Page 5 of 5

Last update 1.Feb.05

04.Sep.03 The housekeeper's bustle wakes us up early in the morning. We use the time to complete our writing work at the internet cafe. While we have a short break, Jan gets into conversation with another customer. Marteen from Belgium traveled some of the countries we also came through by using public transport. For his next journey he is planning to go to Mongolia and cross the Gobi desert on a camel - sounds interesting!
In the afternoon we leave Mzuzu for Nkhata Bay. Again we ride alongside Lake Malawi until we reach the bay with the town seated around. Nkhata Bay, a recommendation by our friend Lee, is literally packed with lodges, souvenir stores and other tourist attractions. We quickly find the right way to the Nyaya Lodge he told us of and guess, who comes our way? Lee! By now he seems to have put up to the fact that he is meeting us again and again.
The lodge is lying remote the busy town and offers a great view of Lake Malawi. Quite number of backpack travelers found accommodation here. In the evening there is a pool competition at the lodge. Considering our weak performance at the table some days ago we rather do not take part now - as wise decision, as we find out. We would have been the losers of the day.
Due to our way of traveling we find a lot of interest among the other guests at the lodge. One of them is Michael from Chicago, who is well acquainted with the guys at Scooterworks Chicago, possibly the largest Vespa dealer in the United States. Some tourists tell us about their trips on African public transport. It often took them days to find out about transport facilities and connections that finally were not available. That means, spending hours or entire days on every short distance, without being able to stop at the places you would like to see. Such difficulties and dependence make traveling by Vespa appear in a much more favorable light.

05.Sep.03 The wide range of souvenirs on offer at Nkhata Bay do not leave us cold. The previous day Lee had drawn our attention to a peace of handicraft adapted from a traditional shield used by warriors. Christian bought it right away and attached it to the rear of his scooter. Jan got hold of a couple of hand-made drawings that appealed to him. Yet, a shield such as Christian's would be neat as well.
This morning we pay the same souvenir store a visit again, as the owner had promised to get another shield for us. Of course he does not have one yet. Instead we are told to wait '10 minutes'. As usual we spend the time by playing cards, while being curiously watched by a growing number of children. About an hour later we decide that 10 minutes are over now and say goodbye. The store owner does not let us leave without extolling the Black History Store in Kenda Beach run by his brother. Kenda Beach suits us fine, because it is on our way. We leave Nkhata Bay and ride southwards, still alongside Lake Malawi.
By noon we reach the turning to Kenda Beach. The following track is nothing but a huge sand box to plow though. Thankfully Kenda Beach turns out to be a beautiful place and worth the effort. Now it takes some time until Jan finds the praised Black History Store, where the owner confirms that he usually has shields like the one we are looking for on offer. But just this morning his brother came by and took all of them away for a customer in Nkhata Bay ... What a flop!
We enter the next bar to wash down our disappointment with a drink and study the memos left by other travelers all over the place. The afternoon leads to a little argument about what to do next. While one of us wants to make a few more miles today, the other one prefers a comfortable place for the night not far away from here. We finally agree on the first option, only to find ourselves at a third class hotel in the evening, in no way comparable to what we could have had.

06.Sep.03 By sunrise a lot of noise inside the hotel wakes us up. So we are back on the road at 7.30 in the morning heading for Lilongwe. Half the way we meet a BMW rider from Switzerland. Steven is on his way home, after crossing Africa on the western route. He is the first Trans-Africa traveler on a motorcycle we meet - naturally we have a lot to talk about. If you like to know more about him, take a look at our link side ('around Africa on a motorcycle').
After arriving in Lilongwe we ride to the local Meridien Hotel, where Christian is going to stay. Following a delicious dinner we look for the Kiboko Campsite that Jan has chosen to be his residency. At first we reach a development area, where Christian starts an intensive discussion with a local engineer about the different fabric of buildings in Malawi, the United States and Germany. Despite the fact that Malawi is said to be one of the ten poorest countries in the world, Lilongwe is definitely showing some kind of modest prosperity in the form of middleclass housing areas. And we both agree that neither Sudan nor Ethiopia have anything like that.
The search for the campsite turns out to be much more difficult than we expected. Here our tip: if you use a GPS system for orientation, make sure that you enter the correct data. We finally discover our mistake and find Kiboko Campsite 5 miles southwards. The first thing we do here is helping an English family to fix their Land Rover with some clamps from our range of spare parts.
At Kiboko we meet Christoph, a social worker from Bremen, Germany. He is caring for kids from Germany that became criminal and have been sent to Africa as part of a disciplining and reintegration project. Here they have to do non-benefit work, like building houses or wells, to find back into a well-ordered daily routine. According to Christoph at least some of them get converted to a better life.
As an anecdote Christoph tells us that one time, while his charges did some bridge construction in the south of Malawi, they drew the attention of nearly 2.000 spectators. People came from as far as Mozambique to sit and watch. They just could not believe white men doing physical labor!
Also from Christoph we learn something about Steven from Switzerland, whom we had met early that day. He had been staying here at the camp for three weeks, as his BMW was broken. While it took him quite some time to fix the damage his visa ended. But Steven was clever enough to prolong it himself by placing a hand-made stamp onto the document. Seems it had not been the first time he used this creative method of prolongation. To anybody's amusement he also placed one of those stamps into the campsite's guestbook.
Finally we build up Jan's tent together. Following this act of humanity Christian takes off to go back to the hotel. We arrange to meet at Harry's Bar at 9.30pm, where we expect to find our friends from Norway.
So in the evening Jan leaves the campsite for Harry's Bar to meet his companion and -more important- Mona and Marte. The bar turns out to be a nice place that would also attract to certain members of Vespa Club Hamburg. There is not only a long bar inside but a dance floor outside the building. That is where half Norway seems to meet! After Christian's arrival the party is complete. But as Harry's Bar empties more and more throughout the night, we decide to change the location.
Eight people enter a Toyota Corolla taxi to go to the Las Vegas club. Unfortunately it is a dead place, even on a Saturday night. We confide in out Norwegian scouts and enter another taxi that takes us to another club. Luckily for Jan is a short ride, as he is carrying the only heavy passenger on his lap. The club we now enter satisfies our needs. It is literally packed with people that move to African rhythms. Now it's the time for the expressive dancers from Germany! After a short period of warming up we get right into and finally are the last guests to leave the place when it closes down in the morning.

FURTHER ENGLISH TRANSLATION IS FOLLOWING (1.Feb.05)