Malawi to the Cape, 29th March – 25th May 2011

Goodness time flies. Somehow before we knew it we were in South Africa and then I fell into the mindset of “trip finished” and therefore no blog updates. However there is still quite a bit to tell!

After our lovely days at Cape Maclear on the shores of Lake Malawi we hot footed it over the border and spent one night in Chipata in Zambia. We were humming and hawing about whether or not to risk driving to South Luangwa National Park as it was rainy season in Zambia too, we heard repeated reports that the roads were terrible and we were worried about our trailer. After one night camping in the drizzle and chatting to the overland trucks and asking anyone coming in the opposite direction what the roads were like we decided to risk it. On our last trip through Africa South Luangwa NP was the probably THE most spectacular in terms of wildlife.
Well, only 198kms and it took just over 4 hours to get to Mfuwe, the village on the edge of the National Park! The roads were bad.....really bad....!

We decided upon our campsite – checked out a few and the beautiful one of our trip 9 years ago is now over commercialised and rather miserable. So we went elsewhere and set up camp.
It was hot hot hot and we were sweaty and hot and bothered. We were the only campers however and had the site and the very nice shower block all to ourselves. Well, apart from our full time guards (due to elephants and thieving baboons and hippos wandering through the campsite). The campsite also had an upmarket arm – the luxury safari tents which actually sat on the banks of the river (the cheap campers don’t get a view!). We did get to use the beautiful pool however...bliss and it made the kids very happy.

During our 3 nights there we did 3 long game drives – all squeezing into our car - as you pay for your NP permit for a 24hr period. Sadly we did not see as much as we would all have liked – because it was rainy season and the grass is long, the bush very dense and there is so much water everywhere that the animals will choose to move far from the cars and people. However, we had a good time and apart from predators, saw a lot of everything else.

After relaxing at Luangwa for 3 nights Pieter and I decided we would travel on with Karen and Henry and not slow down. The kids were just loving being together and every journey would take turns in different cars.

From Luangwa we were on a mission to cover the miles and miles to get back to Johannesburg in plenty of time for Beate and Gideon to be back at school the following Monday. So lots and lots of driving every day, grabbing supplies en route, pausing to set up camp each night and up and away early the next day.

We got to Livingstone (famous for viewing Vic Falls from the Zambian side) and ended up at a nice campsite, although only for one night. The next morning we got up and drove straight to the very posh hotel right on the banks of Victoria Falls. By looking like we owned the place we managed to access the Falls from the posh hotel and bypassed the ticket booth altogether. As it was rainy season the haze and water “fog” over the falls was very dense and we all decided this was the perfect chance to make the most of it. The kids got dressed in swimmies and they all went off to view as much of the falls as they could while getting completely drenched. I remained at a safe distance and held onto all the valuables – and of course had to take a photo of the retuning tribe – especially Karen dressed like a Jedi in her rental poncho!!

That afternoon we drove on to the border in order to get on the pontoon to Botswana and get all the border formalities out of the way before nightfall. All very interesting – before getting on the pontoon we had lots of locals chatting away around the car and wanting us to trade anything in return for souvenirs. All a good vibe though – Zambians really are lovely people. Archie proved himself once again, he really has mastered the art of bargaining and came away with an ebony (or so they claimed!) rhino, two soap stone zebras and a wooden hippo in return for a 99p Chinese plastic car (broken) and an old teddy bear. Mara couldn’t bear to barter with anyone as she was plagued with the feeling that it wasn’t fair on them as “I think they might be poorer than me”. Euan traded a little bit and got a lovely wooden rhino which he accidently dropped overboard on the pontoon and sobbed for a good half hour!

(note the interesting sides to the boat in the last photo!)

On the other side Botswana officials were really efficient and it went fairly quickly and smoothly and then we headed off to find a campsite in Kasane. We got to the Chobe Safari Lodge, once again, camping round the back of the posh lodge. We had stayed here 9 years ago and it was just as good a camping spot – literally on the water’s edge with sounds of hippos, the threat of crocs, a snake slithering over Mara’s foot, lovely hot showers and boat trips available. We all decided we had done so much driving we would stay a bit longer than expected and squeeze in a boat trip on the Chobe River. A good decision and we saw lots of huge crocs, monitor lizards, birds and hippos.

Then however the real race began. We drove all the way to just outside Francistown, eastern Botswana, in a day and camped. The next morning we were up and away by 7.30am and we knew we’d be back at Karen and Henry’s house in Jo’Burg that night. Euan was not well however. We suspected malaria immediately as we had been on red alert since Malawi. Malawi has the most dangerous kind of malaria – Falciparum malaria – otherwise known as cerebral malaria. It can kill a child within 24hrs. Thankfully we were suspicious immediately and in the chaos of packing up the camp at 7 in the morning we also gave him a finger prick blood test. This tested negative however but we still didn’t trust it and started him on the malaria remedies we were carrying just in case. If he had falciparum malaria we could take no chances as he could have been in coma by Jo’Burg. By 5pm we were in Jo’Burg after an uneventful day’s driving. We took Euan straight to A&E and discovered it was indeed cerebral malaria. He was admitted and was in for 4 days.

During that 4 day period Archie had his 6th birthday. Poor Archie – his brother was in hospital so his parents were a bit stressed out PLUS his dad got a gastro bug and was in his bed and missed all birthday celebrations. Thankfully we were staying with the cousins so the rest of us went out to the Spur (family diner in SA) and Archie had a great time.

After some lovely time in JHB, enjoying hot showers and comfy beds we headed to Welkom to Pieter’s parents. The kids were thrilled to be back there and loved playing with the old “He Man” toys and Euan recovered fully. The parents enjoyed supermarkets, home cooking (Pieter especially in his element with his mum's great roasts, like Eisbein

,,,,, and putting washing into the MACHINE and not spending at least 2 hours doing everything by hand in a miniature fold up bucket. For the first time in 8 months we also had the odd hour or two without the kids – just to go to the shops, or go for a run. Amazing, how did we manage that – no time off at all in all that time?!

On leaving Welkom we drove down to Stillbaai on the garden route, where we spent a week in a cottage of a friend of Pieter’s. We chilled out, did some home schooling, some pottering in rock pools collecting star fish, some further attempts at fishing, lots of running (the kids now insist on taking turns to join in....),

We also went to feed some eels - strange thing to do, but they turn out to be very interesting!

And another great day was spent at a predator park with every kind of big cat – even white lions and white tigers. A very sympathetic, loving place.

Back in the car and then to Cape Town, for 2 nights with my Dad and Mareli and then into our own wee cottage in Hout Bay. We are still there, enjoying catching up with friends

, family

, doing fun things – like the World of Birds where we loved having squirrel monkeys climb all over us

Not to mention cooking in an oven, in a real kitchen, washing clothes in a machine and sleeping in big comfy beds. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.......

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Kenya to Cape Maclear, Malawi 12th – 31st March

We now have some serious miles under our belts since the last update. We spent a week in Nanyuki where we fixed up the trailer and restocked and recharged with Claire and Neil who were unbelievably kind and hospitable. In the middle of that week we took off for a couple of nights wild camping in a game conservancy (a privately owned game farm – of a mere 60,000 hectares or something!)

... the other nights we enjoyed sleeping in a house, meeting Neil and Claire’s friends, drinking cappuccinos and milkshakes in town and even going out for a curry lunch.

When we did finally hit the road it was with a mission to really cover some ground as by then we knew that Pieter’s sister Karen and her family were definitely coming to meet us in Malawi on 28th March. So from Nanyuki we drove south and drove straight through Nairobi and onto Athi River to camp for one night. We bushed camped at Acacia Lodge where we were once again overwhelmed with the white Kenyan hospitality and friendliness. On the next day to the border with Tanzania, over with little fuss and onto Arusha for the night. Arusha is a CRAZY place – bustling with tourists and Safari vehicles (odd extended length land rovers or land cruisers with tons seats in the back) as it’s the thoroughfare for the Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, Mnt Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salam etc. We stayed at Masaii Camp where we had stayed 8 years ago – hadn’t changed much, basic camping and hot showers. From that first night on we realised rainy season does mean just that in Tanzania. We had rain every single night and often much of the days too.

We had already decided we were driving the main road around the East of Tanzania, not stopping to do any national parks as a) it is rainy season, b) we have done them before and c) they all cost over $150 per day to drive into and there are better Parks coming in Zambia and Botswana. Instead we decided we would make beelines for the nicer campsites. So after Arusha we drove up into the Usambara Mountains for 2 nights at altitude (i.e. no malaria and less humidity) on a biodiversity farm. Sadly that didn’t go as planned and as we wound our way up the mountainside at 5pm the hub cap bolts flew off the trailer which meant the entire wheel flew off and the axle crashed to the ground and seared a gaping wound into the tarmac for 20 or 30metres till we screeched to a halt. We were then stranded again by the side of the road. Within seconds a small crowd of kids had arrived to watch with glee their evening’s entertainment.

Pieter drove off with three locals as they passed in their car and kindly offered to help and I was left at the side of the remote mountain road with the 3 kids. It was fine for about the first half hour as the local kids giggled at our kids and tried to peer in the windows and climb like monkeys all over the car. Then as the sun began to sink an older crowd appeared and proceeded to whip the kids with long pieces of bamboo which sent them screaming into the undergrowth. This group of 20 year olds seemed altogether a bit sinister and without wanting to alarm our kids I got them back into the car, locked the doors and unsheathed Pieter’s pocket knife. Don’t know quite thought I would manage to do armed with one pocket knife and no cell or satellite phone signal. Thankfully just as the sun went down an angel on a motorbike appeared called Ismail. He said he had driven past me on his way home up the mountain about 10mins before and as he drove onwards he felt he just couldn’t leave me stranded there and had turned around and driven back. Also a local guy but with good English and a working cell phone, he stayed by my side until Pieter returned and chased away any of the more dodgy characters who found our mishap so fascinating.

Pieter returned in the back of a truck and yet again we proceeded to load up the trailer onto the back of a lorry – typically without the aid of any mechanics, we simply had to use man power to lift the entire trailer up and in.

The trailer was unloaded (manually – I couldn’t watch as 13 or 14 guys lifted and nearly dropped our trailer off the back of the lorry) and locked up and we drove onto the campsite – with Ismail on his motorbike ahead of us to show us the way. We took a room that night as the rain fell and we only arrived at 9pm. We had a picnic on the reed mat on the floor of our room of old white bread and peanut butter – the royal life we lead!

Pieter spent the whole of the next day driving around local villages sourcing the required parts with a 1001 mechanics all wanting to help fix the trailer

and the kids and I yet again stayed “by the hearth” and did hand washing, home schooling, and all the other domestic chores.

With a clean car and working trailer we set off the next morning and did a big 10hour drive to reach the baobab valley south of Mikumi. We arrived at a deserted campsite at nightfall and set up camp with sweat trickling into our eyes and mouth and clothes sticking to our every move. The showers were beautiful however and we all stood at 9pm under cool spraying water before climbing into bed. Up and off the next day to Iringa, a town known for its big market and cooler climate. We went to a local cafe which is all part of a project for the local physically disabled and deaf people. So you have only deaf waiters serving you and the attached craft shop is all run by the artists who have made the products. The sight of these poor souls – one man had withered legs and flip flops on his hands as he used these to drag himself around; another woman had DIY crutches out of pieces of tied together wood. However what an amazing project. These people have had training and make great sellable goods, the cafe is buzzing and full all day long and every customer is encouraged to learn at least hello, thank you and goodbye in sign language.

From Iringa and after our lunch we drove to Kisolanza Farm, where we camped for 2 nights.

Nice camping, although lots of army ants (which bite) and we managed to get a dry morning to take the kids fishing at the dam about 40mins walk away. Caught absolutely nothing (except perhaps bilharzia) but kids don’t seem to mind things like that. Next day off to a coffee farm up in the mountains outside Mbeya. Rather expensive camping as ostensibly you pitch your tent on the heli pad; but stunning scenery and amazing coffee.

Next day was over the border and our limited foray into Tanzania was over and we were into Malawi. The rain seemed to abate slightly as the humidity increased. We stayed 2 nights at Chitimba Beach, on the north of the Lake.

Terribly humid and sticky but good camping with a lovely Afrikaans couple who have retired up there and are in the process of building up a campsite. From there we went inland and up into the forested mountains in the hope of finding cooler climes. We did.

We spent another 2 nights camping at Luwawa Forest Lodge

and made big friends with one of members of staff and his wife, Patrick and Sandra, a Malawian couple raising their kids and his sister’s kids who were orphaned due to aids. They pay school fees for 4 and support his parents, all on a combined salary of $60 per month (this in a country where enough flour, maize, cooking oil and sugar to last 4 weeks will use up 50% of the salary – so forget about bread, soap, clothes, rice etc).

From Luwawa to Lilongwe where we had the wonderful invitation to stay with the daughter of friends of Pieter’s parents. She was brave inviting us all to crash when she has a 5 year old, a 2 ½ year old and an 8 week old! What a laid back and hospitable couple though, we were made so welcome and just given the washing machine to use to our heart’s content and the kids loved seeing CBeebies for the first time since August and they got to eat cereal for the first time in 4 months. Mum and Dad had fillet steak on the braai for the first time since Christmas in SA.....mmmmm....Thanks Sally-Anne and Kallie!

On Saturday 26th we drove from Lilongwe to Cape Maclear, the southern tip of Lake Malawi and known for its good chill out spots. Our mission was to find a camp site of high enough standard to return to with Karen! We did. We camped there for one night and the kids loved being literally 1 m from the water’s edge and the toilets were beautiful...even Karen won’t need disinfectant here.

The next morning we were up and off south again – to Mangochi to visit Daniel who used to work for us at Buchan Estate. That was a really special visit – we visited the shop he has set up with the money he saved in SA, and we were taken to his home and given the royal treatment and a meal of ground maize and stewed beef (rather uncomfortable as he and his wife and kids insisted on sitting outside while we ate and we had the nagging suspicion we might be eating the family’s meat ration for the week). It was great to see him again and we were touched by his enthusiasm for our visit and he had tears in his eyes as we drove away. The photos are of Daniel outside his house with us, his shop, the kids who came to watch us as we sat outside his shop and the boys...

That night we were supposed to camp at the place we were going to meet with Karen and Henry the next day. Our plan was to arrive a night ahead so we could have our camp all set up and then we could help them we they arrived and have a hot meal waiting etc. But this is Africa so plans never work out. We got to the gate of Liwonde National Park, expecting to drive through and then another 2kms to a lodge with a nice campsite. “ Eh Madam, thee lodge ees closed, eet ees finish” says the guard at the gate. What???? We turned around and wound away towards another campsite just on the edge of the national park. However this being rainy season the road was terrible and we skidded straight off the road and into the ditch where mud was so deep it covered all of the two left hand tyres (about 60cms deep). I got out to help and promptly thumped onto my backside with mud up to my waist. How hysterical for the already gathered local crowd. Nothing as good as seeing a mazungu woman muddied and sweating. 2 hours later and 5 local women with their babies tied to their backs, 4 men and the obligatory army of children had pushed, pulled, and assisted us out of the mud in real high drama fashion. Not before Pieter drove over one man’s bike by accident - the equivalent to writing off someone’s Ferrari in the UK.

Finally made it to a pretty miserable campsite as it got dark. There were showers but no water so a kindly guy from the kitchen took one look at me (now the mud was all crusty from toes to belly button) and ran off to heat a bucket of water. The 5 of us set up camp in the dark – if we lit a single candle we were then swamped by not millions, but billions of tiny beasties. It was too late and too hot and humid to cook and we couldn’t put anything on our table as we couldn’t see it due to the complete covering of insects, so we stood in the dark next to the car and ate a bit of bread and then traipsed off through the undergrowth to all wash in the one bucket of water in a tiny concrete room with no ceiling and lit by one candle. Camping misery, camping hell.

Next morning we decided to get out of dodge and changed the meeting point with Karen and Henry to the Zomba Plateau as a camp such as the previous night was not the place for Mrs Malan ;-)
As we flew the 50kms south to meet them (imagine the excitement in the back row of the car – they have been counting down to this rendezvous for weeks!) it became an even more expensive 24hr period of torture. We had “tipped” everyone for their help in getting us out of the mud, paid the guy for his bike repairs, paid to camp in Hades and then had to pay a speeding fine.
We then drove up up up into the forests of Zomba and camp to the little Trout Farm campsite – and lo and behold there were the Malans waving and smiling! Hurrah! They had driven from Jo’Burg to Zomba in 48hrs and we now have 2 weeks travelling together.

We had 2 lovely nights up on the Zomba Plateau enjoying an idyllic climate and setting and easy walks within reach, see photos below of the waterfall ...

Then back north to the nice campsite on Lake Malawi, with another quick stop at Daniel’s on the way to support him again and stock up on a few things. Fat Monkeys campsite seems to be suitable for Karen, bathrooms even have mirrors, soap and mossie coils burning night and day. Bloody humid for this Scot’s lass though. Kids having a ball splashing in the lake and this morning we took them on a catamaran trip to the nearby islands for snorkelling and feeding the fish eagles.
So it’s not all sob stories from the van Aswegens!!

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