“This is the reason I’m not doing what you’re doing. Fancy one?” It was shortly after sunrise and I was being offered another beer by my neighbours. They’d arrived in a mud-splattered 4×4 the previous evening and set up camp next to me. I wasn’t sure then if the red face that had first greeted me with a cold can had forgotten to apply sun-cream or was just drinking an excessive amount of alcohol. As I sat beside my tent and waited for the water to boil on my Primus stove for morning tea I decided on the latter.
“He loves his beer. Packed eight crates for the trip”, boasted the blonde girlfriend, emerging from the roof of their vehicle where they’d slept the night. “How long are you travelling for?” I asked. Just 10 days. Drove up from Joburg with these guys.
Parked close by was a similar vehicle owned by another Afrikaans speaking couple. With two young kids and a whole catalogue-ful of what looked like new camping equipment to unpack they made my sun-faded tent look somewhat inferior. “That’s seen better days”, remarked the red-faced beer drinker. “But it’s a hubba hubba. A lakka tent.” When several more 4x4s arrived later in the day with Afrikaans being shouted back and forth across the campsite I realised that Cape Maclear, on the southern shores of Lake Malawi, was going to be busy with South Africans for Christmas.
Christmas day for me on the other hand began onboard the Ilala, Malawi’s most distinguished colonial survivor. In continual service since 1951, shortly after it had been transported in parts from the Mozambican coast to be assembled beside the lake, the MV Ilala services a dozen or so ports on Africa’s third largest lake. It chugs its way north once a week from Monkey Bay, the southern most terminus, and one of only two ports with a dock. This mattered to me. Transporting bike and bags from shore to boat is never easy when alone. The bike needs to be lifted awkwardly, bags often get separated and it’s hard to keep a watchful eye on ones belongings, particularly when it’s dark
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Experience with boat travel in other parts of Africa had me prepared for a chaotic, heavily delayed and potentially dangerous journey. Part of me wishes to say it was thankfully none of these. The Ilala was altogether the most civilised and uneventful boat I’ve used to travel on in Africa. Second and third class passengers sat calmly on the lower deck and those with a mostly paler complexion occupied the upper deck. It was very colonial. There was no shouting or drama. Where were the arguments about seating arrangements, the livestock falling overboard, the collisions, break-downs and overcrowding? – basically all what one expects from boat travel in Africa. On almost every other boat I’ve used in Africa I’ve been the only foreign face. On the Ilala there seemed to be as many foreigners getting onboard at Monkey Bay as there were local Malawians.
The biggest drama might well have been that a passenger with an economy ticket spent most of his time on the first class deck. I used the well-stocked bar and the white faces up here as an excuse. They had all paid several times what I had and were entitled to be sitting where they were. I occasionally popped down to the lower deck to eat (rice, beans and beef) and greet those I should have been sitting and sleeping alongside, but there was far more room and fresh-air up above. It was wrong and I knew it. At first I had the idea that I’d settle things the African way by buying the ticket inspectors a few beers, but it never came to that after I got talking to them on a friendly basis. After hearing I was alone and not married, one of the ticket inspectors took it upon himself to find me a wife on board.
The Ilala took on more passengers and cargo as she docked at new ports and headed north, but where I had expected local boats and dug-out canoes to paddle out with produce for sale, I found none. The Ilala even had its own passenger boat with engine to transport people ashore
The other foreigners onboard were a range of ages and nationalities and the open-air bar area made for a lively scene much of the day. There was a time on this journey where foreign faces were so rare that conversation would usually occur when you met someone clearly as far away from home shores as yourself . Now mzungus, as we continue to be known, are so common at times that a mere nod of the head seems to suffice. At least this ensures one doesn’t have to answer and ask the same ‘where are you from’? and ‘where are going’? kind of questions. Most foreigners disembarked at Likoma island, which is actually within Mozambican waters on the lake, but I continued to Nkata bay, arriving in good time to find a goat being barbecued on the beach for Christmas day lunch.
Like many other foreigners who pass this way I eased myself into the relaxed lake-side atmosphere. The camping was scenic and cheap and the company an eclectic mix of characters. With the inevitable talk of New Year parties it became easy to stay for a week. And when the hangover cleared, people started leaving and I found myself feeling restless I did what I’ve done so many times over the past few years– pack the panniers, load up the bike and start spinning those pedals.
Comments
Hello Peter
I guess your’re good. Charles here, remember? From Botswana. Was great meeting you albeit brief. Great read. Will be following your posts.
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Peter Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Great to meet you too. That day on the beach to celebrate your birthday was the highlight of my time in Nkata Bay. You never let me buy you a beer before you left the next day – maybe if/when I reach Gabs. Hope you had a good New Year at Cape Maclear and a safe journey back.
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Gidday Pete,
About Mangoes. Common mangoes cost nothing and they rot on the ground. The good eating ones sell for a dollar each ($USD1) each from boys on the side of the road hawking their dads mangoes or flogged from the neighbour. Woolworth or Coles ( Big grocery stores) sell them for about three bucks a mango. Down south in Sydney or Melbourne they go for 5 bucks each.
Enjoy the ones you have got!
Cheers.
Grant.
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Gidday Pete,
Still punching out the miles albeit in a zig zag course.
We have heaps of Mangoes here in Queensland.
The kidney shape in Africa are the ones we call common mangoes and they are used mostly ofr chutnies and jam.
The great eating mangoes with more flesh, taste and no strings are called, Bowen, Kensington Pride, R2D2 and their are others.
I cant remember any other varieties in Africa other than the kidney shaped ones but have you come accross any other types?
Always great to see your emails in my ‘in’ box and I always enjoy the read. There is a book in there as you well know.
Fair Winds.
Grant.
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Peter Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 10:42 am
Hi, there are other types, albeit much less common then the small yellow stringy ones and the kidney-shaped ones. A better variety are the ones that ripen red (slightly elongated) and purple, but these are harder to come across and sell for a steep £0.15-0.20 rather than £0.05-0.10. What do you pay for a Mango in Queensland during the season?
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Hi Peter, Happy New Year in Malawi and for the rest of the trip. I remember last new year predicting that you would have made it to the cape by now, but I do notice that since DRC you have started to meander a bit – could have been the meandering effect of the congo river! Those huge green stringles mangoes are called kidney mangoes due to their shape. The old colonials used to have weekend shoots to shoot at their long stems to bring them down. your Illala trip brings back fond memories of my trips back in ’72. When the Nkata Bay beach was just the beach and a giant mango tree to park under – very few back packers then! Tod and I have made a promise to meet you when you arrive back in the UK – so in the meantime keep those pedals turning!
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Peter Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Kidney mangoes – they’re the ones! I had 13 in my panniers yesterday. My skin should be turning yellow with all the mangoes I’ve consumed in the past month. In Nkata bay I’d get out of my tent in the morning and walk over to a nearby tree to pick what had fallen over night, then swim out to a floating raft on the lake with the mangoes in my swim-short pockets for breakfast. Bliss. I can just imagine a group of bored/drunk colonials shooting the big ones out of the trees. Just arrived in Lilongwe – still surrounded by maize fields. Zambia in a week or so.
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Colin Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
@Peter, I have often descried paradise as “Eating mangoes sitting in the warm waters of lake Malawi at Nkata Bay with the tiny fish nibbling at ones feet (now you can pay for this at beauty salons to clear up dead skin!)and tugging at the hairs on ones legs!”
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Hi! I have been quietly keeping up with your adventures since around Gambia (I think). I always love the thrill of receiving the email update with your new post. Just procrastinating more than usual which is why I am commenting. Also I am struck by your observations of people and your beautiful photographs. Thanks so much for bringing stories to my inbox.
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Hey Peter!
Guess Ilala was no were close to Aswan-Walid Halfa boat:) This is lakka man!
Cheers,
Elvis
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Peter Reply:
January 10th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
I never took that boat. The Ilala was very civilised – I could have taken my Mum on it, but then I might have bought upper deck tickets.
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Nice to read, thanks. How did you find it, surrounded with so many tourists, all of a sudden?!
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Peter Reply:
January 10th, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Well I kind of expected it. White faces are fairly common in Malawi – you know from the fact that many locals don’t give you as much attention as in other countries. After so long on the road I don’t have the same energy to converse with everyone, but at the same time it’s nice to meet new people and hear about their travels.
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Cinderella servranckx Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
@Peter, I understand and recognise, at some point you feel ‘better’, which is not correct ofcourse, but you can’t help to feel in such a way because of how you are travelling, and on the other hand you can talk a bit as how you are used to, with the kind of jokes they will understand and they can comprehense what you are doing, a little bit then… Anyway, it’s always nice to have a balance in meeting locals and more or less westerners. Enjoy the travel : ) Who knows I might catch you somewhere? I will surely recognise you ; )
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Good stuff.
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Hey Peter,
Hap here, the kiwi fella working on all the continents and I was just over in Southern Africa cycling end of last year. You had helped me out with advice etc earlier last year before I left.
I enjoyed the post, now that I’m back in NZ writing the book in the “real world” it’s seems a life time ago that I was there in Malawi. Looks like you stayed at Butterfly, I stayed next door to there.
I had a laugh at you describing the afrikaans, I can totally see that, they love to booze eh.
I’d be interestd to know how you have found the Malawians in comparison with the other African countries you have cycled through with respect to “mzungu give me money/bike/coke/pen etc?”
Best of luck with the rest of you mammoth journey, not long now.
Happy pedaling,
Hap
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Peter Reply:
January 8th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Yes I stayed at Butterfly – cheaper but probably not as nice as the more popular Mayoka. Kids in Malawi are pretty well-versed with the ‘give me money’ ‘give me ball pen’ stuff. I think I’ve become so used to it on the continent (it is quite noticeable in Malawi) that it doesn’t really bother me anymore, although it is refreshing to be in places where one doesn’t here it. Mzungus are a common sight in Malawi and I guess a lot of them hand out sweets and pens – I don’t.
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It’s always a pleasure to read your blog!Happy and Healthy New year…..
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We met in the bar at Cape Mclare – Fat Monkeys Resort. I was fascinated by your trip, it has always been my dream to do the same but not mad enough to do it on a bicycle, but a motorbike.
The above web site is our guest house in south Johannesburg, South Africa, where you are welcome to stay if ever needing accommodation in Johannesburg.
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Peter Reply:
January 8th, 2012 at 9:24 am
Hi, Good to hear from you and thanks for the invite. Hope you had a safe journey through Mozambique. And thanks for that glass of wine – looking forward to more in SA
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Gary Reply:
January 8th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Journey was fine, no problems at all. When in Johannesburg S.A. come stay with us, as long as you like, on the house. I will keep up with your blogs and your journey. Good Luck.
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