Holiday in Malawi

We finished the term nicely with a final assembly before the students left to go home. They were on their way home by 8am and they had been up for a very long time. There were a lot of taxis to take the students home while some people’s parents had come in person to collect them. To say the taxis were overloaded would be an understatement. A small hatchback had over 7 trunks in the boot and many were completely overhanging the back of the car! Sadly I didn’t take a picture of it but I will try to get one when this term ends. It was amazing how fast all the students left with just a few left by around 9 or 10.The school had some spare chickens in the poultry so each of the teachers were given one each. Unfortunately we were leaving the same day so wouldn’t have had time to eat ours so we gave them to some students to take for their families.Once they had all gone I went home and finished packing my bag and by about 3 we set off with our bags to catch a taxi to Chipata.There we met up with the girls and stayed at a hotel/guest house for the night. We had pizza for dinner in Chipata. We found a taxi driver for the next day and got an early night.

The next day we set off but not very early. It was a very short taxi ride to the border. Entering Malawi was simple, pay the rather expensive visa fee of $75 and you’re in. We then got a sharing taxi to a nearby town then a minibus to Lilongwe the capital of Malawi.Lilongwe was crazy. Much bigger than Chipata but less developed than Lusaka. There weren’t as many western looking areas as in Chipata or Lusaka. There were stalls everywhere and a lot of people. The thing we all noticed is that Malawi is much more densely populated than Zambia. So even when driving along the roads there are a lot more villages and people around. Whereas in Zambia you can drive for a long time and see no sign of people living close.We were aiming to travel to Nkhata bay to then north of the country. We needed to get out some Malawian kwacha from an ATM. We also wanted to get a Malawian SIM card so that we would be back online again. getting cash was relatively fast however getting the SIM cards took a long time. Each of us had to register using passport details as part of an anti fraud scheme like in Zambia but we were wanting to continue travelling so it felt like it took forever. We spent around 2 hours in Lilongwe getting cash and SIM cards. Although it was crazily busy I felt fairly safe as I usually do in Zambia.The money in Malawi is interesting the exchange rate was about 1000 Malawian kwacha to one pound and, although it is quite a cheap country, many things we paid for were around £10 so 10 000 Malawian kwacha. Eventually we did get used to it though. The other thing is that the highest denomination note was 2000. At the cash machine you could only take out 80 000 at a time and since card payments only really happen at supermarkets in Malawi we needed a lot of cash. So we all ended up with 80 notes which felt like a lot of money but it was really only about £150. We had to take out cash a lot whilst on holiday!

When we had got out of the taxi a taxi guy came over to help us we were confused why he was helping as he didn’t ask for any money. After he stood with us until the Sims were sorted he offered us a taxi to Nkhata bay for 80 000 which we took since otherwise we would have had to take a multi stop public transport ride. There were 5 of us so it really wasn’t that much for a 7 hour drive. It was good to be in a car knowing we would get to our first stop Mayoka village that evening.The highlights from Mayoka village were it was cheap for food and accommodation. It was right by the lake (we were camping less than 3m from the water!). The only thing was food took a long time to come but it was very tasty when it came. While we were there we went on the paddle boards and kayaks that were free to use, did some cliff jumping, saw some fish eagles went snorkeling and relaxed. The snorkelling was really cool there were lots of brightly coloured fish called cichlids (pronounced siklid) but also our guide showed us some tunnels you could swim through if we wanted. I loved it but I know most of my family found it quite terrifying.Here are some photos

After Nkhata bay we boarded the Ilala ferry which left at midnight! We walked down to the ferry terminal we barely saw anyone. When we got there we walked on and were greeted with a lot of people on tables chairs and the floor. There was an unbelievable amount of cargo on the boat too. It was really cold after the boat had left the shelter of the land. Thankfully the water was calm so most of us managed to get some sleep. We slept at a table as there wasn’t anywhere else to lie down even though we had 1st class tickets. First class was on the top deck and anything less than first class looked to be unbelievably uncomfortable. We slept until around 4:30am when we arrived at Chizumulu island. There was no jettee there so we had to get to the land by climbing down a ladder onto a smaller boat that took us to the land it was a very small boat and was hand paddled and sat very low in the water with all 5 of us plus bags. We set up our tents with an amazing view of the fishing village and the lake. Then got breakfast. We had only planned a day staying there as there aren’t many things to do there. We explored the island one day and I walked up the hill on the island from there you could see Likoma island and the Mozambique coast as well as the rest of the island. The fish were amazing on Chizumulu island probably the best of everywhere we visited. The lake was very clear so it made it easy to see fish a long way from you. I also enjoyed trying to touch the bottom at some points. I really enjoyed having the chance to swim so much on holiday because because I’d barely swam all year!

The lodge we stayed at was very pretty and used to be amazing but it had changed owners recently and they made us all feel s little uncomfortable from the way they interacted with us. It felt like they were trying to extract a lot of money from us as they were the only touristy place on the island. Some of the food was a crazily small portion for the price but the dinner they prepared was amazing. It was an odd stay but I’m still glad we went there though. We found our own transport to the other island by asking a local people to take us on a fishing boat. The lodge was surprised we hadn’t gone with their boat but they were going to charge around 80 pounds when we got it for 30. It was a very small boat and it sat low in the water again but the water was very flat and we made it. It was about a 40 minute ride but was nice as we could take in both islands at the same time.Mango drift was an amazing place to stay.

After arriving on the private beach for the hostel we set up our tents then relaxed until dinner time. Each time we ate we sat at table set up at the edge of the lake and ate with everyone else at the lodge. It was very nice especially as the moon was full so it was quite light. The food was really good at Mango drift their menu was limited like most places we visited as it’s hard to get ingredients but it was very good and all reasonable prices. Three of us did water skiing while we were there which was challenging but really good fun. We also visited the cathedral on the island which was built by Scottish missionaries. We got to climb the tower to get an amazing view of the island. It was possibly one of the most dangerous activities since there were gaps in the floor for clock mechanism which had a 15m drop below them!Here are some photos.

We left the island in the morning at about 8. On a smaller ferry this time as it arrived at 4pm and the other one arrived at midnight which we didn’t want to do. The smaller boat was much more unstable and had a lot of cargo meaning once it started swaying it didn’t stop. Unfortunately for us the wind was up and the waves were quite big. The small boat rocked a lot I don’t usually have a problem with boats nor did anyone else. After 30 minutes we were all feeling very sick. We stopped at Chizumulu island and picked up more people and more bags of dried fish which smelt very badly. I felt better after stopping for a bit but others struggled the whole journey.Another post is coming with the rest of the holiday.