camping shops the best bet to sort everthing out would be to go to johanesburg and replace all of the missing stuff. the first step of this jouney comenced today with a long trip to the malawian capital. Forst off mzuzu for an interchange and we tried to be clever by getting on an empty bus bound for lilonge, and so gaining space, however buses in malawi dont leave until there Full and so we ended up back on the already overcrouded minibus for a four hour jouney to a notouriously bad bus station where we would arive after dark.

On the way there the minibus suffered a flat tyre but apart from that we arrived at our destination safley and where only slightly bothered by the touts on our way to the hotel. But you could tell that local area was one that you did not want to be hanging around in for any long period of time. so we stayed firmly in our room for the rest of the night.

Theft

Woke up this morning wen down to the tent to inspect the rain damage and get my wash gear, and noticed that the door of the tent is ripped "oh well" i thought "must of been one of the girls triping over" grabed my washing gear and had a shower. When i came back Josie was standing outside the tent looking quite shocked when i got dow she tels me "my bags gone" "Doh" i think.

any way we get the camsite owners involved and they say it is the first time this has ever happend then i notice there is a razor blade on the floor. One of Josies t-shirts turned up on the shore but apart from that she lost everthing in her big bag, but at first it appear mine and miriums stuff is all fine. but then i remember about the dollors i had left under the tent. it turns out they are still there then mirrium realises her walking shoes are gone which leads me instantly to realise that my rather cool scrambling boots have also gone "doh doh doh", then the realiseation comes of my digital camera and sunglases "DOH DOH DOH DOH".

The police come and we go through all the formallities but as we still have no power and no phone lines contacting any of the outside world is difficult. All of the locals are very good and appear to be doing there best at helping find the bags but to no avail. by the afternoon all the formalities have been tied up and we move everthing up to the chalet and settle in there.

Strangely McDonald is nowhere to be seen all morning maybe he had somthing important to do.

any way in the afternoon i finishn carving my Bao Boa board and realise that they have also taken the book (Macahvelli - The Prince) i was reading and had very almost finished "DOH".

Waiting to carve

On the way back up to camp last night we passed a carving school which seemed quite interesting and so this morning i decided to wander down and learn to carve a baoboa board, a traditional africain game. so i wandered down to the school, (A little road side shack) however just before i got ther i ran in to one of the local Touts by the name of McDonald. who insistid on walking me to the school where there where none of the local instructors, so McDonald insisted upon showing me all of his local wares which he insisted he had made himself, even though all of the artwork was signed by different people. i told him i wasn't going to buy anything but he wa persistant and insisted upon waiting with me for two hours while i waited for any one to show up at the carving school during which time he laid on a thick guilt trip about how he depended upon tourists for his survival, and also told me that once he was talking to some dutch tourists who had there bag stolen, he had then taken them to the which doctor who knew exactly what was in the bag and said that he could get the bag back for $250 usd. which at the time i thouht was suspicious.

any way the carvers finally turned up and we went and got some wood which would eventually turn in to a boa boa board, and spent the rest of the afternoon carving with soloman, but as it turned out there had not been enough time to finish it and i would have to return tommorrow morning. so i went back to the campsite where McDonald was hassling Jo and Mirium whilst they where in the middle of packing from what it seems McDonald got rather anoyed that They wernt to interested in his stuff and that they had other stuff to do, they where in the middle of packing there bags and josie had put everthing in to her bag in front of McDonald. he eventually left without doing any business.


that evening was the best thunder stom i have ever witnessed it felt like we where right in the midddles of the storm and lighning was striking the lake in front of us the hills behind us, and then the power went out. at this stage i was quite worried our tent might get flooded indeed my bag was out front in only a rucksack liner and i had left my stash of money underneath the tent but we will have to worry about that in the morning, and craig (the campsite manager) said we could have a chalet for the same price as camping so off we went to a nice luxourious shelter for the night.

Hitchhike or Hiking

Now we decided for the Down the mountain route rather than back through the strange religious community and where all set for a 17 mile hike to the road when a very nice but religious man offered us a lift to the bottom within 5 minutes of us setting off (at 6am) so we got to the bottom well ahead of schedule, and ahead of the bus that we where going to catch so instead we ended up perched on the back of a pick up truck for a couple of hours in the sun. This time though I actually used sun cream.

after a couple of hours of this over crowded lorry Journey I was promoted to the front seat and then later all three of us where promoted to a passing minibus.

which took us in relative comfort to Mzuzu where we relied upon getting some more local currency so that we could pay for a minibus to Nkahta Bay however it was a public holiday and so all the banks where shut, so I bartered a lift by over paying in dollars. Now I could go on about the public transport but suffice to say that I will never believe that the London underground system is overcrowded again.

but we eventually got there and the bus dropped us right out side the butterfly lodge with enough time for us to wander in to town and get some money on the black market buy some food and survive until the next morning

Livingstonia

So woke up in the mountians overlooking lake malawi today and after a harty breakfast went for a walk in the hills (which we latter found out was the hottest day of the year). first we went to the mechwe falls and then on to livingstonia. cant put on my photos so i have found a random set of photos from some one elses website.

livingstonia was set up as a missionary town after david livingstone made it to the falls and convinced some important dude that slavery was bad davy boy then left and a mission was set up. its remoteness and deaply religious people give it quite an eary fealling some what armish. very friendly people but there was just somthing not quite right about the place. plus with a sun burnt back i was runing off to the shade every ten seconds to hide so we wandered back down the hill to the campsite.

from the campsite there are only two ways out up through livingstonia and then hitch with the strange armish people, along a dirt trac for 40 km or a 17km treck down hill and then wait for a bus. after livingstonia we opted to go down.

Mushroom Farm

So where siting on the beach reading lonley planet which claims that it is really difficult to get to livingstonia as it is a 25 km walk up a steep hill (only accsessable by 4wd) and there have been muggings, and so we dicide to miss out on it. which is a shame as it has links to supprisingly enough David Livingstone, and the abolition of slavery.

But we cassually ask the barman if there is any way up to livingstonia he gets on his radio and there is the owner a campsite ( The Mushroom farm) who was coming on to town and could give us a lift back, great we said and easy as that we got a free lift up the hill to a beutiful little campsite ran by a Oz'y guy called Mick. the site had a natural spring flowing from it and so we had clean water and a at 1355 meters we had a great view over lake malawi, what more could we want but a good meal, and bang on arival it appeared.

Mick made it sound and look really easy to set up and run a campsite in malawi and you certainly couldn't knock his lifestyle at least for a short term stay.

Chitimba Bay Day 2

So on day two i woke up and realised just how badly i had burnt my back so spent the day hiding in the shadows and admiring the view still had quite a good day relaxing and chating to overlanders, quite glad now that we didnt go on anb overlanding tour as they may as well be any where else in the world for what they are getting. to see africa you can do an overlanding tour but to taste it you need to get right on in there. but an overlanding trip would most certainly be easier.

still beutifull views though and did i mention the beutiful mountains just behind the camsite?

Chitimba Bay Camp site

So we arrive in the cover of darkness set up ou tent on the sand and went to bed. Then we woke up in the morning to find a Beutiful Beach and the crystal blue waters of lake malawi. tucked in to a big breakfast and went swiming, sat on the beach put sun cream on went swiming sat on the beach put sun cream on went swiming sat on the beach put sun cream on, went to talk to a local went swiming got invited canoeing by local carried on swiming went and had lunch went swiming sat on beach and went canoeing with moses ate mangoes on the beach caried on canoeing. sat on beach a bit longer. its a tough life.
you may of noticed that half way through the day i forgot to put suncream on and so stayed out in the mid day sun and all afternoon slowley going reder and reder and reder still paying for in now about a week latter. DOH.

Jouney To Malawi

Bit of a backlog in the entries t the blog malawi doesnot seem to have an internet conection so i thought i would start by updating them day by day whilst i have time and hopfully i will catch up with where i actually am.

so first off the epic journey to malawi.

managed to get a ticket on a bus for quite a lot of tanzanian money for a bus that left at 4am and had less leg room that any other mode of transport i have ever been on, the guide book was perfectly correct when it describes tanzanian buses as a cross between a Mad max film and the worst carnival ride you could imagine.

eventually at about 6pm we got to the malawian border where the entire bus was unloaded and it appeared we where compleatelyt ignored whilst every other bag was compleately searched and taxes forced to be paid 6 hours later we where good to go and made our way to chitimba beach where in the early hours of the morning i managed to mistake a tree roote for a croc and near enough jumped in to josies arms.

Dar Es Salam

We one more night in dar which by the way has no water, piped in to the centre, they are upgrading it and so in the mean time every one has to go around to trucks and fill up buckets, and there is not enough and so the toilets are not the happiest of places to be.

On the whole its a very nice place and even the touts seem to be friendly, no where near the scams I was expecting but then I was expecting worse than South east Asia. The only problem with the touts is that they remember you so you can't lie so easily, and also they are much friendlier and get offended if you tell them to go away.

found what seams like a very good tour agency and now have got to know most of the guys there. Dar has been well and truly covered in 2 days though and glad to be going to the beaches of Malawi even if it is a 27 hour coach journey.

oh and im going to have to get used to the 4 am Muslim wake up prayer

Possible routes

What ever happens we go to Llionge (Malawi) on thursday. arrive friday spend a couple of days on a beach.

from there there are several possibilities.

1. Go through Zambia, down through victoria falls, and accross, botswana, and skeleton cost to arrive in cape town 23rd Dec to pick cat up then go accross south Africa i and then back up through mosembique to do tanzania properly. May leave cape town befor new year to cover more ground but don't know.

2. stick with the original plan. south through mosembique and along the cost to Cape town for christmas, and then up through botswana (possibly missing Namibia)

3. same as 2 but instead of missing namibia arive in cape town slightly earlier and go up the skeleton cost before new yeaar and then in to Botswana.

dar is quite a laid back city compared to some others i have arived in such as bangkok.

got to rush out of time

Arrived

Well its finally her we have arived in Dar es salam and have allready got in to the swing of things it seems much more laid back here that i had expected even the touts seam friendly but the internet access is a bit slow.

didn't manage to get much sleep on the plane thoug so together with the heat am begining to feal the pace a bit.

any untill tommorr i'll just keep moving on.

Things to do

I seem to be having trouble finding computers when there isn't one sitting on a desk that is no longer mine. But occasionally I can get to a terminal. Just after the American election and it looks like the American nation has not disappointed and lived up to there renascent stupidity, I just don't understand that idiot nation. Any how at least this time the election seems to be almost demorcratic. I think John Kerry should just disappear now and not say another word to the media, go off in a real Huff, then the docusoap of America can continue. But hey at least the black watch can come home now.

any way this entry is not supposed to be about the state of the world but what it is I still have to do.

1. organize Leaving Do supposedly I am having one on Saturday, but have yet to organize anything, will let you know. Am having a family get together on Sunday.
2. organize Money work out what I am taking with me and go and get it
3. Work Paperwork, Sign all the final documentation for DB.
4. Christmas shopping Still to get presents for Lorna, Mark, Bev, And Jodie, have an idea what i am going to get but still have to get it.
5. Pack, all of my stuff that is staying needs to get in to the foft all the stuff thats going needs to go in to my bag.
6. Get photographs. Need to get loads of passport photographs, to take with me
7. Photocopy documentation
8. Buy stuff - Straps, Pack it cubes, Rechargeable batteries, photographic paper.
9. Sleep
10. Catch plane in 5 days time

less than a week to go

Not much i want to say but Less than a Week To go just 6 days and then I'm Off