Despite the good work that Bongo camping are doing in the community, it is very difficult to understand why you would stay there. Last nights dinner was truly awful, apparently there was a problem with the usual lady who cooked, so one of the staff took over. Everything was stone cold, so the term cooked could only be used loosely. Cold chips are especially awful!
Breakfast this morning was late and pretty average. We know all about Africa time, but we had stressed that we wanted to get away in good time. It was the staff member that suggested he could have breakfast ready by 7:30am, so why were we still waiting at 8:15am? Especially as it was a cold chapati, a tomato and a boiled egg. Eating quickly, we had fortunately already loaded the bikes, so we still managed to get on the road by 8:30am. After about 7km of steady climbing we made it through the town of Tukuyu, having stocked up on water, and started what we had been led to believe was a fantastic 60km descent. What we should say first of all is that the scenery was spectacular and the road did indeed go down, unfortunately it kept going back up as well, often quite sharply. We guess in a car you wouldn't notice it as the ups are just momentary blips, but on a bike they were steep enough to kill any forward momentum. It especially didn't help on one quite steep descent when we were slowed by a lorry that had just overtaken us. Following a lorry at 20km/h when we had been doing 50km/h is a bit depressing! All the while though we were surrounded by tea and banana plantations and beautiful mountain scenery.
Having visited the tea fields in Sri Lanka which are stunning, we would have to say that in many ways the fields here were prettier. In Sri Lanka it is nothing but tea whereas here the land use is much more diverse and more interesting for it.
At the top of one climb we were signalled over by a lorry driver who was standing by his broken down truck. As we approached he suddenly said “give me water, or something...”. There are three reasons why we both in unison said no. One: why single out the only white people he has seen? There were some houses nearby if he needed water. Two: we are carrying everything we need, we don't have a vehicle and almost unlimited space. If we had more water than we needed we would be wasting effort. Three: call it karmic justice, but the way we have been treated by lorry drivers and their inability to see anything smaller than a car, meant that we were slightly bemused that he had even seen us coming up the hill. It was a pleasure for us to ignore him, especially as rather than ask he demanded, as appears to be the way in Africa! Sadly this kind of attitude was catching, most of the children that we seemed to encounter shouted “give me money” or even more pleasantly “give me my money” the rest were content to point to all the things on our bikes that we should give them. We have encountered this kind of behaviour quite a lot in Tanzania and have been saddened by it. We have met some great people, but have also encountered a large amount of apathy. Perhaps we have been spoiled by hospitality in some of the countries we have visited. But we won't leave Tanzania with feeling of any great warmth to the people.
Shortly before reaching the border we were stopped at a checkpoint and had to show our passports for the first time since entering the country. In truth the immigration official just seemed interested in what we were up to. We then followed that up with a stop at a petrol station to fill our stoves fuel bottle and were immediately surrounded by money changers. Telling them that I only had enough for the fuel didn't seem to put them off, they were convinced I had more money hidden and they were going to be the ones to change it! It has to be the most stressful visit to a fuel station I have ever had.
After 50km, note no 60km of down, we reached the border. Fighting our way through yet more aggressive money changing touts, we went through the brief formality of being stamped out. We changed the rest of our money at an official exchange, we couldn't face the touts despite them possibly offering a better rate, and headed for Malawian immigration. A quick bit of form filling later and we were in, being British passport holders we don't require a visa, so the process was very quick. For the first time on the trip we were required to show our yellow fever vaccination certificates though.
Malawi, we were in and what a reception. Like meerkats popping up from the vegetation children flooded in from all directions. The small cries of muzungu (so glad we haven't left that behind!), followed in unison by “give me money”, their little hands out expectantly, it was truly heart-warming. What of those nice children you ask, the ones that just said hi? Well their parents were there, sitting in the background happily shouting “give me money” as if to reprimand the little scamps. At that moment we thought, why are we doing this? We may as well stop on the side of the road, empty our gear and let them take what they like and we will go home. After all they have worked so hard sitting on their backsides with their hands out, when all we had to do was actually go to work and save to do the trip. When we think of the billions of dollars of aid that has been given to Africa you have to wonder what it has achieved. Clearly there is either no self respect left in the people or they are happy to breed a nation of beggars. Instead of bringing home a nation's plight, travelling in Africa has actually left me feeling less charitable. We are hoping this is a small blip, because we have constantly been told how friendly Malawians are.
With lunch came a slight improvement, with me at least. My anger levels are clearly linked to my stomach, so with a full stomach I was able to look on the situation a little more philosophically. Border regions are always a bit strange and maybe that was the reason for the odd reception. The people at the small restaurant (I use the term loosely) were certainly friendly enough, so maybe it is just the area we are in.
Travelling on I encountered some friendly children so stopped to say hello. Eventually they got brave enough to come closer and we had a short 'hi fiving' session. Obviously that was enough to build up their confidence, before we knew it little hands were trying to grab things off of Debs' bike and they were hanging on the side as she tried to get away. A somewhat tear-filled Debs headed off into the distance with me in pursuit. For someone who always thinks the best of everyone, the day had got to be too much for her.
By now the distance, heat and strong headwind that we had picked up since arriving in Malawi was taking its toll. This was our fifth straight cycling day and we were just looking forward to a day or two off. The remainder of the journey to Karonga was a mixture of friendly waves and demands for money. As we neared the town a young guy on a bike called Jones (I think) cycled along side and started happily chatting away. It was a pleasure to be talking to a friendly local and he ended up taking us all the way to our proposed camp-site. It was a shame that we didn't end up staying there. Despite being on the lake front, the site seemed to be open to anyone so we were concerned about security. Plus it was a long way from any shops or food places and the reception staff seemed uncertain whether they could do any food. We had little choice but to find somewhere else, which we did on our second try. 'Safari Lodge' has no camping so we have had to take a room and a comparatively dear one at that. It is also very run down and worse of all they had no water when we arrived so we couldn't take a shower. All of that aside, it seems that everywhere is a bit run down here. The room is big, the beds are comfy, our bikes fit in the room and the staff are very friendly. What has be the best thing though, is that while waiting for dinner, drinking a beer outside we met Winston Churchill. Apparently he was born in 1945 and his father wanted to call him Churchill or Jesus, but decided he wouldn't be able to live up to the deeds of the son of Christ. Whether he has matched Churchill's achievements we cannot say, but it was a pleasure to meet him!
Dinner was most welcome and the few beers started to wash away the stresses of the day. It is just a shame that there was still no water when we turned in, so we couldn't wash away the dirt from the road!
No comments:
Post a Comment