In Lusaka
Thursday morning I walked to Intercity Bus Station in Lusaka, the bus to
Malawi was leaving at 12:30 so I was told. At 11 o’clock I left home, and it
took me about half an hour to walk & find my yellow big bus. When I entered
I saw about 10-15 other passengers, a few white youths. There were a lot of
people going on the bus, but they all carried stuff they wanted to sell, and
during 30 minutes I wrote down everything I saw. Here is the list: Underwear,
Cologne, Perfume, Cell Phones, Drinks, Biscuits, Toys, Balls, Shavers,
Batteries, Phone Chargers, CD’s, Talk Time (Phone credit), Chips/Crisps, DVDs,
Bags, Books, Chitenge, Cloths/Towels, Socks, Belts, Watches, Caps/Hats, Pecks
(klesklyper), Sausages, Sandwiches, Purses, Sweets/Candy, Wallets, Gum,
Lollipops, Hair Accessories (headbands, clips, hairspray, hairbrushes etc),
Headphones, Fruits, Skirts, Shirts, Baby shoes, Sunglasses, Memory cards, Flip flops,
Speakers, Radio, Hair dryer, Ice Cream. Yes, that was everything I saw in 30
minutes! Then I fell asleep, but only to be awaken by a guy who asked for
money.
Lompe with egg
I was prepared to wait a few hours on the bus, and patience
is a must if you want to survive in Africa. Slowly the bus got more crowded (by
passengers). And I started talking to a Belgian who had been waiting since 10 o’clock.
He said they were waiting for more passengers, minimum 30 people. I didn’t really
care, as long as we arrived Lilongwe before 7 AM the following morning (the
journey is supposed to take 10-11 hours, from Lusaka to Lilongwe). At 4 o’clock
the bus started moving but only a little bit. After another half hour I got
hungry and bought something good. It was a “lompe” (potato-pancake) with an omelette
on it, 3 eggs, onion and tomato. 10 Kwatcha. The healthiest food I’d seen all
day, and the guy made it right in front of me on the street. At 5:20 PM, nearly
6 hours waiting on the bus, we started our departure; of course there was rush
hour so it took us forever to get out on the main road and out of Lusaka. The
bus trip to Lilongwe was long and even though I was one of few who had two
seats for myself it was hard to get any sleep. We were constantly stopping and
the lights came on and off. There were also several control stops. At 5 AM we
reached the boarder to Malawi. All of us got out and got a stamp in our
passports, then we drove for 1-2 minutes before we did the exact same.
Lilongwe
At 7:30, 14 hours with driving from Lusaka, and 20 hours
after I got my sore bum on the seat, we arrived Lilongwe! The first thing I did
was finding an ATM, which gave me 40 000 Malawian Kwatcha ($100), then I found
the bus which was going to Monkey Bay. The conductor told me it would leave
when it was full, and it wasn’t even half way there. The ticket cost me 2500 MK
($6) and I gave 500 MK to the guy guiding me to the bus. Then I went and bought
some breakfast, and tried my Nyanja I use in Zambia. It turned out it’s very similar
here, and it was no problem communicating with them on their local language. At
8 AM I got on the bus and waited, watching it slowly getting more crowded. Here
the selling tactics were different than in Lusaka, where all random people came
on and off the bus, for here, only one seller came on and talked warmly about
her product for 10-15 minutes, before going around and collecting money in
exchange for her product (this lady was selling some medicine tea bags). At
about 9:30 the bus departed and I fell asleep. When I woke up I noticed that
inn addition to the 70-80 occupied seats there were also 20ish people standing
in the isle- So about 100 passengers. Out of Lilongwe it looked really nice,
everything is green after the rain season. When we stop (for traffic lights,
petrol, dropping people off etc.) there are a bunch of street sellers
approaching our windows to sell us anything (bags, fruit, water, veggies). I
had no idea for how long this journey would be, but guessed 4-5 hours. When I’m
out traveling I always get a buzz when I go somewhere new and I felt this buss
on the way to Monkey Bay. I was very excited and took looked forward to reach
my destination.
Grasshoppers
During my trip I listened to music, slept, wrote some words
about the trip, drank minimum of water (because there are no toilet on African
busses) and ate even less. I didn’t buy much from the street sellers, except
some bananas (the same sweet kind they have in Seychelles, but maybe even
sweeter) and grasshoppers. Yes, that’s right, I bought some grass hoppers. I
gave a guy 200 MK (.50 $) and got a fairly decent size bag of grasshoppers. I
wasn’t sure if I had to cook/fry them before eating, so I looked at the locals,
and they were eating them as snacks, so I had a few. They didn’t taste much,
but I didn’t eat the whole bag, because if I reacted badly on them (like running
stomach) I would be in big trouble. When I reached Monkey Bay it was about 3 o’clock,
and I had read that it was cheap to get a lift from Monkey Bay to Cape Maclear
(about a dollar or two), but I had no idea where to find this transport. Two
guys approached me and asked if I was heading to Cape Maclear, and they told me
they could drive me for 8500 MK ($20), but I laughed at them saying I was not
paying more than 5000 MK (I wanted to get there without waiting for 3-5 hours
on the road, which could be likely according to the internet), and I was
willing to be paying a bit more for a fast transport. But, the trip that takes
20-30 minutes took a lot longer. Our truck got broken down half way, and I had
to get in a packed minibus (23 passengers). I reached Thumbi View Lodge half
past five. About 30 hours after I left my home in Lusaka!
Paradise
I was exhausted but since it was so quiet here (I’m here a
couple of weeks before it gets busy) I got a en-suite room for the price of the
dorm. $11 for a room on my own, on the beach to Lake Malawi, it can’t get any better. I threw my stuff on my bed and
got a Carlsberg and walked into the lake. It was sunset, no people, peaceful, relaxing
and beautiful. After the beer I had a shower, a meal and went to bed (I guess
it was around 8 o’clock). And fell fast asleep.
Morning
The following morning (today) I woke up at 6:40, well rested
and fresh so I walked the 20 meters from my room to the lake, and swam. It gave
me a lot of memories from when I was a kid and we went morning swimming in one
of the lakes in Stavanger (Stokkavatnet) were we spent our summer holidays. It
was perfect, and couldn’t get any better. After my swim I took a quick shower
before getting my breakfast (which is included in my $11-room) and ate with the
owner, Piet, who is very friendly and good company. The rest of the morning I
walked around, in the main “street” and on the beach. There are a lot of locals
washing their clothes in the lake and drying their fish on tables on the beach.
When I sat by the bar and wrote this blog post I offered the
barman some of my grasshoppers, and it turned out that you’re supposed to fry
them, not eat them raw, ‘cause it will give you a running tummy. I’m so happy I
got a strong stomach!
Lunch
Since the barman told me that I shouldn't eat the grasshoppers raw I stopped, he also offered me to fry them for me, so at lunch we walked just across the street behind some buildings where other locals were sitting. They were cooking simma (same as nshima in Zambia), beans and fish. The barman (forgot his name) fried the grasshoppers and added some salt, and it was so nice! Suddenly the tasteless insects tasted delicious. The other locals tried it as well (you can't get a hold of grasshoppers here in Cape Maclear) before going back to the lodge. It was such a cool experience.
This is going to be a nice place to spend a week’s holiday.
PICTURES WILL COME WHEN I CAN SEND PICTURES FROM MY PHONE TO MY LAPTOP
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