Monday, December 29, 2008

South Africa - Land of Plenty

Enter South Africa, enter civilization. As we got closer to the Mozambique – South African border it got increasingly clear that we approached more developed and richer parts of Africa. Oncoming traffic mainly constituted of South Africans on the way to spend their summer holidays at the beach.  Thus instead of overloaded minivans and trucks carrying goats on their roof, we now met even more overloaded 4x4s, towing boats, waveriders, quads and dirtbikes. Also the roads got increasingly better, showing a clear inflow of money from South Africa. The bordercrossing was straightforward and though the lines were long it didn’t take more than an hour.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Our first “shock” came when we stopped at a Spar Supermarket to get some groceries. It was huge, clean, well stocked and CHEAP! We walked around like two five-year-olds in a toy store, taking in the, for us, highly unusual sight. In fact, we were so confused by the experience that we didn’t buy anything more than some milk and bread.

 

We spent the night in Neilspruit, a town southwest of Kruger National Park, with the intention to spend Christmas in the park. Unfortunately so had the rest of South Africa (at least the ones not going to Mozambique) so ALL the parks campsites were fully booked… We are talking of a place the size of Israel, offering more than 4,000 beds and room for about 2,000 caravans. While making new plans we decided to spend the next few days as mall rats, drinking Café Latte and hot chocolate while enjoying the WIFI in the Riverside Mall. Wonderful!

 

Instead of lions in the Kruger we settled for crocs in St Lucia. St Lucia is a small, coast town most famous for its national park, the St Lucia Wetlands Park… and the hordes of drunken Afrikaans invading the town every summer. We somehow managed to find a semi-nice backpackers hangout where we could park our car and pitch the roof-top tent.  Almost forgot, on our way to the coast we passed through the Kingdom of Swaziland, a small landlocked country bordering to South Africa and Mozambique. On our way out of the country we managed to pick a border without any customs, why getting the appropriate (or any) stamp in our Carnet proved to be quite a hassle. Luckily we managed to find the most enthusiastic custom’s official in all of Africa and she fixed everything for us.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Back to St. Lucia. For once Christmas wasn’t all about eating, this year we actually had to spend more time finding the food than cooking and eating it. We managed to find something resembling gammon in a Spar deli, made our own meatballs and beetroot salad, gave up on turning coke into julmust (a Swedish soda), and almost broke down crying (I from joy) when some Swedes offered us two cans of pickled herring.  Thus we got a light version of the traditional ‘julbord’, but it all tasted amazing! We also got some physical exercise this Christmas (something normally avoided in favor of eating) as the place we were staying at offered free morning walks in the national park. Wonderful!

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

A few days before Christmas a Land Rover Discovery full of South Africans and diving Equipment pulled in. They soon pitched the largest tent known to man and hit the bar and the braai (barbeque) before the last peg was in the ground. We had a great time hanging out with Paul and his mom Maria, colleague Monique and student/friend with benefits Ken.  The last night before they left the boys had conceived a contraption of doom… a bong… a funnel with 4 feet of pvc-pipe attached to it. Ken started with a massive three beers in just as many seconds. That record stood all night, probably mainly because he looked like he was in considerable pain for quite some time afterwards. Even though Paul and Ken shared an impressive 20 beers they were packed up and ready to go at 7 AM the following day. Amazing, and also a bit scary. Did I mention that more than 1,000 people die in traffic accidents in South Africa over the Holidays?

 

During our stay in St. Lucia we also visited the local Crocodile Centre, housing crocs from all over the world and also a rather impressive 5.4-meter Nile Crocodile. We arrived in time for the weekly feeding and were really anxious on seeing this huge beast in action. What a disappointment. OK, it was 5.4 meters long, but what people had failed to mention was that it was about 1.5 meters wide. The poor thing looked more like a toad than a croc and was to lazy to eat… not that it needed to, but anyway.  The smaller ones were a lot more entertaining though, splattering the crowd with pieces of chicken as they tore their food apart.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2


Från Off the Map - Africa 2
 


We were however lucky enough to see a wild 4+ meter croc a few days later… a somewhat more impressive sight.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Leaving St. Lucia on the 25th (in Sweden we celebrate Christmas on the 24th) we drove for three days to Addo Elephant National Park. Surprise, the park has specialized in elephants. =) We stayed at a nice place called Orange Elephant, and decided for the first time to ditch the roof tent in favor of the smaller, but more wind resistant, ground tent. Wise call, it’d turn out, since the winds got worse over the next two days.  We slept well in our small tent and were awakened by lions roaring in the distant. Thanks to this wake up call our main goal for the day was to spot lions. The only of the big five we are yet to see. Thus we spent a whole day in the park seeing loads of elephants, antelopes, zebras, snakes, mungos, leopard tortoises, coyotes… but no lions. When we came back to our campsite at 7 pm, it was only to once again hear… lions.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

When checking out the following day the owner, who looked just like Paul Sr in American Chopper, told us that overlanders stay for free if they have traveled through Africa. Best thing we’d heard in a long time! Thank you once again!!!

 

We are now in surfer hotspot Jeffrey’s Bay, trying to find a nice and calm place to spend New Year’s… we are getting old.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa 2

 

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Malawi!

It wasn’t a hard decision to leave Peponi Beach. The place sure had potential to be a haven, but now it was just a noisy nuisance… We packed up and decided to let Tanzania be and headed for Malawi. It was a three-days-drive from Peponi to the border and during that time we probably passed more speed bumps than during our 30+ days in Kenya. The speed bumps seemed to be rather inefficient though, since we were the only ones slowing down. Each town we hit the brakes a brand new Toyota flew by, passing the speed bumps at well over 100km/h. “NGOs” we couldn’t help thinking.  Our slowing-down for speed bumps did however not help when I got caught speeding, doing 75 on a 50. Yes, I got caught speeding in a Land Rover. While I apologized and offered the officer my whole arsenal of poor excuses a Toyota sedan flew by, doing 83. The officer saw his chance to write an even bigger ticket and sent me off with the words “A good driver doesn’t go faster than the road allows”. This was the second time I got caught speeding and the second time I “talked” my way out of a ticket. The first time was in Azerbaijan… For some reason I have never gotten a ticket in Sweden. =)

The border crossing into Malawi proved to be the fastest and easiest on our trip so far, and also only the second where they wanted to see the passenger of the car. Normally (I believe I can use that word after 10 border crossings in 5 months) one of us stays in the car while the other sort out the paperwork. Now I had to go get Kina so she could say “Hi” to the customs officer, after which he happily handed her the passport. All-in-all getting across the border from Tanzania to Malawi took no more than half-an-hour… Compare that to the eight hours it took us to get in to Egypt… not to mention all the Baksheesh we had to pay then.

Our first stop in Malawi was Chitimba beach, a back-packer hangout on the northern shore of Lake Malawi. The place sure was nice and offered fast (but expensive) Internet as well as a wonderful view of Lake Malawi and the outskirts of the Nyika plateau. The main disappointment was the food, as it was more expensive than Kenya and Tanzania, while the servings were embarrassingly small.

We set camp on the beach, in order to get sun on our solar panels. We did however forget to take two things into consideration: 1. We were right outside the bar and the fourth overland truck had just pulled in AND 2. Being on the beach we were as exposed to wind as we possibly could be. We went to sleep at 8.30 East African Time, meaning 7.30 Central African Time. We didn’t know we had crossed into another time zone… Anyhow, two hours later the party started in the bar and as all speakers faced us, sleeping became rather hard. I, being a true trooper, managed to sleep, while Kina lay awake until midnight when the music stopped. Two o’ clock we woke up to flashes illuminating our tent. We looked out and saw an amazing spectacle: the most amazing thunderstorm we had seen, with a never-ending stream of lightning. On the beach stood about 10 to 20 people admiring the show, something Kina thought assembled something from a bad movie: when the oblivious cast gaze upon the phenomenon in the sky just before the evil aliens attack and eat them all alive. Thus she stayed in the tent while I joined the soon-to-be-eaten crowd of drunk overlanders. I managed to get a few shots of the lightning before the wind hit me, and I ran back to the car while cursing our stupidity. Five minutes later the tent was packed up and the full force of the storm hit. It was massive. Instead of “sleeping” in the car we now had the option of stretching out on the couches in the bar. Thus I was soon fast asleep while Kina lay awake until sunrise.  Again. The next day we set camp behind the main building and had the best night’s sleep in a long time.

Our next stop was Mayoka Village in Nkhata Bay. We arrived at around 6.30 (CAT, we had reset our watches now) to a place that was more like a nightclub than a backpacker hangout. Apparently the owner had gone nuts and handed out free beer and rooms all day… chaos had ensued and people were now dancing on the bar and on the tables. We met two British overland couples that we had met in Chitimba earlier in the day. They had received two suites each for free… when we approached the owner to se “how much a room is” he was regretfully too drunk to talk why we decided to camp.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

As Mayoka Village is situated in steep decline right on the Lake Malawi, we had to camp on the parking lot, which was not as nice and experience as lounging in the restaurant just on the shore. Furthermore it was rather windy, why we the day after decided to move into one of the beachfront chalets. At USD 15 per person per night it wasn’t cheap, but we would have several reasons to salute our decision to abandon the tent in favor of the chalet.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

The first reason rolled in at night, as reasons like this always do, dressed as a thunderstorm cum Armageddon. The amount and strength of the lightning was of such magnitude that night almost turned into day. Our chalet shook from the lighting impact, the wind swept right through it (forcing us to tie the patio door shut with the curtains) and outside people were running around screaming, trying to gather their tents and belongings that were scattered in the wind.

That storm, and the one that followed, was a rather nice experience since we could just cuddle up in our bed and cover ourselves with our warm and nice blankets. The second reason we enjoyed our chalet was, however, not such a nice experience. It started one night with Kina feeling a bit under the weather. She went to bed early and woke up a few hours later with a high fever. Her condition worsened the day after, and we decided to go to the local hospital to do a malaria test.

Now, impressing enough healthcare is free in Malawi, so all we had to do was to go to the lab in the hospital disguised as a farm and ask for a test. First they said the test was negative, but as we were about to get in the car a guy came running saying that it was positive. So, off to the doctor we went to get a prescription and a few minutes later we could leave the hospital with 24 yellow pills and a promise she’d get better soon. People we spoke to who had varying degrees of experience of malaria said that 24 hours after you take the first 4 pills you feel at least 50% better, and that seems to be true. 12 hours after she took the first pills her condition was unchanged, but over the next 12 hours her fever broke and she started feeling somewhat better. Magic! =)

During Kina’s malaria episode I wasn’t exactly envious of her… she looked pretty sick… but now… She can say she’s had malaria, and that’s pretty cool. Crap… =(

 

 

Richard and Lina met up with us in Mayoka, spent a few nights there before going to Lilongwe to pick up Lina’s sister.  We later caught up with them in Senga Bay and we decided to go to Liwonde National Park together. Kina and Richard found a nice campsite, but when Richard called them we were told that the roads to the campsite were impassable. Apparently a few cars had tried to get to the campsite exactly 12 months earlier, only to be stuck in the mud until APRIL! Instead we were offered to stay in a chalet for the same price as camping, USD 10 per person. We thus went the last bit to the campsite by boat, and could from afar see that this place was something extra. First off, the river it was located on offers Africa’s highest concentration of hippos and crocs.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Elephants, hippos, warthogs, monkeys and antelopes often rummage through the camp, and the chalets… wow…  Kina and I got a two-room chalet just by the river.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

We fell asleep to the sound of hippos grunting, woke up to a bushbuck knocking on a window, had warthogs on our patio at breakfast and were robbed by a baboon for lunch. Amazing! We also decided to try the boat safari and were lucky enough to see not only gazillions of hippos and crocs, but also a group of elephants swimming (and diving) in the river. In a boat you can also get a lot closer to the elephants than on land, so we got some rather nice pictures.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

After Liwonde we went to Blantyre and to make the contrast total, we camped on the parking lot outside a backpacker hostel… offering Blantyre’s loudest bar.

We stayed in Blantyre for two nights before heading to Mozambique.

 

Från Off the Map - Africa

 

Från Off the Map - Africa