The Lake of Stars

Watch out - this is a big one - lots to cover!

On Friday, 27 August, I got an early start from the small town of Likhubula at the base of Mt Mulanje to get my long trip to the north of Malawi underway. Since on my way to Mt Mulanje I had found a mini-bus going from Chitakale, on the main road, to Likhubula right away, I thought I would have a similarly easy time getting back to Chitakale to connect to Blantyre. But after an hour at the side of the road in Likhubula, only 5 or so vehicles had passed, only one of them a mini-bus which was in the surprising condition of being too full to let me on. At this point, I was convinced to take a bike taxi for the 8 or so miles to Chitakale. Actually, 2 bike taxis, as one was needed for my backpack. It was really nice though, riding slowly through the tea plantations which I hadn't seen on my way since I had been sitting next to a plywood-covered broken window. Once in Chitakale, it was easy to get a mini-bus to Blantyre (actually Limbe, the neighboring town where mini-buses leave from, so I had to get another mini-bus to Blantyre once there). I bought a ticket for the bus going from Blantyre to Mzuzu, far in the north, overnight. It would leave at 5, so I had a good 4 hours to kill. I didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of going into the center of the city, so I just stayed at the shopping center next to the bus stop and did some errands. The bus to Mzuzu left pretty much on time at 5, went up the road, turned around at a traffic circle, past the bus station, to another traffic circle where it turned around again, and promptly returned to the bus station. For some reason we couldn't take that bus and had to change to another one. The whole process took about 1 hour, but I actually didn't mind since I was more concerned about arriving in Mzuzu in the dark before dawn rather than about getting there too late. And that was how it worked out - after 13 more hours, we arrived in Mzuzu at 7am. It had been quite a long and not very comfortable bus ride, but I had actually managed to sleep for a good part of it. I was fortunate to have a seat, as opposed to a good number of people who had had to spend the night standing up. When I woke up and it had gotten light the scenery was beautiful, and I was a little disappointed not to have been able to see more of it. In Mzuzu, the northernmost point of the trip across Africa, I had yet another connection, this time by mini-bus again. Finally, sometime around 10, and about 27 hours after leaving Likhubula, I reached Nkhata Bay.

Like Mt. Mulanje, Nkhata Bay is completely different from anywhere else we have been on the trip. It's on the shore of Lake Malawi, a lake bigger than Lakes Ontario or Erie, but tropical and un-industrialized. Sometimes I could faintly see the mountains of Mozambique on the other side, but most of the time the clear blue waters just stretch out to the horizon. I stayed at a place called Big Blue Star,

right on the water just outside the center of town in a small stilted hut. This one wasn't mine, but was the view from my hut.

The town

is a pretty laid back place with just one paved road, lots of rastafarians, people selling seafood (lakefood?), produce, and anything else. The rastafarians are all characters, and most have colorful names such as Fortune,

Happiness, Boobs, and Sober. Sober and I went out one night to some of the bars in town trying to stay ahead of the cops closing them down, but ran out of bars to go to by a bit after 2. Most of the music they were playing was from Zambia, but also a lot of Malawian and a bit from the rest of Africa (but thankfully a break from the World Cup promotion songs that we were hearing nonstop). One afternoon I went on a boat trip stopping at some rocks for cliff-diving and at a beach for some local games (soccer)

and where we could see some fishermen doing their work.

Otherwise things were pretty quiet there. I was really only there for one reason: to catch the Ilala Ferry

to Likoma Island, which was scheduled to come through Monday, 30 August, afternoon.

Likoma Island is 50 or so miles from Nkhata Bay across the lake only 5 miles from Mozambique, and (along with it's smaller neighboring island, Chizumulu) in Mozambican waters. It's the southbound ferry which goes from Nkhata Bay to the island, but I was in Nkhata Bay when the northbound ferry came from the island 18 or so hours late, so I knew it wouldn't be leaving on time. This is pretty typical for the ferry, so my last day in Nkhata Bay was kind of spent in suspense. I should have been able to leave in the late afternoon, but by then word had reached us that the actual arrival would be 3am, with a departure whenever they were ready. So I booked a dorm bed for the night and was awakened at 3am by its arrival horn. The 3 other people staying there who were also taking the ferry and I all got up and headed to the dock. We boarded around 4am (a slightly chaotic process)

and waited, and waited, and waited for it to leave, which it finally did at 9am, about 13 hours late. Once we were off, it was quite pleasant. We were on the top deck

just enjoying the open water. After we'd been gong for a while, it became hard to see any shore and there was good size swell - it seemed like we were in the middle of the ocean. The ferry made a 2 hour stop at Chizumulu where we enjoyed the view of the chaos of unloading into the launches to the beach

and from there it was 2 more hours to Likoma. We enjoyed a nice sunset

before finally arriving a bit after 6, and getting off the ferry was when we learned the true chaos potential of the Ilala. We were crammed into the exit aisle on the lower deck (which is where 2nd and 3rd class are, and seemed awful. I'm not sure of the difference between the 2 classes except that 3rd class is actually in a cage) walking over bags of corn, flour, sugar etc to jockey for a position on the first launch. They were apparently having trouble lowering it, so we stood there watching as it didn't move. When it finally did lower, they only took the local chief and a couple of his helpers ashore. By now, nearly 1 hour since the ferry had anchored, people were pretty anxious to go, and when it returned to finally take passengers (and with boarding passengers who then had to fight their way on through all the disembarking passengers) it was every man for himself to try to fight their way to the door, down the ladder and onto the 22 person launch, which had about twice that many people. For the Ilala's last surprise, we had to jump off the launch into waist deep water. But we had made it.

One of the managers of Mango Drift, the lodge where I stayed on the island, was there to meet us and give us (there were 7 in total getting off the ferry) a ride across the island to the lodge. But I was hanging out with a couple of British guys by this time, and some people they had been traveling with were having dinner in town before leaving the island. So instead we got directions to the lodge and grabbed dinner. It was over an hour walk from the restaurant to the lodge, in the dark, with wet pants, but after 10 we made it, 19 hours since the day had started!

It was a super place. I stayed 4 nights, and they were 4 great nights. Among the other people there the people I spent the most time with were the 2 Brits, 2 Spanish brothers with a nose for adventure, an Italian guy and a German guy. A great group, and we were in a beautiful setting.

Days were laid back, filled with swimming, reading, volleyball and the occasional walk around the island. The only real sight is this cathedral from the early 1900s.
One morning I went on an introductory scuba dive, my first ever, which was really fun. As a freshwater lake, Lake Malawi doesn't have any coral, but it does have a great variety of interesting fish. And being freshwater and calm, it's an easy place for a first dive. After a brief lesson in scuba theory and some quick drills in the water, the dive was about 45 minutes reaching a depth of 40 ft as we rounded a nearby island. Nights were spent at the bar under the mango tree playing games or just chatting. One night we had a local musician perform a short concert.

Sunsets were beautiful, with the mainland Malawian mountains coming into clear view as the sun set behind them.

Lake Malawi is nicknamed the Lake of Stars because of the fishing boats that cover the lake at night, their lights shining along the surface of the lake across the horizon.

This morning though (Saturday) it was time to say goodbye to the island and make my way to Mozambique. I went down to the beach where the local boats leave, got my passport stamped out of Malawi, and went off to find a boat. Even though it was still early, it was a very hot walk across the island with both my bags. When I got to the beach, there were none going to Cobue, my destination in Mozambique, at the time, but I was told the owner of the restaurant next to the beach would be informed when the boat arrived from Cobue. So I waited, and waited - from 9:30 to 10:30, during which time a boat is expected to leave - then another hour until 11:30. Meanwhile I was seeing boats going in the direction I needed to be going. So it was time to take things into my own hands. Or rather the hands of the guy who was sitting next to me. So we went down to the beach, and looked for a boat. None were going, but there was one that was going to Mozambique a bit north of Cobue. It seemed like my best option, but the guy wanted 1000 kwacha to take me there, then walk me to Cobue. That was more than I had left, so I gave him my last 383 kwacha for him to take me there and I would figure out the rest of the way. The boat was a small sailboat with a tattered sail made out of flour, corn, and cement bags. The 4 or 5 crew and 5 passengers (plus 3 babies) were probably more than it was meant to hold, but the guy on the rudder did a good job getting us through the good size swell, and after about 2 hours we landed in very remote Mozambique. I was briefly an illegal immigrant until I got to the immigration office in Cobue still an hour's walk away, and once again very hot. After sorting that out, and finding a place to stay for the night

, I walked around town looking at the "sights", which consisted of this church
and boys playing soccer in front of it.
Now for a good night's sleep before starting the last leg of my journey, across Mozambique, tomorrow.