And so we continue, more to the point we
continued on to Nkata Bay and more specifically Mayoka Village (which is a
lodge not a village). What can I day about Nkata Bay. Well it is Malawi’s
second busiest port – that means it has a ferry and a jetty!
This is the M5 at 2 in the afternoon - very busy. Dream on UK!
Mayoka village is a lovely place, and if
any of you are fortunate enough to come through northern Malawi I would
recommend it. It is maybe twenty huts built into the side of a hill that slopes
down to the Lake. A word of caution though there are a lot of steps. In fact
you cannot get anywhere around the lodge without having to go up and down some
serious steps.
Steps - see how serious they are. Hmm. Very serious, none of that tom foolery here!
Our house was near the top but you had to descend all the way
down to get to the beach. And by beach I mean rock shore where there are steps
for you to walk down into the Lake. But the water is cool and blue and the food
was amazing! It was a very relaxing time where in the four days we left only twice. Once to go for a wonder around the town, and take in a game
of football. It looked like a relatively serious game with the referee and
linesman in very nice yellow and black uniforms with their socks pulled up, but
the pitch left something to be desired – mostly grass and white lines – and
half the players didn’t have boots. But the whites where winning 3-0 against
the greens when we left.
Our house - the path to the left has a 15ft drop on the left. That was the route to Pam and My front door. We let Tina use the safer one in front.
We also did some snorkelling – well I did,
Pam doesn't like to know what is underneath her in the open waters. And we
ventured in a canoe. A proper Canadian one and everything. Luckily the Lake
wasn't in flood and we hadn't packed it to the gunnels so we didn't capsize and
we didn't fall in! No instead we took an very leisurely and pleasant cruise
around the little bay we were in looking into the reeds where we could see
Pygmy Kingfishers that bobbed up and down, Weaver birds with their nest. Upon
completion of the reed section we moved onto the rocks and wooded section to watch
the Vervet Monkeys jumping up and down and playing. It was a very pleasant
afternoon.
What is also particularly nice about Mayoka
is that it is run by the people who built it so it is not some foreign person
who has come in with money to make a back packers lodge. It is a cooperative.
They also serve tea and biscuits every afternoon at 4 for anyone who wants it.
Very civilised, especially when they provide Earl Grey. As you can imagine
Momma T, Pam and myself made particular use of this.
The only slight downside was the amount of
young people (how old am I!!) doing gap years ( I hear it’s the in thing now!)
and as you can imagine put all these teenagers together eager to tell each
other how far they have been, throw in a handful of Americans and it did get
quite noisy in the bar whilst we were relaxing for the afternoon. But they did
provide us with some entertainment when they attempted the Mayoka Challenge.
Mayoka Challenge – for two people to paddle
a dug out canoe around the platform in the lake (maybe 100yds out) and back
again without falling in and you get a free nights accommodation.
Said platform with a very handsome chap sitting on it!
So two American girls decide to take one
dug out (remember back to October somewhere when I nearly crippled myself in a
giant log shaped death trap – yep it’s one of those) and they struggled but got
round and back. She ran up to the bar eager to claim her prize whereupon she is
told that it is a ‘specific’ dugout that they have to do it in. Undeterred they
say bring it on. Well it may not have been rigged but it was the closest thing
to it. This thing was so small and narrow that these two girls struggled to get
in it let alone paddle the thing. After three attempts and not going very far
they gave up and the next challengers step up – to much the same results. It
was very funny to watch.
I also replaced my flip flops from a curio
shop. Check out these bad boys made by Pirrelli or Goodyear. Who knows. And
little did I know that this was just the begin of our tyre adventure!
Flip flops from tyres - as painful as they look!
And so that was Mayoka, a wonderful
relaxing time.
We then left and began our journey back south
by going north to Mzuzu to swing back round onto a better road. But on the way
I suddenly felt the car almost hopping. Quick pull into a garage and look at
that. The side of the tyre had split and
left a giant bulge. Not very clever.
See the weird bulge to the left of his hand - nice straight profile as well.
Big rip just on the right and wire sticking out on the left. This tyre had to go back on!
So quicker than you can say McLaren
Formula One Pit Stop Tyre Change Challenge we jacked the car up, put the spare
on and then had to bump start the car. Our car battery has died (they only live
two years out here) and so if we stop and want to start it again soon it has to be bump started.
It was not the first on the trip and not the last either – although if any of
you were wondering yes you can bump start in reverse!
And we were off. The winding hills were
very pleasant and the road was new so we gently made our way through Northern Malawi
taking in the breaktaking scenery. For those of you that like to keep on top
of such things Mayoka village was Weds to Sunday and we are now talking about a
gentle Sunday morning drive.
Most of the day was spent cruising to our
last stop over – back at Dedza pottery. We were supposed to be stopping at Mua
Mission but they didn't call me back. So we were going to go there in the
morning. Or so we thought.
Up bright and early, after eating my own
weight in goat the night before – the meat was so big I couldn’t finish it. We
jumped back on the S127 – any excuse – and meandered our way through the
mountain pass and down the other side where, whilst driving through some small
village, there was a hiss and a flap and a wobble. Yep one flat tyre. A puncture
and a torn tyre in two days.Unbelievable. A nice gentleman told us that there
was no mechanic here and the nearest on was 12km away so under the scrutiny of
50 school children – who had obviously never seen three white people change a
tyre – we, very swiftly because we had a system for it by then! – changed the
wheel and had to but the bulged one back on! Yes the one up there in the photo.
Next we crawled at little under 30km/h for
12 km trying to not to burst our spare tyre. Eventually we found a policemen
and a gentleman who wanted a lift and showed us to the mechanic where our
Chiyembekezo became a proper Malawi car by being propped up on the side of the
road with no wheel!
Ahhh poor car.
He also only had one tyre that was our size
which in keeping with the F1 themem could have been described as slick. But we
had no choice and donned the thing and with a balancing act of trying to get
home in the light and not blowing up anymore tyres we made in back to Blantyre
– where a man in a black mask sold us two new tyres – seriously you thought
they were expensive in the UK. Try UK prices with duty and vat then added on to
it! EEssh.
But being a a broken car is better than the back of a truck eh? (This is a fairly common picture!)
But we are back safe and sound and
intending to do little day trips the rest of the week until Momma T flies out
on Friday. From which airport we are not sure because they shut Blantyre for
emergency resurfacing works – but it is allegedly opening on Wednesday. We shall wait and see.
STATMAN
Number of bumps starts – 6
Number of Tyre changes – 7 including the
new tyres and moving the old ones.
Number of melons bought by the side of the
road – 4
Cost of melons – 80p (for all four)
Number of Kms covered in weeks holiday –
1200 ish( three driving days of 400 ish)
Number of pot holes hit – too many
Number of police stops – too many
Number of Americans that fell in the lake –
not enough! (for my US audience I am only joking!)
Favourite Meal – Pam’s was the pancakes and
scrambled eggs with maple syrup for breakfast.
-
Momma Ts was the Thai curry
three course buffet we had
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