Hiking at Last!

Em and I spent the majority of our last week on the Mulanje Mastiff in southern Malawi. The area is a magnificent granite mastiff with pine and cedar forests, rocky peaks, and clear rivers. Kinda sounds like home, some might say. The area has a system of huts, with fireplaces, water and even hut caretakers that provide security, light the fire and pack your water. We still had one little problem of what to sleep in, and what to cook with. After our time in New Zealand, we had mailed all of our camping gear home. We looked around Blantyre for sleeping bags to rent or blankets to buy. No luck. We had met an expat who had told us about the Mulanje Mountain Club, so we called them. For a small fee we could become members of the hiking club and gain access to their fully stocked equipment rooms at each hut. Problem solved.

A look at a portion of the mastiff from the bottom. This photo was taken at the end of the hike after a knee-breaking descent.

We headed to Mulanje town in the afternoon and after settling into our rooms we watched all three World Cup games in the lounge. Em and I have become quite big fans of World Cup football. Football is huge with the locals in Africa and just as popular with the European travelers we spend time with. A group of four locals joined us for the second and third games, Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia and Germany vs Poland . We had a good time talking about football (soccer) and politics over a few beers.

After heading to the club office the next morning and getting the key for the storage rooms, we headed to the Forestry office by truck. This is where Em would tell you just how packed the truck was. She would tell you we waited for about an hour for the truck to fill and how she swore the bald tire she spotted would burst as soon as we did finally leave. She would then elaborate on how uncomfortable even the locals were and us included. But I won’t go into those details.

We hired the services of a guide for our four-night trip. Not something Em and I really needed, but at $10 per day it made the trip a little easier as we had heard the trails are not very well marked; especially some of the summit trails. Lewis, Em and I headed off about noon for our 1000m-elevation gain hike. Louis wanted to take the steep, faster route since we started a bit late and Em and I agreed. Holy S”^\! We are out of shape.

It is bad enough that we were gasping the whole way up the mountain with our puny little backpacks. To put us to shame, on the way up, we passed at least 10 of these guys who carry insane loads of lumber balanced on their head down the mountain in bare feet!

We arrived at the hut at about 3:00pm and the caretaker quickly started a fire. The hut was basic, but nice, with a great view of Chambe Peak, which I believe is the largest granite wall in Southern Africa at over 5500’ of cliff face. (Yes, Paul, there are climbing routes up the face, and a even a local book on routes throughout the area.) We unlocked the club storage room and found cook pots, wool blankets, and nice mattresses. Later in the evening we were joined by a French couple and a Brit living in Tigard, Oregon.

A cozy evening in the hut by the fire:

The next morning we went for a quick hike about 500m up Chambe Peak to a nice viewpoint, went back to the hut for lunch, then headed off to the next hut at the base of Sapitwa Moutain. This hut was as well stocked, but the rats chased us outside when we went to bed. We moved our bedding to the veranda and slept with a view of the African night sky while the rats ate all our hand soap inside.

The next day was the day of the big climb up Sapitwa, the highest at 3000m. We left at 7:00 am and reached the summit at about 11:00 a.m. The climb was a great scramble over, under and around large granite boulders and the 360-degree view at the top was gorgeous.

Em and Lewis at the top of Malawi (Sapitwa is the highest point in Malawi):


After a well-deserved lunch at the hut, we headed off again for our next stop, Thuchila Hut. We had the hut to ourselves for the second night (the guide sleeps in the caretaker's hut) and tried for the veranda again. This time little black ants chased us back inside the hut.

A look at the Thuchila hut as the sun was setting. The peak we climbed that last day is behind the one seen here.

The next morning Em and I decided to change our route and instead of heading to the fourth hut, we stayed another night at Thuchila and made a nice day-hike summit of another peak. Later in the day four more hikers came in. We spent some time reading and playing Bao.

Em learning the finer points of Bao, and winning against Lewis. It took us three times of beating Lewis before realizing that he was letting us win, so that we would "go home with good feelings about the game". Cute, I guess, but we are too competitive to be handed a game like that!

The next morning we descended to a small village where we waited to catch a bus or truck back to Mulanje and then on to Blantyre. About 50 kids, who just wanted to stare at us, quickly surrounded Em and me. One of them had a homemade football (soccerball) made of plastic shopping bags with string around it. I made two goals on a small patch of dirt and Em and I started passing the ball between us. Eventually we got 4 more kids to join us and we played 3-on-3 football for about half and hour. Football truly is a unifying sport.

For more on the mountain see: http://www.rjc1.demon.co.uk/credits/mulanje.htm

Some more images from the hike.

A look down at the valley we trudged up from:

The two of us atop Sapitwa:


For the geologist father....a nice granite boulder field along the Sapitwa ascent:


A typical valley crossing up on the mastiff:


We are now back in Blantyre at Doogles where we have coincidentally reunited with several travelers we have met along the way...one as far back as in Zanzibar. We enjoyed several beers in the bar tonight over an unexciting football game between Ecuador and Germany. We'll head out to Mozambique tomorrow via minibus.

A special thanks to our faithful moms and their diligence with the comments...we do read and enjoy them!

A quick note on food here....basically, we should have had our cholesteral checked at the end of the SE Asia leg of the journey and again at the end of our time hear in Africa. We went from stir fried veggies everyday and every meal, to nothing to choose from here except chicken, beef or eggs mixed with a whopping helping of grease-laden chips (fries). It's cheap enough, but not too healthy. Veggies and fruit are quite hard to come by...we can't wait to get to the Rover in South Africa and the bigger grocery stores so we can finally cook for ourselves! We never knew we'd miss our kitchen so much!

Lazy Days on Lake Malawi

Been a while, eh? Considering internet is not nearly as abundant here in Malawi and so incredibly expensive (up to $30 an hour!!!), we have been away from the keyboard.

Malawi so far has been great. Really, truly some of the friendliest people we have met. Such a difference from Tanzania. Our crossing over into Malawi was smooth as ever, and we were pleasantly surprised at the friendliness of the immigration officers. Usually, I think it is in the job description of these folks to be as surly as possible and not crack a smile, but these guys were all smiles and hello, how are you's.

Malawi is a very small country surrounded by Tanzania to the north, Mozambique to the East and Zimbabwe and Zambia to the west. A large part of the country consists of Lake Malawi - a huge freshwater lake famous for its many species of fish. Lake Malawi sits on the east side of the country, while the west side is lined with several different mountain ranges and plateaus.

Our first stop was along the lake about 100 km south of the Tanzania border near a town called Chitimba. We stayed about 5km north of town at a rustic little beachside place called Mdokera's Campsite. It is a small, family run place with open air huts that sit right on the beach.

Here is the hut at Mdokera's:


We landed there on the right day, because Mr Mdokera was having some sort of celebration. Family and friends were all gathering there for a day of fun. Mr. Mdokera welcomed us with open arms and encouraged us to join in the celebrations. It was a fun night. Lots of traditional food, traditional song and dance (of which we were of course forced to participate in), and so many friendly gazes, laughs and conversations no one could understand. One of the nice things about Malawi, is that they haven't yet discovered that they can charge muzungus to take their picture. Quite the contrary here. They can't get enough of the camera, and once it is taken out, you are surrounded by children (and adults) that want their photo taken. Walking through villages, you aren't asked for money, instead you hear, "picture, picture!" with no expectation of money. After spending 7 months in SE Asia wanting more people-pictures, but never wanting to be intrusive with the camera, here we found ourselves hiding the camera because we had grown weary of taking photos and being the center of attention while the celebration was going on.

Upon arrival at Mdokera's we were instantly welcomed in and given some of the local grub - fresh fish from the lake and ugali (tastes like Farina cereal):


Dancing and singing. Can you find us in the crowd?


More dancing. These women can move! And sing...their voices were amazing.


Just west of Chitimba sits a small, colonial town called Livingstonia, named after one of the original white settlers/explorers/missionaries to this area, David Livingstone. Livingstonia sits way on top of a plateau overlooking Lake Malawi. The road to the town is little traveled, and apparently quite treacherous. So unless you have a 4WD or are having a medical emergency (the main hospital is up in Livingstonia, while the bulk of the population is down at lakeside...yeah, that makes sense) the best way to get there is to walk. With one of Mr. Mdokera's nephews as our guide we set out the next day at 7:00 AM to walk up there. It was a great hike, although a bit harder than we expected. It was an all day affair - about 4 hours up, two hours in town, and 3 back to camp. The walk took us through many villages, up steep hills with nice views of the lake, behind a roaring waterfall, and finally into the town. Livingstonia itself, was not much to see - lots of old, brick and stone buildings very spread out in a pine forest - but the walk was worth it. Our new shoes did us fine - they are not great (actually quite crap compared to what we had), but they serve the purpose and neither of us has blisters. I can hardly complain as our guide walked the whole thing in flip flops with holes in them (at a much faster pace I must add).

Here is a view of Lake Malawi (yes it is a lake and not an ocean) on our way up to Livingstonia:


The church in Livingstonia - built in the late 1800's. We were lucky enough to hear a small bit of singing in it.


The next day was another scenic bus ride into Mzuzu, the largest city in Northern Malawi. We have been doing our best to avoid the infamous minibuses of Africa (old worn down minibuses with bald tires, a crazy driver, and which are notoriously overcrowded) as they are the biggest danger to our safety as we travel. So far, we have only taken one from the border of Tanzania to a small town called Karonga. After that we've been able to catch "half-buses" or "cruisers" which are 30 seaters with more sane drivers or even full size (although so, so old) buses. And while the seating has been cramped at times, we have been overall pleasantly surprised with the quality of roads and the efficiency of the buses. The climate so far has been nice. Lake Malawi sits at about 475 meters and it is winter here, so the days are warm and dry like a Pacific NW summer and the evenings are refreshingly cool.

Mzuzu sits even higher up, so it was down right cold at night which we had absolutely no problem with. Nothing much to say about Mzuzu, we were just using it as a stop over town on our way back to the lakeside. At the place we stayed, however (which was a backpacker mecca), we met a guy who runs a resort out on an island way on the east side of the lake. He was heading to Nhkata Bay to catch the once a week ferry back to his island and had offered to give us a ride. Between him and his friend that was living on the island for a while, they convinced us to come out with them. We had read a little bit about these islands, but the transport on the ferry (Ilala) was too restrictive for our taste and we were unsure about being 'stuck' in one place for almost a week. After listening to them talk about the peace and beauty of the place and reading about how there is absolutely no crime on the island (we have been hearing a few too many mugging stories and warnings), we decided last minute to jump on the ferry and go, and just bypass the rest of the beach stops we had originally planned from the mainland side. Turned out to be the right decision as it was a fabulous 6 days, and Nhkata Bay (where we had originally planned to do most of our beaching) proved to be quite a dismal place in comparison.

So off we sailed at 9:00 PM to Chizimulu Island. Its neighbor, Likoma Island, is the more popular tourist spot, so we were only one of 4 tourists on the island. It is a small island, with maybe 1,000 inhabitants spread out over its coastline. It was a very lazy 6 days. Lots of reading and cards, and a new game called Bao which is very similar to Mancala (moving rocks around). We also did a fair share of swimming...not just splashing about, but actually swimming from one side of the bay to the other. The owner, Nick and his friend Aggie had gotten in the habit of swimming the bay 5 times a day, and while we never got to the full five laps (the equivalent of 2,000 meters!), we did manage to join them for some morning and evening exercise each day. We also did a dive among a bunch of boulders where we saw tons of small, colorful fish and went through lots of swim-thrus. We also managed a bit of walking - around the island one day and a couple tramps up the hill to watch the sunset. Other than that it was lots of lazing around reading, eating, and gazing out over the water. The people on the island were so nice, and the biggest nuisance we encountered were the never-ending calls of, "Hallo! Hallo!" and "What is my name?!". Pretty cute.

Another sunrise picture. This one from behind the very common baobab tree:


A look at the bay. Amongst those trees somewhere is our sand-floored hut that we called home (unfortunately this is the closest picture we have of it...):


Some of the water sports besides swimming and diving included playing around in this dugout canoe and on some very tippy surf boards.


Saturday night we caught the ferry again at 10:00 PM and by 3:00 AM we were back in Nhkarta Bay. A lousy time to show up in a not so great city. We found various safe places to hang around waiting for a bus and by 9:00 AM were on our way to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. While walking around Nhkarta Bay looking for somewhere to have a cup of tea and sit down (as we were tired of sitting on steet corners getting stared at and approached by every tout in town), we walk into a restaurant. After unloading our packs and getting settled, and having a table set in front of us, the following conversation took place:

Em: Do you have tea?
Gentleman: No
Em: What do you have?
Gentleman: No
Em: Do you have food?
Gentleman: No
Em: What do you have?
Gentleman: Nothing

Well, why in the heck did you seat us at a restaurant then???

The day to Lilongwe was long. 10 hours on a bus. Our stop in Lilongwe was short - just a reload on cash, and a good night's sleep (well deserved after the two hours of sleeping on a wooden floor on the ferry). Although it is the capital, there is not too much going on, and a very lengthy list of where not to walk around town. We were happy to push on. So the next day we continued south to Blantyre which is the commercial capital of the country. Much more happening and apparently safer. We spent today turning our passports over to the Mozambique Consulate, and stocking up for a multi-day hike we are planning. Tomorrow we push south a tiny bit more for some hiking in the spectacular Mulanje Plateau.

Before signing out...on a completely different note: Remember our inner tubing in Vang Vieng, Laos and the crazy rope swing? We finally got the pictures, so here they are:

Me trying to get the courage up to launch myself off that insane platform:


Keith in mid-flight. The pictures really don't do it justice:


Oh yeah, one more thing....

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! (The Bauer Mom)

Wrapping It Up in Tanzania

Our train ride from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya was smooth. Despite the warnings about how unreliable the trains can be and the horror stories about this particular train taking as many as 5 days (vs the scheduled 24 hours), we left on time and arrived into Mbeya about 22 hours later. The train line is called Tazara, and it is really a nice train. With a first class ticket you get a cabin that sleeps four with very comfortable beds and all the other perks that come with train travel: the ability to get up and walk when you want, lounge cars and dining cars. The only downside was that Keith and I got booked into different cabins. In general they separate the men and women into separate cabins. If you want to be in a cabin with your spouse, you must book the entire cabin (i.e. buy four tickets for two people). Needless to say we are too cheap for that, so a night apart it was. It turned out fine. Neither of us slept great. After hanging out in the lounge car for a while we went back to our cabins to find our stuff nicely moved from the coveted bottom bunk up to the top bunk. The trains are not air conditioned, so you get the most airflow from the open windows by being on the bottom, and there is less rocking down there. No problem, right because they have fans. So, after climbing into bed and realizing how stuffy it is up there on top, I turned the fan on. Ahhhh, relief. Not so fast. The somewhat crabby lady below me immediately started complaining about how much the fan stunk, and she was "suffering" terribly and insisted I turn it off. Rather than pick a fight, I obliged, grumbling under my breath. I don't think she was too excited about sharing with a mzungu (white person). Halfway through the ride at about 2:00 AM we got to a major stop, and two of the ladies (Mrs. Grumpy included) got off, and there was just two of us in there for the remainder.

The Tazara train somewhere in southern Tanzania (sorry, couldn't get Flickr to rotate...):


We arrived into Mbeya at about 1:00 PM the next day and have been pleasantly surprised and pleased with this town so far. Mbeya sits at about 1800 m, so the air is cool, crisp and fresh. And the temperature is perfect (probably around 75 degrees). It is a smaller town, which is always nice. So the hustle bustle is more tolerable and the people in general are much, much friendlier. We spent yesterday just walking around, not sure if we'd linger here another day or just move on to Malawi. There is some hiking around here and some decent sights to see, so we wandered into the tourism office of Sisi kwa Sisi and were so impressed with the gentleman we talked to, and keen on the idea of moving our legs around a bit that we booked a hike with him for today.

So today, Felix led us to the top of Lusaka peak. An elevation gain of 1,000 meters with views of the sprawling city of Mbeya as well as the higher peak of Mt Mbeya. It was a very pleasant walk (although a bit of a shock to my poor, unconditioned lungs). Great weather, nice views, and really nice conversation with Felix on the way up. This man is 27 years old, and self-taught in local politics, world politics, economics and language (he can speak 6!). We knew Tanzania and Africa in general have their fare share of problems, but listening to Felix we got a real feel for how bad things are all over Africa. He is a very upbeat person, but expressed several times how pessimisstic he is about the future of his country. The problems of course center around corruption...at all levels. A few interesting, albeit depressing things we learned: There are more Malawi nurses working in the UK than in Malawi, and to see a doctor you have to bribe him/her because the government does not pay the doctor enough money.

Here is Keith and Felix at the summit with Mbeya town behind them:


An eye-opening conversation for us, and another moment where we stop and realize how lucky we really are with all the opportunities we have and the solid, stable background that we come from.

So tomorrow we board a bus and cross the border into Malawi, where the people are one of the poorest on earth, but supposedly also some of the most genuinely friendly. Internet may be sparse, so hopefully it won't be too long until our next installment.