Malawi, the heart of Africa
Malawi, The Heart of Africa
The contrast of countries from the minute we crossed the border was clear, now lush green rolling hills, mountainous like Zambia but Malawi is different. The border is a year old, the building a ‘good one’ as Nash would say, yet despite being the most modern, it was also the slowest. Still only an hour to get the 11 of us stamped in, an Electronic E-vsa if you weren’t sure, still needs to be printed… makes sense!
The unsure nature of Zambia’s waves from out the window were met with complete friendliness and confidence in Malawi, shouting at us from the streets excited by our presence, smiles warm on everyone’s faces. There’s a reason Malawi is known as the Heart of Africa. Kids are finishing up the school year so bags are full and chairs on heads, taking home everything for the summer, it reminded me of home.
The day we crossed the border turned out to be a 12 hour drive day, long but time flying with constant waves from locals and taking in the once again changing landscapes. It’s funny to think we’ve seen beach, bush, desert, city, and now the mountains. Our first view of lake Malawi, thanks to the long drive co-insisted with sunset, the views gorgeous as the mountains and ocean-like lake look up out African tvs (windows). Lake Malawi is massive, and looks much more like an ocean than a lake, the only think you can spot on the horizon are mountain ranges or small islands within the lake. The “beach” homes many beach bars and small “coastal” villages, bustling with colours, flavours and personalities of its people and food. Malawi is the poorest country we’ve been in so far, yet there clothing the women in particular wear is utterly gorgeous. I reminded myself clothing doesn’t depict one’s poverty line, but admired the bright coloured stereotypical “African” clothing the mamas wore in sarong, skirt or dress form. I’m going to get myself a piece, partially to remember my time here and partially because I left my only warm pair of long pants back in Zambia…. Idiot!
Once we finally arrived at lake Malawi, our “beach” side campsite meant we once again set up our tents on the soft sand, this time yellow sand rather than the reds of the Namib desert, a time that feels like a lifetime ago now. As predicted, spaghetti bog was for dinner, a quick and easy meal Simon can whip up in an instant, his fan favourite especially after a long drive day. We would thankfully have 2 nights here, although only 1 full day to soak up all the lake has to offer. Our campsite on Kande Beach reminds me of Thailand, its beach bars and eclectic signage a different and fun way to spend our days here, the $1 beers a fan favourite amongst the group.
I made the most of safety and took myself for a stroll before the sun heated up too much, still sweaty and muggy, I find breathing here unenjoyable, especially when running, a mixture of altitude (most of my holidays I stay by the ocean and therefore at sea level!!) and humidity not a great combination for my lungs, thus worth it. Running is such a nice (I wouldn’t so much say it’s enjoyable, nice was the best I could come up with) way to see a new city or town. It’s faster than walking (unless you’re me) so you therefore see more and get further along the road, coast or wherever it is you are. You’re not left too vulnerable running, the number of times I get pestered walking vs when running is so different plus who’s going to mess with a woman on a mission! I’ve struggled with running so far as a female, Nash telling me it’s unsafe whilst he tells the boys it’s safe, and he’s right. Unfortunately as a female, particularly as a tourist/white female, I’m going to be targeted more than the white male. I’ve taken it on the chin and seen it as a message from above that my joints would not survive daily runs on gravel and sand, on uneven surfaces and up hills, my knees specially are thankful I’m a white female !! Whilst running along, the local kids love you, and will run at you and with you, intrigued as to what you’re doing and why, stopping for selfies the perfect excuse for a break. My walk run by lake Malawi was blissful and uninterrupted by unwanted attention, thanks to the downpour. There’s nothing like being woken up at 5am by rain bucketing into your tent… lol. The views of the lake magical (running on sand - not so magical).
The village walk we did in the morning ($10USD) was a way to integrate ourselves into the community safely, responsibly and peacefully. Tourists are no longer invited into schools or orphanages here, doing more harm than good disrupting from learning, instead Robert and his side kick Man United (the dog) took us for a wonder around his village. This wasn’t a tourist event, no one was doing anything for a show and many were surprised when we walked past, Robert simply shows the real life version of his life in Malawi. The local kids once again loved seeing their photos taken, I wish I had brought a Polaroid camera to give them keepsakes, selfishly I keep these photos on my phone when they would be way more appreciative. They held your hand and you became their greatest possession, they’d go home and tell everyone for weeks they made an Australian friend. They were fixated on our skin and hair, our skin they think is painted on, they try to rub it off with force, whilst our hair is a new texture they’re not used too, and long which is unusual for this culture, everyone shaving their heads for ease (I can relate!). The local women here (the mamas) were welcoming and invited us into their homes with open arms, they’re protective of their kids but if you show them respect they’ll show you it back, again superstitious like many African cultures it’s important not to take photos without permission, we don’t want any bad ju ju!!
Kids start school at age 3 in Malawi, and primary school is free, however due to the different levels of poverty amongst families school uniforms were recently introduced. These uniforms remove the opportunity for discrimination or embarrassment, however these uniforms cost money. A uniform is $15USD each and if you want to help I’ll leave some details st the bottom of this page. The primary schools nearby provide over 1500 children with education from age 3-13 and be ready to be mind blown, for a school with 1500 kids they’ll be 10-12 teachers. With 150 kids in each classroom, to 1 teacher, unfortunately many students get left behind, those with learning difficulties, processing disorders or behavioural issues are missed and those that misbehave are simply not allowed in the classroom, although who can blame a student for misbehaving for some attention when you’ve fighting 149 other students for it. Learning is slow and behind many other 3rd world countries, due to lack of resources and teachers, a student simply can’t learn with such limited support from teachers. Secondary school is unfortunately a paid program, the 3 options of community school, boarding school or private school means some families have the funds to send their children, however many still simply can’t afford the fees and therefore children finish school at age 13 and never go back. Community school is $30USD per tri-semester ($90USD a year) and I’ve pledged to sponsor a child for the new school year. If you wish to do the same I’ll also leave these details down the bottom. Unlike many charities like world vision, sponsoring a child directly ensures 100% of your hard earn money goes directly to the school and therefore directly to that child’s education. You’ll have communication access with the school and can ask for academic records, updates, as well as receipts. I’m excited to do something very small to be able to support just one child go to high school, and hopefully encourage them to further their education beyond high school. It isn’t lost on me how much my mum sacrificed for me to attend high school, a private high school at that. I am grateful for, if it was needed, the opportunity to attend a public school for free was available to us and that financial hardship didn’t decide my future. Village kids in Malawi, if they don’t go to high school and continue into university in the city, will never leave the village, the boys that took us to Kande island and others told us they’d never left the village before, unless you count heading out onto the lake on their boats. Robert, the man who is now in charge of assisting families with giving their children a fair go, was also sponsored throughout high school by an English woman Caroline. I interviewed Robert (very briefly) for a story and I’m excited to share my first profile with you, a series I’ve become fixated on doing after spending way too long cooped up in a truck! Robert has dedicated his life to social work, protecting children from all forms of abuse, and improving educational and health outcomes for his community. This father’s story is one worth reading and it’ll be published asap!
After visiting the markets, a Thursday speciality where neighbouring villages come in to buy their weekly groceries and stocks, and buying myself a sarong we headed back to the campsite.
Bao is a board game, traditionally played over banana beer, carved from the bao tree and using stones, the strategy / maths game was a fan favourite, although we’re not sure the locals let us win so we would buy it! My new friend John, invited me onto his boat over to Kande island. The small island off Kande beach is a fisherman’s paradise, the small rock pools and shade from the trees makes this island a perfect spot to set yourself up for the afternoon. Lauren and I hesitantly boarded the traditional wooden boat, after being promised it doesn’t leak. The bright yellow cereal bowl that was soon carried onboard made me question all my decisions, I doubted we were making breakfast. As predicted, we soon found ourselves bailing out the water with their cereal bowl, now up to our ankles and dangerously close to the water level outside, the 3 local men paddled us to the island whilst we cackled at the scene. Lake Malawi’s blue waters are deceiving, the water home to the Parasite, from the many people that use the lake as their bath and toilet each day… nothing wrong with an aqua turd! I chose not to take the preventative medication for this one, convinced I wouldn’t be getting in the water….
After making it safely to the island (just) we strolled around the parameter taking us a whole 3 minutes, taking in the views of the horizon. This lake borders 3 countries, Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. Malawi from the water is beautiful, the green mountains with the blue water reminds me of Rarotonga, the cook islands, a couple on our trip lived here and can second me, absolutely stunning. The locals who generously took us here reminisced about their time as boys, coming over to Kande island to fish, drink and jump off the cliffs as they pleased, a memory reminding me of home, kids will be kids no matter where in the world. You can imagine it didn’t take much convincing when the boys began jumping off the cliff whilst I was sweating through my dress to join in. My carefulness about water getting near any of my body holes was soon dropped, a yolo moment I may or may not be regretting in 6-8 weeks time. lol. (Don’t worry mum it is easily curable and won’t kill me!).
Cooled off by the lakes warm but crystal clear water, we had a bao tournament on top of the island, you couldn’t swipe the smile from my face in this moment if you tried. It’s often hard on group trips to be spontaneous and do wild and somewhat dangerous things, always cautioned by trip leaders and limited by time and freedom, so Lauren and I were both thrilled to be able to come over to Kande Island for a few hours of fun. We fortunately made it back (thanks to our plastic cereal bowl) in one piece, minus me stacking it when we beached ourselves back on the mainland, my poor knee is once again twice the size it should be only having just recovered from the plane fiasco!
The evening was blissful, the sunset warming our souls as the sky lit up over the mountains, those who took the parasite preventatives enjoyed a sunset soak, I showered in my dress to try remove anything that might be hanging around! Another delicious dinner and moment of reflection watching Malawi’s stars. Lake Malawi means the lake of flames, but it’s also known as the lake of stars, because of both the incredible constellations that become visible when the sun sets, but also the other stars. As the African tv gets switched off each day, the local boys and men board their wooden boats just as we did that day and head out to the horizon with their homemade fishing nets to catch their meals and chance at a small income selling their catch. Each boat has a small lantern illuminating themselves and the patch of water surrounding them, and from the shores it looks like a load of stars and dancing on the water, under the moonlight. Imagine that scene in Disney’s tangled when Rapunzel is setting the lantern off into the sky. It’s that but real life, magical.
Washing done (minus my one pair of undies and pants I left in Zambia … now down to 4 pairs of undies and 2 pairs of pants…. ), body exercised and photo filled, we continued on our journey around lake Malawi (8 more hours and we still haven’t made a full lap of the lake!) to our final night in the country. Similar to Kande, the once bustling (pre-covid) town is not ghostly, the off-season I am travelling in not helping the eariness of the night, only our truck of 13 travellers and the locals are around, tourism here one of Malawi’s 3 main incomes they took a big hit during the pandemic and unfortunately, like many businesses and countries reliant on tourists will still spend many years building back to the level they were once at. If you ever find yourself over this side for the world, come to Malawi. Not because you should, but because it’ll be one of the most incredible places you ever visit.
Now on chitimba beach, we set up our tents on the sand for one last night, bringing half of Kande beach along with us. Setting up and packing down the tents now second nature after 5 weeks, Lauren and I speedy but sometimes dangerous with flying poles and laugh attacks common, tonight we made the mistake of upgrading. The $10USD was just about thrown out the window when we went to bed that night accompanied by 19374947 tiny little flies. They don’t bite, but the thought of them crawling over you was enough to keep me antsy and itchy the whole night. Fortunately it wasn’t a long night with 3am alarms set for our earliest drive day of this leg, but 30 minutes of sleep had me delirious. Our afternoon on the beach before the sun set and the bugs came out in vengeance was lovely. Playing frisbee with a bunch of excitable kids the highlight, sunset strolls along the beach with one too many penises spotted, the beach a bath for most people here. One of the girls on our group got word that her sister had a baby overnight, feeling miles away from Sydney a group of pre-schoolers cheered her up by singing happy birthday. Very cute. I tried my luck at some Simon says and copy me games, attempting to teach this group of 2 and 3 year olds baby shark unsuccessful. They then gave us the funniest version of their own song, elephant, humping to the chorus, shaking their hips like true African mamas, whilst we cackled. A spontaneous moment of perfect timing as they passed us by, heart filled we spent the afternoon playing Bao and cards with another tour group going the opposite way, sharing pleasantries and memories so far.
Another beautiful sunset and early dinner by chef Simon, our journey to Tanzania tomorrow long, the 12 hour drive means leaving and arriving in the dark, I and my back have never been so thankful for the small group we have meaning we all get to spread out on the truck, changing positions and lying down about the only thing saving my body from these long drives of which there are many.
I’m sad to leave Malawi so early, the short time here not enough once again but the small insight I got enough to know I’ll be back one day, the fresh mangoes and pineapples incredibly sweet just like the locals, the views stunning and lush greenery one I’m going to miss once I arrive home to red dirt come to the end of January. The ‘ocean’ here was a welcomed change after the dirt, we’re all hanging out for our arrival in Zanzibar in a few days time.
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To donate uniforms ($15USD each) to the community primary schools surrounding Kande beach, please message Robert on +265 999603320, otherwise send me a message and I’ll help you get in touch. You’ll be sent receipts so you know your money is going directly to helping a child attend school comfortably.
To sponsor a child through a term or year at school, message Rob on that same number with what you can do. You can select an age and gender (if you wish) of a child you would like to support and he’ll seek out a family in need. Your options include
Community High school - $30USD per term (3 terms in a year).
Boarding school - $90USD per term (3 terms in a year)
You’re not locked in to any contracts and the funds you send directly to the school with confirmation your money is supporting a child directly. You will have open communication with the school and will have access to academic and attendance records, updates and receipts.
If you have any questions or aren’t sure how to help please message me and I’ll answer any questions!