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One downside of sleeping in your tent behind the walls of a hotel in town is that it isn’t particularly quiet. No matter, the Landmark Hotel staff were hospitable but the setting itself lacked ambiance to say the least, so we were off shortly after sunrise. Driving towards Malawi the road winds down the mountains, dropping quickly, almost down to the lake level of 500 meters. We were closer to the border than I thought and we arrived at the gates of the customs area before I’d finished my coffee.

 

 

Border procedures were pretty straightforward, but I think I’ve written that same sentence before. After some trepidation at the beginning of the trip about border crossing I feel fairly confident in giving this universal border crossing advice: bring your passport and all the vehicle paperwork you can muster. Clear immigration first, then go to customs and request a TIP (temporary import permit) for your vehicle. Fill out the requisite paperwork, wait patiently, receive the TIP and be on your way. Make sure you have 3rd party vehicle insurance somewhere in there, usually sold by shady hustlers that hang around the border area for about $20 USD, give or take. Of course there are variations on this, but so far we have received only cursory inspections at the most. Sometimes there is a fee or road tax to pay and that is pretty much it. When we’ve been unsure as to the exact next steps border officials, while not always particularly efficient, have always been helpful. Patience and courteousness wins out.

 

At the Malawi border we were issued visas on arrival, which takes a little longer for them to process the full page sticker that goes in your passport. After that, in customs, we were passed on from the uniformed customs officers, in neat white shirts with epaulets, to a slick sort of Eddie Murphy look alike in a snappy black blazer. He was apparently the TIP man. After a lot of waiting he gave us some paperwork and told us to go to a new line to pay our 10,000 kwacha TIP fee, about $14 USD. We did not yet have any kwacha so we said we’d go exchange some money first, but Eddie Murphy gave us an eye roll and said we’d lose our place in line if we did that, so he pulled out his wallet and gave us 10,000 kwacha of his own money, instructing one of us to stand in line and that the other could go change some money so we could pay him back. Amazing, I don’t think that is ever going to happen in a US customs line. Welcome to Malawi. I guess they don’t call it the warm heart of Africa for nothing.

 

The whole operation took about 2 ½ hours by the time we were on the road again, most of that time was waiting for our TIP from customs. Exiting Tanzania took no more than 15 minutes, and the longest portion of that was the last military guard who lifts the barrier across the road who took his sweet time asking if we were going to give him a “gift”. We politely declined. And he stalled. No, you’re sure, anything, a magazine, a coke? We said no again, and after a long pause he wished us well and lifted the boom.

 

This brings me to the topic of bribery. At the outset of this trip many had advised us to be ready to pass bribes when necessary, usually with an “after all, it’s Africa,” or something like that. At the beginning of the trip Jenny and I decided to adopt a “no bribe” policy we hope to stick to. Corruption is a big problem in Africa, and though the small on the spot “fines” collected by some no doubt underpaid police officers can hardly shoulder the blame for all the continent’s troubles, we didn’t want to take part in the system at all, if possible. So far, no problems.

 

Key to this of course is making sure that we are in fact in compliance, our paperwork is in order, our vehicle equipment is sorted out and as far as we know we’re complying with the local laws. Of course if a police officer really wants to shake you down they will find something, but not giving them the low hanging fruit and being polite and friendly seems to be doing the trick. So far.

 

This sort of proposition from the Tanzanian guard is nothing really, one of the maybe half dozen times we’ve been propositioned by officials on the trip and none of them has given much push back when we’ve said no to them. Too bad that guy is the last interaction we had leaving Tanzania, a country that has provided so many amazing adventures to us.

 

We will miss Tanzania. People have been genuinely helpful and seem to think nothing of stopping what they are doing to interact and take time to help us. Also I’m going to miss KiSwahili, or Swahili as we say at home. It’s really the only African language that I have any hope of learning. We have been learning a bit as we go along and I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere where the smattering of words and phrases that we picked up has been appreciated so much. Since conjugation and verb tenses aren’t a thing (as I understand it) it’s relatively simple, combined with phonetic pronunciation makes it a really approachable language for us. Asante sana Tanzania.

 

Driving past the customs boom and through the narrow gap between dozens of trucks on either side of the road we made our way into a new country. The road is immediately flat and fairly straight, after all our rolling hills of Tanzania it’s quite a contrast.

 

It’s not long after the border and we encounter our first police checkpoint. This seems to be the norm, that there are a few preceding and following most border posts. The Malawian police were friendly, and as usual it was a quick “Where did you come from?”, “Where are you going?” And we were on our way. A couple of the police stops they were super interested to hear about our trip, usually after figuring out we were American and not South African, taking a few minutes to ask about our route, seemingly out of genuine interest and not any sort of police concern.

 

Driving on, the speed limit in Malawi is 80 kph, and really we’re lucky to make even that. The roads don’t have much vehicle traffic, but they’re fairly narrow and are heavily trafficked by pedestrians and bicycles. Even with the moderate pace we’re happy, getting the feel of a new country.

 

We stopped at the first significant town, Karonga, to fuel up. Still it seemed we weren’t into territory that took credit cards at the fuel stations, so we also stopped at the ATM. While Jenny was getting cash I wandered into a grocery store to ask if I could buy local SIM cards for our phones. A supervisor came over and asked what I was looking for and I told him again, and he said “No problem,” and walked me outside and down the block to the SIM card sales guy on the street. Again in just our first hours in Malawi I am impressed at how friendly people are, he took the time to walk me down down the street and after making sure I had what I needed returned to the store. Certainly above and beyond.

 

SIM card in hand, flush with kwacha and fueled up we got back on the road. We headed south to Chitimba, unsure if we wanted to stay on the lake or up the escarpment at one of two highly recommended spots. The lure of the lake was strong, but we had heard that the best spots on the water were further south, so after a lakeside snack we headed up the escarpment to Lukwe Eco Lodge and Campsite, near Livingstonia.

 

The most direct route from Chitimba is up Gorodi Pass, a ridiculous series of rocky hairpin switchbacks, rising some six or seven hundred meters in about 9 kilometers. There are steeper roads for sure, but the frequency and sharpness of the switchbacks, the steep drop-offs and views are all something to appreciate and make it a pretty fun an unique road. Not quite sure what to expect we turned off the lake and headed up. It becomes rocky pretty quick, but nothing technical, just bumpy. We dropped into low range, put it in second gear for a lot of it and took our time. Near the base we saw a guy in a grey tank top with a plastic basin balanced on his head in the African way, walking up the road and we thought to ourselves he had a long hike ahead of him.

 

 

 

We continued up and began the switch backs. Again, not technical and there are steeper roads, but it still seemed amazing as we wound our way up the steep escarpment. Also the Cruiser has the turning radius of a 747 airliner, so on some of the switchbacks it was pretty tight making the turn, be we continued creeping up. Partway up we saw a guy walking ahead of us and it looked like it was the same grey tank top and plastic basin on his head guy. Could it be? No I thought, impossible. As we passed him he stepped off the road and was climbing straight up the escarpment on a steep near vertical walking path.

 

Another series of switchbacks up and there he was again, amazing. In the end it took us an hour or so to get to the top, not rushing, and we saw him again where it started to flatten out. He had paced us the whole way, cutting across the road with his footpath straight up. I’m not sure if this is a testament to his physical fitness or our slowness, but regardless we were impressed.

 

Lukwe Campsite was in a really beautiful spot, with a stunning view of the lake hundreds of meters below. There are only four campsites and we were the only ones there, and they also have a few tiny bungalows with cliff side views. There is a wonderful deck with a view and a small restaurant, all very pleasant. They also have an amazing permaculture garden that supplies the restaurant.

 

We stayed two days, taking the time to have a delicious meal in their restaurant and for the first time in a while a long hike. It felt wonderful to stretch our legs and be physically tired. Lukwe is about 5 kilometers from Livingstonia, a curious village a little higher into the mountains. Something like 100 years ago (I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t recall every date correctly at this stop) a Scottish missionary came to Malawi and, in honor of Livingstone, started Livingstonia. He started at Cape Maclear, on the lake, but eventually moved up to the higher altitude of Livingstonia to, among other reasons, escape malaria at the higher altitudes. In the many years he was there “he” built a large church, school, hospital and numerous other buildings.

 

The village is still there, and I think our guidebook describes it fairly well, saying something to the effect of “…it’s as if someone undertook to build a perfect victorian village in Africa, but then abandoned the effort half way through…” I am paraphrasing, but that captures it more or less. There is a small museum, coffee shop and the church is still active. We visited all of them, but it does seem like most of the village shops and action is just slightly away from the center of the older buildings. None the less they are being kept up and it was nice to visit and see a remote and odd tourist attraction here in the hills of Malawi.

 

The coffee wasn’t very good, but we had a great time chatting with the proprietor of the coffee shop, and he was excited to have a chance to discuss politics with Americans. Unbelievably he even knew who some of the politicians from our home state of California, and he was asking what we thought of them, and here we were not knowing who the president of Malawi was.

 

Lukwe was a really pleasant stop for us, but it was pretty much empty for our stay there and we decided to move on and look for a little more action. Taking the gravel M14 road instead of the twisting path we came on, we headed south towards the lake, via Mzuzu. The road from Livingstonia is under construction, again evidence of the great effort that seems to be being made across all the countries we visited to improve the road network. Once we rejoined the M1 the road became tar again and we sped along easily.

 

 

Mzuzu has a Shopright, a South African grocery chain, so we stopped to stock up on those things you can’t find at the local markets. The weather was cold and misty and we were hoping that when we dropped down to the lake things would improve, we seemed to be having a run of cool weather and were ready to warm up a bit.

 

The road to the lake is new tar to Nkhata Bay, easy going, fast and pretty much empty. We made our way to the Kande Beach Lodge and Campsite further south. Both in Livingstonia and on the sandy road to Kande we begin to hear “givememoney givememoney givememoney” from kids along the road, the first we’ve had in a long time. It seems to be one of the early phrases young kids learn. I suppose when you get back into more touristed areas that comes with some of the negative aspects of tourism as well. Here we were enjoying a plethora of campsites to chose from, eco lodges and permaculture gardens and grocery stores and yet kids follow you while walking or even chase after the Cruiser saying “give me money” over and over again while holding out their hands.

 

I wonder what their parents think? Do they tell them, say this when you see tourists? Or would they be horrified that their kid was begging like this? I like to think the latter. We’ve seen this in a few other places, but in a lot of the quieter stretches of Africa we’ve been in this is unheard of, tourists simply aren’t the target that they become in busy areas. I have no answers, but it does make me contemplate the unintended impact of tourism.

 

Kande Beach has a beautiful stretch of near white sand beach on the lake and a nice campsite facility. It’s mostly set up for the large overland buses that disgorge a heap of tourists to set up their ground tents under shaded pitches, but there is a spot at the back for the likes of us that suits us just fine, and for less than $10 a night.

 

They have a bar and restaurant and the world cup was on. I like the world cup, not because I am a particular fan of the game, but because it’s fun to watch and in a little way participate in something that the whole world is so invested in. We ended up spending two nights here, watching the world cup and enjoying the scene. It was windy here, and the owner said that when the wind comes up like this it often stays like to for a week or so, and with it more cool weather. Not cold, but too cool to enjoy swimming in the lake or any other water activities. I did successfully bake bread on the fire here, so that was fun, and it’s so nice to have fresh bread after supermarket white bread or none at all.

 

The lake certainly has lots to offer near by, but with the wind looking like it was going to stick around for a while we decided to push south and see if we could find some better weather, so we set our sights on Cape Mclear, a famous spot on the south end of the lake that people have been going to relax for decades.

 

We made the drive there on a Sunday, which turned out to be great as the roads were nearly empty. It was an easy drive on pretty smooth roads. The last stretch is gravel, 15 km or so, passes through Lake Malawi National Park, on a peninsula with Cape Maclear at the end. The park looks great, with big granite boulders and open trees and shrubs, and the occasional baobab as well.

 

Arriving at Cape Maclear there is a small town on the lake, surrounded on all sides by the park. Town is a few sandy roads parallel to the lake, with local houses and shops mixed in with some beach side lodges and restaurants for tourists. The beach is nice and has an interesting mix of low key tourist vibe and regular village life mixed in. Small dugout canoes are beached here and there, fishermen are repairing nets and women are washing laundry, on the same beach that casual restaurants look out over the water.

 

 

We camped at Fat Monkeys, a long standing stop for overlanders and famous place to get sucked into staying for far longer than planned. There was one other camper there, a French guy who was hitchhiking to Tanzania, and he had his little backpackers tent pitched under one of the large mango trees. We had picked a spot right at the front, with just a small wooden fence between us and the beach, with a great view of the sunset. The weather was warm, it wasn’t windy and it was beautiful here so we were feeling good.

 

 

By the time we left I’m afraid that we didn’t really take advantage of what Cape Maclear has to offer. The national park, there is supposedly very good diving and snorkeling near by, and hiking. We just relaxed on the beach, tidied up the cruiser, did some laundry and walked the beach. We had some really serene and wonderful evenings by the fire, with small waves lapping the beach close by, a sky full of stars and cold beers in the warm night. After a few days, Cap Mac, as it’s sometimes called, failed to hook us, and I’m not sure why.

 

It’s an extremely pleasant place to be, but something about it and Malawi as a whole was missing for us. Nice people, good scenery, but I suppose that it was missing that little bit of adventure and uncertainty that came with some of our other African destinations. This really isn’t fair to Malawi, since we did not stay long or range far, but regardless we felt the salt water coast and rough roads of Mozambique calling us.

 

After some hemming and hawing we drove into Mozambique via the Mwanza – (not the one in Tanzania) Zobue border post. The road from Cape Maclear to the border is excellent, most of it newly resurfaced.

 

At the border post in Mwanza they thankfully keep the hustlers of money changing and insurance out of the border area, so after they lift the boom to enter the customs zone things are surprisingly quiet. There was almost no one else there, so no waiting in line and without too much fuss we were stamped out, TIP returned to customs and on our way.

 

There are a few kilometers of “no man’s land” between the border posts, where we are neither in checked into Malawi nor Mozambique, but unlike this area in most countries there seem to be villages, shops, small roadside restaurants and generally a fair amount of action. I wonder how this works, we see the locals just walking through the border and not getting checked in or out, presumably making their way to this area. But it seems to work, and I suppose a lot of the business is generated by the long lines of large trucks that seem to be waiting for permission to proceed.

 

We had some concerns about Mozambique, as we didn’t have a visa and until very recently US citizens had to get a visa ahead of time. Now they can issue them upon arrival, but I had heard that not all border posts were able to do it. So with a little concern we battled our way through a throng of shouting 3rd party insurance agents and money changers and made our way into immigration. To our relief they agreed to issue visas on arrival for us, $50 USD each. Interestingly this is less expensive than I had read, I had seen both $75 or $80 USD. Part of this may be that we happened to have 50 dollar bills, and apparently there is a significantly better exchange rate when changing 50 and 100 bills vs lower denominations. When the immigration woman saw those 50s she snatched them from us right away. Later in Mozambique we were asked if we had larger bills for the same reason, but I don’t know what economic function would drive a better rate for larger bills, it doesn’t make sense to me.

 

We got a nice full page visa sticker in our passports, complete with a photograph they take on the spot. For just this sort of thing we came on our trip prepared with about 10 passport photos to provide to border officials if requested, but it seems that the few countries that do want photos just take digital ones with a simple camera, so I wonder if the passport photos are a thing of the past? Customs issued a TIP without too much fuss, and then we had to brave the insurance agents. We have been spared this step since Zambia, because there we bought the COMESA coverage that includes Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi and some other countries. Mozambique is not part of COMESA, so we had to get 3rd party insurance from one of these guys, who all carry a sort of official looking book with carbon copies and they can issue 3rd party liability insurance for 30 days with just a few vehicle details, and $20 USD. The needing the insurance isn’t bad, but the hassling and jockeying these guys do to get your business is annoying. We picked a guy with bright red pants, and in 10 minutes we were done, in a new country and ready to set out exploring.

 

 

 

 

Logistical Notes:

-The Landmark Hotel “camping” in Tukuyu was a serviceable place to stay, but frankly not that great. In retrospect I wish we had stayed at the Bongo Community Camp just north of there. It might be a little funky, but at least it’d probably be a little more interesting.

-Lukwe Lodge camping was really beautiful, and their spot is nice. The campsites are pretty close together so it might get a little cramped if they were full. There was also only one toilet (long drop, but really clean and nice) and it wasn’t quite as private as I would have preferred, so again if they were full that might be an issue for some. Lukwe was also very quiet, actually too quiet for us. The Mushroom Farm, about 1.5km down the road, had campsites with views and some more people, but it might actually might swing the other way, a little too hectic and backpacker like. What can I say, we’re hard to please. Both spots are great, really you can’t go wrong.

-Kande Beach is really geared towards overland busses, but contrary to some reviews on iOverlander there were separate ablutions for self drive campers, so the toilets and showers were not overrun. A few of the overland bus campers were using “our” bathroom, but it was totally fine for us.