Day 15 - 28 May 2016 The Wildlife Camp to Fat Monkeys on Lake Malawi

Day's trip schedule

 Wildlife Camp -> Mfuwe -> Chipata -> Lilongwe -> Dedze -> Kapiti -> Cape Maclear

Distance & time taken

480 km
10 hrs

Accommodation

The Fat Monkeys, Cape Maclear, (www.fatmonkeysmw.com)
in the village of Chembe in Cape Maclear on the southern banks of Lake Malawi

Trip Notes

An early start as today is a travel day, we had a quick coffee with rusks, showered & packed the last bits into the vehicle.  As we had packed last night, we were done pretty sharply.  After saying our goodbyes to Robert & Laura, we headed out of the Wildlife Camp shortly after 07h00 en route to Cape Maclear.  We were targetting to stay at the Fat Monkeys but Robert said we should keep in mind The Eagles Nest as an alternative , which is on the extreme eastern side of Cape Maclear.

Looks a little forlorn

As we passed through Mfuwe, the village was getting themselves ready for Saturday market with a number of villagers walking / cycling to the village centre.  The trip through to Chipata went smoothly with very little traffic although we did have to go through an army checkpoint at one stage where they check the vehicles for poached animals.

Mfuwe village fashion outlet

As we had only a few Kwachas left, I decided to make a withdrawal from the local Stanbic Bank but this proved to be somewhat troublesome as they had a limit per transaction of ZMK500 which I only found out after a number of failed transactions.  After getting asistance from a customer consultant, I managed to draw sufficient Kwachas to cover our return in a weeks time.

We then stopped off at Engen to refuel as checking on the web the previous day, we found that diesel prices in Malawi were much higher than in Zambia. Then it was off to the border.

Craft shop on Mfuwe Chipata road

This border post was probably the most inauspicious one we have ever been through.  We didn't realise we were at the border but rather thought we were going through yet another village with a police barrier.  We were soon directed as to where to park.  We found parking easily enough close to the building, got all our documents & entered around 09h50.  The process leaving Zambia was quick - all we  needed to do was get the passports stamped, enter the vehicle details in the log book, hand in the TIP & get a gate pass. This was all done in less than 10 minutes as there were only 2 American girls ahead of us in the queue.

Screengrab from Kirie's post on the 4x4 Community website
(http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php/209459-Six-Countries-Comprehensive-Trip-Report-(Solo-Trip)-Botswana-Part-1)

The next step was to get our hands on some Malawian Kwachas.  This proved to be a lot easier than we anticipated as we were surrounded  by a scrum of men of various ages trying to barter with us - even going as far as putting their ears to our windows to hear what we were saying before we began trading.  Fortunately, we had checked the exchange rate before we had arrived at the border & thus with little effort, managed to get a reasonable rate.  We only swapped enough money to get us through the border & we would then draw money at a Standard Bank branch in Lilongwe.

After having sufficient kwachas in our possession, we handed our gate pass to the Zambian official & proceeded the 50m to the Malawian immigration building.  Again, we parked right outside & proceeded in.  First stop was the Health official who checked our Yellow Fever inoculation document was still valid then onto Immigration.  Having completed their entry document, we had our passports stamped with a visa for 30 days & then had to go through the vehicle importation process.  Fill in the vehicle log book, complete the TIP, pay the $20 road tax & then head off down the road to get 3rd party insurance.  This proved to be a reasonable distance away - easy a 200m walk - which cost double what we anticipated (MK18000).  We had a bit of a chuckle as the building had no electricity & the lady had to start a generator in order to process the documentation on the computer & then print us the requisite forms.  This completed, we hiked back to the bakkie, stuck the 3rd party disc in the window & proceeded to the gate guard.  He checked all was in order & then for the first time on this trip, we faced our first bribery request.  I have a simple rule, pay nothing unless your wellbeing depends on it & after a few minutes of giving a negative response for each request of either money, food, books, etc, he relented & let us through.

Sign at Malawi border indicating speed limits
effective across Malawi

As we left the border, we were greeted with sign on the side of the road that could quite easily have been concealed behind a parked truck of the speed limits applicable in Malawi.  This is a country of seriously "going nowhere slowly".  Initially we thought it was a bit of a joke but as we ventured forth on the road to Lilongwe (120kms away), we realised that you are not really able to go faster than 80kms with all the bicycles, pedestrians, speed bumps, cows, goats & donkeys - that's not to mention the numerous police checkpoints.  The police force must the biggest employer in the country as we must have gone through no less than 20 checkpoints in a week in Malawi.  Having left the border at 10h50 - an hour to get everything done wasn't too bad but I guess during the week the process must take longer with all the extra truck & vehicle traffic - we then headed for Lilongwe.

It took us over 2 hours to drive the 120kms to Lilongwe & we went through 7 checkpoints & plenty of small villages.  We wanted to spend as little time in Lilongwe as possible as the target was Cape Maclear & we didn't want to arrive at night.  We first needed to draw money & then buy a few things at Shoprite.  We managed to do both of these in the "new" town in the Nico mall that houses a Game & Standard Bank with a Shoprite across the road.  When I had last visited Lilongwe in 2009 as part of the Woolies delegation, we had confirmed that this mall would make a good site for the first store in Malawi but this never came to fruition due to the economic woes of the country.  Based on how busy that area was on a Saturday afternoon, I believe it would have & probably still would be a good site.

Example of trading in villages
along the road

Having spent an hour getting all we needed, we headed out of town through the "old" town which took us the best part of half an hour to travel 5 kms due to the traffic.  In order to get to Cape Maclear, you need to take the main road down to Blantyre & then shortly after the town of Dedza, take a left down into the rift valley.  The drop down the hill is significant with numerous 180 degree switchbacks - a real test for the brakes.  After about 20 mins of descending (felt like hours), we reached the valley floor & then it was a reasonably flat stretch of tar to Cape Maclear.

We reached Cape Maclear as the sun had set & Ang was questioning the credibility of the Garmin as we entered Cape Maclear.  It didn't look like we would find any lodges as the Garmin had directed us into a village with the tight streets & sharp turns & the villagers were mostly outside preparing for their Saturday evening meal & entertainment.  We eventually found the Fat Monkeys Lodge & there was still light enough to get what we thought was a good campsite.  There was only one other tent on the campsite with a Hermanus registered Pajero.

As we had spent a long day in the "saddle", we decided to eat at the lodge restaurant rather than start a fire & begin a braai.  The food costs were on a par with eating out in Cape Town - Ang & I had different fish dishes with the local fish from the lake.  For the 2 plates of food & 5 beers between us, we paid in the region of R250.  After chilling in the pub next to the beach, we headed to bed around 21h00.

Sunset from Fat Monkeys across Lake Malawi

Costs for the day

Accommodation	Fat Monkeys Lodge	US$12,00
Diesel	Engen Chipata	ZMW928,80
Road tax	Malawi	US$20,00
3rd Party Insurance	Malawi	MWK18000,00
Dinner	Fat Monkeys Lodge	MWK12000,00