Day 21. Fri 11th October
Mzuzu - Chikangawa
Andy and I are up very early and take a walk down to the lake, where the
fishermen are coming ashore with the night's catch, and their wives and
kids assess the catch.
After all the rough treatment my left sandal finally gives up the ghost,
and I flap back the hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast we pile into the Land Rovers once more and set off
down Lake Malawi, stopping off in Mzuzu at lunchtime.
Before lunch we explore the market, and when an over-enthusiatic trader
tries to sell us potatoes, I point out that we don't need spuds, but I
would like to get my sandal repaired. He immediately takes me by the hand
and leads me off through the market stalls to a mate who agrees to mend
my sandal for the princely sum of 20MK (about 15p), and does a pretty good
job of it too. I take his picture while he works, and get the usual reaction
when I show him and his mates the display.
The trader next door also wants his photograph taken in front of his
stall, and when I go to take it I see why!
Whether or not Farts is his name I never discover, but he obviously knows
what it means in English and we all have a good schoolboy chortle and make
farting noises at each other for a while. Then my friend the potato seller
leads me back his his stall where the others are waiting, which is just
as well as I doubt if I could have found it by myself. He obviously wants
a commission, and makes puffing gestures, so I buy him a handful of local
cigarettes at 2MK each from another stall, and he goes off very happy.
We eat at Polly's Cafe, which is full of wazungu - we haven't seem
so many white faces all together since we arrived. Mzuzu is obviously a
popular tourist spot.
We set off again, and soon turn away from the lake and climb steeply
up the side of the rift valley. About a mile up we come upon a broken down
truck Another truck is coming down the hill towards us, and, with complete
disregard for us, scrapes right down the side of the Defender, tearing
off the rear light cluster. Despite our shouts and hoots on the horn he
carries on scraping until the Landrover actually starts to shift. Pete
and Auxies immediately leap out and a furious argument ensues between them
and the truck driver, who refuses to take any responsibility, and eventually
climbs back into his truck and carries on down the hill. The last town
we passed through, Chiweta, had a police road block, quite common in Africa,
and we make a U-turn and beat the truck back down the hill where Auxies
reports the whole affair to the police.
Meanwhile Ken, in the Discovery, who was quite a way behind, reaches
the road block, sees us, and realises something is up. When he hears the
story he loses his rag completely, marches up to the police "office" (a
desk, a chair and a flag by the roadside) grabs the lorry driver by the
tee-shirt and starts shouting that he has a vehicle full of British tourists,
and demanding of the policeman that he be arrested immediately. It's rather
nice that he is so protective of us, but it does rather lose him the moral
high ground. The police finally quieten everyone down, and the drama ends
without further mishap.
We keep well out of the way, drinking coke and looking round the little
cluster of shops and traders, including a take-away kebab and chips stand,
African style. I manage to grab a photo of this with my unobtrusive little
camera, but when Nathan tries the police jump on him and tell us all we
are not to photograph near the barrier.
Eventually we get underway again and reach the Kasito Lodge in Chikangawa
without further incident, although some members of the party are obviously
feeling the strain...
The Kasito Lodge is one of two lodges built to house the plantation managers
when the pine plantation at Chikangawa was planted. Ken describes this,
the largest plantation of exotic trees in Africa, as "the biggest f**k
up in Africa". It was planted with the intention of making paper, but the
project was not thought through at all with regard to disposal of effluent,
distribution, etc. etc., and no paper was ever made. The trees are now
too old to make paper with, and too thin for decent timber, so the entire
forest is completely worthless, and the lodges are used for tourists.
In the afternoon we go for a "nature ramble" in the woods (not the
pine forest itself).
In the evening we enjoy a good meal, and then sit in the lounge drinking
scotch and reminiscing. This is the last evening we will spend, just us
as a group, as tomorrow evening we will be in Lilongwe in a restaurant,
probably with Ken's wife and possibly Auxies' too. We feel very much that
the holiday is drawing to a close, and we swap contact details, and talk
about the high points of the trip.