It’s 4am on the night after my last blog and the guards have come to wake me up to tell me that the ferry has arrived. The Ilala is too big to come close to the beach so the local guys use small dugout canoes to transfer everyone to the Ilala’s life-rafts which then take us across to the ferry. It’s mayhem. The life-rafts are meant to take about 25 people, presumably evenly spread out. We had about 30 people on one side and about ten on the other side along with a few chickens. The chickens weren’t very heavy so we were listing quite a lot and taking on water the whole way across to the ferry. It was pitch black and mildly frightening but we made it on board ok.
The Ilala is a great way to travel. There are three classes – first, second and cabin. Cabin is the most expensive but the rooms are hot, sticky and full of cockroaches so most people who can afford it pay for first class which means that you can sleep on the floor on the top deck. It’s great fun. There was a small bar and it was there that I met two German girls who told me that they had been traveling with a Dutchman who was bitten in the bum by a crocodile while swimming at Mofasa’s in Monkey Bay. It’s where I had been swimming a week earlier.
After twelve hours we arrived at Likoma Island and headed along a dusty dirt road to Mango Drift which is a collection of huts on the best beach in Malawi. I stayed there for a few days and went snorkeling in the crystal clear water and played beach volley ball every afternoon. On the third night we all sat on the sun loungers drinking beer and watching the spectacular lunar eclipse. It’s the first time I have ever seen it and what a place to see it from. The island has a generator that cuts out at 9pm every night so there was zero light pollution which meant the visibility was perfect.
It was so chilled on the islands that I finally managed to finish reading a heavy going text book that I’ve been lugging around in my bag like a lead weight since Buenos Aires. It’s called How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker. It’s an eye opening read but unfortunately does nothing to explain how MY mind works! Oh well.
After five nights on Likoma I hired one of the local Dhow boats and headed to the even more remote island of Chizimulu. There is only one lodge there called Lukwenda Retreat and it’s run by a mad Englishman called Nick. A great guy. We sat up drinking beer and talking rubbish till the early hours.
After the Ilala had done a lap of the lake it was back at the islands so I jumped on and headed to Nykata bay. It’s known as a bit of a tourist trap so I skipped straight through and headed inland. My first stop was at a place called Mzuzu Zoo. It’s a dive run by two Englishmen and a Swiss guy. All of them are alcoholics. Nice guys with lost souls. I arrived at about 9am and listened to them arguing about whose turn it was to go and buy the whiskey. After one of them had left I ordered breakfast from a menu consisting of toast, coffee or the Mzuzu Zoo special which was three beers and a packet of fags.
I didn’t stay long. Two Dutch girls and a guy had hired a car to take them to the remote town of Livingstonia so I bagged a free lift with them. After three hours of horrendous dirt roads we arrived at an amazing eco-lodge called Lukwe. It’s run by a Flemish guy called Oka who drove here from Belgium ten years ago in a battered old Renault 4. He fell in love with the place and decided to stay. There isn’t exactly a local B&Q or Wickes so he’s had to make everything himself including the chairs, tables, toilets, huts and beds. It’s an amazing achievement. We stayed up every night and sat around the camp fire talking rubbish and setting the world to rights. (I can see a trend forming here…)
Three days later I managed to get a lift out to the main road and from there I made my way further inland to a place called Luawa Forest Lodge. It’s run by a couple from Yorkshire. For some reason they decided to leave the cold, dark days back home and move to this charming old colonial building set in huge grounds full of lakes and forests of pine trees. I can’t say I blame them.
I’m off to Lilongwe soon to pick up a tent before heading into Zambia 🙂
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! xx
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