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Climbing To Dedza: Pottery, Petroglyphs & Bad Tomatoes
Miles trundle by as we journey back north, leaving behind the lush green fields of the tea plantations and soon passing again through the metropolis which is Blantyre with its big buildings, big crowds and big character, then onwards along the M1 through more police checkpoints than we care to count. Green becomes red, rolling becomes flat and then flat becomes spectacular mountain. After Ntcheu we’re not even sure which country we’re in, our maps suggesting that the highway we’re driving along is the border between nations, Mozambique on our left and Malawi on our right. Dedza announces itself with a large welcome sign and yet another speed trap, smoke…
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Journeys In Malawi: Southwards In Time For Tea
As we drive through Malawi, every town and village is an explosion of colour, sounds and smells, each place a sensory experience in its own right, in complete contrast to long distance vision which seems to be perpetually blighted by the dense haze hanging in the air and blocking out the long view. We had worked out for ourselves that the haze is a combination of red dust carried by the wind coupled with smoke from extensive burning of scrub, but, now that we’re travelling further south and the haze is thinning, we realise that water vapour from the great lake is the third element helping to create the mist.…
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Beneath The Great Plateau: Exploring The City Of Zomba
It’s noticeably more chilly here, both after sundown and in the morning. We are now in Zomba, former capital of Malawi, where the town sits at around 1100m above sea level, some 600m higher than Cape Maclear on the shores of Lake Malawi. Days are hot but darkness calls for an extra layer and long trousers and at breakfast time there is a pleasant freshness to the air. Our paths cross once again with the history of Dr Livingstone, and will continue to do so as, more by coincidence than by design, we trace sections of the great man’s journey through Central and Southern Africa. Here in Zomba his presence…
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Lake Malawi Days
It went on for a bit longer. The very friendly guy who smiled as he told us he’d given our room to someone else, WhatsApps after a couple of days to say that the usurping guests have extended their stay for a night and we still can’t take our original booking. When we do eventually move to Tranquilo after three nights away, it’s immediately obvious that our temporary billet was far superior to the one we’re now at – and given that we had, of course, refused to pay the difference, we’d inadvertently got ourselves a real bargain. Tranquilo has clearly seen better days, and what’s more, the dusty outdoor…
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Into Malawi: A Range Of Emotions In The Warm Heart Of Africa
Once we’ve left Mombasa behind en route to Malawi, Kenya springs one last surprise: the sight of the mighty Kilimanjaro which eluded us throughout our time in Amboseli. There, at last, it is, its unmistakable white peak clearly visible from the aeroplane window, perhaps not quite as majestic as seeing it from ground level, but….well, we’ve seen it at last! A few hours later, and via a flight connection in Nairobi, we are taking our first ever steps in Malawi, the tinder dry landscapes around the airport dotted with crisp shrubs, leafless frangipane and patches of burnt earth. The route to the capital city Lilongwe seems to be 40 minutes…
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Last Call In Kenya: Mombasa, Its History And Its Surprises
We start our Monday without a clear idea of how we’ll get back to Mombasa from Diani but we’re pretty confident that it won’t be complicated. As it turns out, it couldn’t be easier: Uber, rumoured to be sketchy in terms of reliability, works fine and there’s a driver just four minutes away, the quoted rate is unbelievably cheap, traffic is light even at the ferry point and we are in our hotel reception in Mombasa at the ridiculously early time of 10:30am. And just when we think serendipity is done for the day, our room is ready, we’re able to check in straight away, and we’re out exploring our…
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Beneath The Surface: An Alternative Diani
“You sit here Papa”, someone said on one of our first nights in Kenya, “Mama you sit this side with the lovely view”. It’s become a theme – for those who don’t call us by name we are universally addressed as Mama and Papa, which is apparently the normal moniker for an adult couple in Swahili English. They are genuinely surprised to learn that in our world you only use such names for your parents. If there is a single word which we hear more than “Papa”, “pole pole” or “hakuna matata” when we get into conversation here, it’s “corruption”. Mistrust is rife. La Gusta is an excellent beach bar…
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Diani Time: Mishaps & Monkey Business
Sometimes you know you’ve just had a stroke of luck. Our apartment in Diani is small but has a lovely outdoor space, in fact the “outdoor lounge” is as big as the interior. Today is boat trip day, Amos the boat trip man (who by the way calls himself Amos The Great) is picking us up at 7:30 so we’re awake early and just getting our stuff together. I’m at one end of the apartment with my back to the door, Michaela is tidying up the bed when I turn around to talk to her and come face to face with, right behind me in the doorway and about to…
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From The Plains To The Sea: Arrival In Diani & Reflections On Safari
We’ve been in Stanley’s company for over a week, our different lives thousands of miles apart thrown together by circumstance, and saying goodbye at Voi train station feels disproportionately poignant. “You going home today after your long week, Stanley?” “Oh no, don’t remind me of that” he says, “it means that I won’t ever see you again”. For a brief moment he actually appears to be welling up. It must be dust in his eye, surely. Stanley has been a good guy. He talks to the animals out of the minibus window, tells us what he thinks the animals are thinking, and, when he spots a dead bird seemingly killed…
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Safari Final Stage: Tsavo West & Tsavo East
In the previous posts from our safari week we have mentioned the differences between each region, a fact which is once again very evident as soon as we pass through the gates and enter Tsavo West. For the most part, the shrubbery of Tsavo West is more dense and greater in height, so animal spotting here is much more a case of good luck rather than scanning the plains through binoculars. Moreover, it is far less visited here, so any CB radio contact between guides is far more sparse. In a way, all this adds to the thrill of a sighting, each encounter being a rather more private affair than…
