Mulanje Mountain

Yes, I did climb the highest peak of Malawi’s highest mountain. We, the three girls and Joeri (a Dutch guy who also stays/stayed at Likuni Parish), decided to climb Mulanje Mountain (3001 meters) around twelve hours before we left. So, of course, we forgot sunscreen and some stuff to treat blisters. Eh, we’re always só incredibly well prepared whenever we’re undertaking something… Our faces and necks are turned from dark brown to pink again.
But. We got there. All the way to the top. And we had a super, great time. Travelled from Lilongwe to Mulanje in several minibuses the whole Saturday. While the sun was setting we arranged a guide (Peter), a porter (Juma) and food for the coming days. We left Sunday morning early and were back down on Thursday. Home last Friday. Bij de weg, the picture with the water drops (in case you can’t see); it’s me. We found a natural water slide on the mountain, ending in a basin with clear, COLD water. But it was loads of fun. Torn another trouser…
O. I almost forget to tell you, but before and after the trip to the mountain, we were actually doing some work for our project; we biked to different villages to interview smallholder farmers. The first pictures in this post are from a village I visited. At the time I’m typing this, we’ve collected enough data to start analysing and write the report. And as soon as it’s finished, we’re free to leave this place, to start to travel up North, to visit the Northern part of Malawi and Tanzania and Kenya for about seven weeks.

Thinking about my life, as it is right now and will be in the coming months, is enough to keep on smiling non-stop for a whole week.

Short break; the story

You might be wondering where I’ve been lately; because it is taking me so long to post. The two other girls and I have been ‘busy’ travelling around Malawi for more then two weeks, 17 days to be exactly. Many pictures are taken and there’s a lot to tell. So get your map of Malawi ready (so you can follow our path) and hold on tide, I’m gonna get started.

We left March 30th, to Lake Malawi, Sengabay. Spend the whole weekend swimming, hiking, making friends, relaxing, eating fresh fish from the BBQ on the beach, while watching stars and drinking a green (Carlsberg). Anyway, you get the picture…
Travelled down South to Cape Mclear (Monkeybay) on the worst road so far, for more swimming, friends, snorkelling, fresh fish, cold greens and sun. Even clearer water, more of the colourful fishes and more bilharzia.
On that bad road in a full pick-up (I still feel my purple/blue back) again, on Tuesday, towards Zomba and up to Zomba Plateau. Hiked all around the plateau the next day, we were able to visit all the viewpoints, thanks to a local guide who knew some short cuts. We saw monkeys and loads of birds.
After another surprisingly cold night with three girls in two beds, we walked down to Zomba, where I took a minibus all the way back to Salima, to meet with a friend. (By the way, new record; 32 people in one minibus. The lady next to me was travelling with a baby and a one and a half year-old boy, the last one fell asleep on my lap, in my arms… In my opinion the children are one of the best things around here).
Spend most of my Good Friday in minibuses down to Blantyre, after looking around in Salima. Went down to Tyolo on Saturday to see the tea plantations and hiked up a big hill to see the sun set. Warmly welcomed in a tiny church on Easter Sunday; I was lucky to have my private translator. I had several meals with the whole family, eating nsima and chicken with my hands, while sitting on the floor. Cool thing to do in Africa.
I found my two azungu friends back in downtown Blantyre on Monday. Visited the local market, an awesome bakery and got our (Veerle and mine) trousers fixed the next day. We started to travel late, after four, because we had to wait for our trousers (I torn mine pretty bad…) Got to Chikwawa on a winding road while the sun was setting; it was just beautiful. Found a place to sleep (only two beds again), watch football and, later on, the stars. After an early rise and some trouble finding transport, we got to Majete Wildlife Reserve on a bike taxi (20 km), around 9 a.m. All guides were busy with a visiting group, so nothing to do till 4.30 p.m. We saw a bush pig, monkeys and huge lizards. Than we got into a pickup to drink a green while looking out over the Shire River, seeing a hippo, crocodiles and many birds. Enjoyed another green while seated on a hill, looking into the park, hearing jungle sounds, while the sun was setting. Nice… Thursday morning we tracked ‘some’ elephants. The guides found us a breeding herd, hidden in the very bushy Reserve. We followed them, by food of course, till we discovered (mostly because of the sound of breaking branches) there were elephants on three sides of us. We turned around, back to the pick-up, quickly. (Don’t worry mum, you know I would never do something stupid… : ) We got a free ride all the way from Majete to Blantyre, although we had to wait for about four hours totally. After spending a last night in Blantyre we got picked up by two fresh friends from Majete, who were travelling to Cape Mclear. The three of us enjoyed the whole ride, from 8 am till 2 p.m. in the back of our private pick-up. It was the same story again; swimming, snorkelling, sun, good, cheap food and at night we watched stars and the lights of the fisherman on the lake. They use a wooden canoe, with a petrol light in front to attract the fish. It was magical to see; a couple of dozen lights far away, on a dark, quiet lake with the twinkling stars above…
And now, Sunday a week ago, we arrived home (funny, it really felt like coming home) in Lilongwe, all the way in the same pick-up of our friends, who needed to go to Lilongwe as well. During the day we stopped at a famous pottery workshop and again just outside Dedza, to hike up another hill.

I hope I was able to show you how diverse the Malawian landscape is. Chilly plateau’s, cold mountains, hot beaches, wet water, open forests and cultivated plains.

Take care. Lotte

A short break; the pics

Ducktape fixes everything

Fishing boat, Sangabay

On our first bike taxi

Pretty

Sangabay

Canoes, Sangabay

Local pick-up

Market

Gekko

Daily job...

Zomba Plateau

Ladies, Zomba Plateau

Supper; eating with your hands...

View Blantyre

Baobab at night, Chikwawa

The girls at Zomba

View Zomba Plateau

Sunset at Majete; perfect!

Our guard in Majete

Cape Mclear (we swum to this island)

African life

On the way back home (note the baobab)

Bao

Learning bao from vendor friends, and a kid at the theatre

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Kids in the theatre
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Going home after the catholic service on Saturday





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Another kid in the theatre. You can see he was thinking mzungus are more interesting than the play itself.
Whole family posing in front of Maria, after the wedding.
Another kid. Cute one.
Likuni River. Two minute walk from the Parish.
And a man crossing the road we were taking to bike to the NRC yesterday.

What makes this place Africa?

- It’s beautiful people; full of joy and relaxed, but mostly slow in action, and never too precise (in for example appointments…).
- The fact that an x-ray of my ankle (don’t worry, I didn’t break it) in the local hospital costs you 260 kwacha (remember that you get 175 kwacha for just one euro).
- The twinkling stars, which seem to have colours inside them. The wonderful soft nights, with a clear sky and the little noises of bats, some birds and crickets.
- African English. Man, the way they pronounce some words…
- The dirt that seems to be everywhere; not only nut shells, rests of sugar cane and fruit, but also a lot of plastic junk. The local market here is loaded with Asian low quality stuff and I’ve seen two public garbage cans so far.
- The crazy respect a lot of people seem to have for mzungus, some people even bow down…
- Weather; 30 degrees in the shade, a sun that really knows the meaning of the word ‘burn’ and than the heavy rains, which soak you till your skin, in no time.
- The looking, staring. Always catching attention. As a mzungu you’re always being noticed. Also when it’s totally dark.
- The fact that they actually use a plastic glove filled with ice (smashed into acceptable pieces on the ground in front of your eyes) as a cooling bandage…
- A million ‘best friends’ I have, mostly guys.
- Traffic; cars, bikes and busses that even a Dutch student wouldn’t touch, are used daily, everywhere, for everything. Chickens are transported upside down hanging on a bike, the completely gone window of a minibus that’s replaced by duck tape, cars without lights and with doors, which fall out. Remember I didn’t even got started about the quality of the roads.
- Sleeping underneath a mosquito net.
- The colours… Such blue skies. Such, such red soil. Such black faces, with such white teeth. Such bright yellow, red or blue birds and than the huge butterflies. And the sweat, heavy smells in the garden.
- The yelling pastor Smint, from the church.
- Your feet; it’s impossible to keep them clean. I cannot say I step under the cold shower every day, but I wash my feet (almost) every night : )

As you can see I tried to sum up some characteristics, some facts, that will give you an image of the world I’m living in right now. I tried to think of the little crazy things that I might already be getting used to, but which are essential in creating the right picture.
I realise I failed, in creating the right picture, and that I will be failing in the future. But I’m gonna keep on trying. With words. With pictures.

Lotte

Sky-money-football-diner at Parish

Adventures in Malawi

Mmm. There’s so much to tell I don’t really know where to start. I’ll just start somewhere and keep on typing, so forgive me if this post will be a mess.
While I am in Malawi for just a bit more then a week, I can tell you that this trip is already worth it. I fell in love with Africa, and her people. And there are still so many more hours here in Africa left to join. Even though it might be hard to communicate, I’m having friends here. There are more and more people I recognize, and because mzungus are still rare, it seems as if everybody knows us. I’m learning a bit of Chichewa and a lot of people know some English, but it’s still African English. And they’ll pretend to understand you while they don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Even about important things like our project or an appointment… And the cook for example, Magdalena, she only speaks Chichewa, we only know the basics like ‘how are you’. She keeps laughing her ass of, every time we’re trying. And then she starts a complete waterfall in Chichewa. Sometimes there’s somebody around to translate, mostly not. In that case, we just laugh. She tries to teach me new words, but they’re difficult to remember.
As decent Dutch citizens all three of us bought a bike on Wednesday. We are quite the attraction around here; just our skin is enough to make people of all ages laugh, shout, wave etc. A lot of people want to shake hands and try their best English. Riding our brand new, really noisy (what do you want with the roads over here) bikes, it even got worse.
Last weekend was pretty full. Six of the nine boys left to visit Lake Malawi. We spent Friday night watching movies on the laptop of one from the ICT-team. Saturday morning, we visited the Catholic Church here in Likuni, for what we thought to be one wedding. But there were 31 couples getting married. In the afternoon we visited a play which local people were performing. Of course we had to wait for one and a half hour before it all started. Welcome to Africa…
The six of us went out for supper at night, and after worth’s we visited two clubs. Even the dancing goes slower here. Have been to a church (Assemblies of God) in Lilongwe on Sunday, together with Joseph from ACEM. You’re welcome from 7 in the morning and we arrived a bit after nine. Wow. It was just like everything you expect from an African service. Very happy; dancing and clapping during the singing, a beautiful women’s choir, very hot and long, and a pastor who was yelling 95 percent of the time, serious! At the end he sweated so much, he looked as if somebody poured a bucket of water over his head… Finally done around 12 and starting again at 2 pm, till 4. I was the only mzungu all day long and I’m planning on going again next Sunday. Yesterday, Veerle, Leonie and I biked to the National Resources College, for our second meeting about our project. Which is going great so far; we met mister Perfect (no, not to marry, but for our project) on Thursday. We created a questionnaire, and tomorrow we’ll have to meet again with a second version. Maybe we’ll be able to meet the Malawian students who will help us, with accompanying us to a village and translate the questions we have for the farmers.
In the first days the electricity kept falling out, as was the water (we can drink the water from the tap here, no problem). But the last days no problems at all. We didn’t had any rain the last couple of days either, and it’s still at least 25 degrees in the shade. Count up at least ten in the sun. O, and the stars at night here… The sky was clear, and the stars, they twinkle.

Greetings from a completely happy person.