OH MALAWI
Have spent the last four days deep in the heart of Malawi. OH MALAWI.
Sunset from Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi.
Arrived at the Joburg airport on the 19th to catch my flight to Lilongwe. Spent about 30 minutes looking for the Air Malawi check-in counter. I asked person after person and was told "It's this way." Then, "It's that way." Eventually figured out that the flight didn't actually exist and that "They should have told you." Yeah. Long story short, I guess I have become accustomed to AST and the African Way; I made the best of the worst and ended up in Blantyre early the next day. My friends Beth and Jeremy had planned a 4-day tour of Malawi for me and were able to reverse the route of the trip in order to pick me up in a different city.
As we were descending in the plane I had a fantastic view of red dirt roads and little grass huts from my spacious first-class seat. (Malawians are genuinely surprised and pleased when a Westerner doesn't bust a fuse when things don't go as planned.) We were rapidly dropping down from out of the clouds and into an even thicker mist when suddenly it felt like were getting some lift. As we were only a few hundred feet (if that) above the ground we rapidly started revving the engine and lifting back up into the sky.
The two business men across the aisle from me started laughing as the pilot came over the loudspeaker to announce, "Well, folks, we have had a missed landing due to the thick cloudcover and lack of visibility. We will circle back around to try it once more; if we can't land safely we will be diverting to Lilongwe."
All I am thinking, is why all the fuss, what about the radar???!!! (Turns out Malawi's airports don't have radar. Go figure.) I decide I am either going to cry or I am going to pray. Well, what I did worked and we made the landing on the second try. My friends were relieved; after packing up their Land Cruiser and driving on horrible roads at breakneck speeds for like 4 hours, they certainly weren't about to turn around and go back.
Turns out that the Blantyre airport is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. I wasn't able to see this coming in due to the mist; of course, neither were the pilots, thus the difficulties. The South African Airways pilots hate the Blantyre airstrip due to the sheer insanity of its design. The pilots of Air Malawi, however, train on this airstrip and the training has obviously paid off as our eventual landing was quite smooth.
So after I have been here a total of 4 days I feel like a real expert. I can tell you some interesting facts I have picked up:
1. It is possible to camp and snorkel on the most beautiful lake beach you have ever seen with the most incredible fish imaginable (more species of freshwater fish than any lake in the world) for only 45 Kwacha a day (about 33 cents US).
2. Dinner for 6 prepared, plated, and brought to you at your campsite consisting of freshly caught fish, rice, and a chumbawumba-type sauce is only about 120 Kwacha (about $ 8.78 USD). IT IS INCREDIBLE.
3. On the flip side, 20% of all children in Malawi die before reaching age 5.
4. Young men living in the fishing village on Cape MacClear LOVE Rotary International tee-shirts, caps, jackets, as well as watches, shampoo, bras, and more and will give you lots and lots of lucky bead necklaces for all of the above.
5. It is very surreal to walk through the village watching all of the young men wearing your used clothes.
6. Men and women here can carry A LOT of firewood on their heads while walking barefoot or in flip-flops up and down one of the highest plateaus in Central Africa.
7. The entire Malawian phone book is about 3/4 of an inch thick.
8. There are no movie theaters in the entire country.
9. When visiting Cape MacClear, you must be careful because before you know it you will have traded all of your belongings (where is my watch?), spent all of your money, and overstayed your visa.
10. Although there was recently a several year famine in Malawi, crops seem to be coming in right now in relative abundance. Haven't yet tried the maize, but I can tell you that you haven't lived until you have driven on a mountain or floated in the lake while eating freshly harvested Malawian raspberries, gooseberries, sugar cane and grenadillas.
11. Thighs to Malawians are like breasts to Westerners. You have to get used to being eyed when you meander through the village accompanied by young male villagers wearing only your by-Western-standards-conservative swimsuit with matching mid-thigh length mini-skirt that you are very grateful you purchased for your African trip.
12. Be careful when walking on Zomba in the mist. You could fall off the edge of the plateau never to be heard from again.
13. The smell of cedar on Zomba is unlike anything you have ever smelled before.
Again, I LOVE AFRICA.
Sunset from Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi.
Arrived at the Joburg airport on the 19th to catch my flight to Lilongwe. Spent about 30 minutes looking for the Air Malawi check-in counter. I asked person after person and was told "It's this way." Then, "It's that way." Eventually figured out that the flight didn't actually exist and that "They should have told you." Yeah. Long story short, I guess I have become accustomed to AST and the African Way; I made the best of the worst and ended up in Blantyre early the next day. My friends Beth and Jeremy had planned a 4-day tour of Malawi for me and were able to reverse the route of the trip in order to pick me up in a different city.
As we were descending in the plane I had a fantastic view of red dirt roads and little grass huts from my spacious first-class seat. (Malawians are genuinely surprised and pleased when a Westerner doesn't bust a fuse when things don't go as planned.) We were rapidly dropping down from out of the clouds and into an even thicker mist when suddenly it felt like were getting some lift. As we were only a few hundred feet (if that) above the ground we rapidly started revving the engine and lifting back up into the sky.
The two business men across the aisle from me started laughing as the pilot came over the loudspeaker to announce, "Well, folks, we have had a missed landing due to the thick cloudcover and lack of visibility. We will circle back around to try it once more; if we can't land safely we will be diverting to Lilongwe."
All I am thinking, is why all the fuss, what about the radar???!!! (Turns out Malawi's airports don't have radar. Go figure.) I decide I am either going to cry or I am going to pray. Well, what I did worked and we made the landing on the second try. My friends were relieved; after packing up their Land Cruiser and driving on horrible roads at breakneck speeds for like 4 hours, they certainly weren't about to turn around and go back.
Turns out that the Blantyre airport is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. I wasn't able to see this coming in due to the mist; of course, neither were the pilots, thus the difficulties. The South African Airways pilots hate the Blantyre airstrip due to the sheer insanity of its design. The pilots of Air Malawi, however, train on this airstrip and the training has obviously paid off as our eventual landing was quite smooth.
So after I have been here a total of 4 days I feel like a real expert. I can tell you some interesting facts I have picked up:
1. It is possible to camp and snorkel on the most beautiful lake beach you have ever seen with the most incredible fish imaginable (more species of freshwater fish than any lake in the world) for only 45 Kwacha a day (about 33 cents US).
2. Dinner for 6 prepared, plated, and brought to you at your campsite consisting of freshly caught fish, rice, and a chumbawumba-type sauce is only about 120 Kwacha (about $ 8.78 USD). IT IS INCREDIBLE.
3. On the flip side, 20% of all children in Malawi die before reaching age 5.
4. Young men living in the fishing village on Cape MacClear LOVE Rotary International tee-shirts, caps, jackets, as well as watches, shampoo, bras, and more and will give you lots and lots of lucky bead necklaces for all of the above.
5. It is very surreal to walk through the village watching all of the young men wearing your used clothes.
6. Men and women here can carry A LOT of firewood on their heads while walking barefoot or in flip-flops up and down one of the highest plateaus in Central Africa.
7. The entire Malawian phone book is about 3/4 of an inch thick.
8. There are no movie theaters in the entire country.
9. When visiting Cape MacClear, you must be careful because before you know it you will have traded all of your belongings (where is my watch?), spent all of your money, and overstayed your visa.
10. Although there was recently a several year famine in Malawi, crops seem to be coming in right now in relative abundance. Haven't yet tried the maize, but I can tell you that you haven't lived until you have driven on a mountain or floated in the lake while eating freshly harvested Malawian raspberries, gooseberries, sugar cane and grenadillas.
11. Thighs to Malawians are like breasts to Westerners. You have to get used to being eyed when you meander through the village accompanied by young male villagers wearing only your by-Western-standards-conservative swimsuit with matching mid-thigh length mini-skirt that you are very grateful you purchased for your African trip.
12. Be careful when walking on Zomba in the mist. You could fall off the edge of the plateau never to be heard from again.
13. The smell of cedar on Zomba is unlike anything you have ever smelled before.
Again, I LOVE AFRICA.
posted by Julep | 10:47 PM
2 Comments:
Great description and excellent observations. I made 3 extended trips to Malawi in 2003 as an energy consultant for the World Bank. What an amazing place, mainly due to the kindness of the people.
Thanks for sharing, you make us Rotarians proud
Hilmar Zeissig
International Co-Chairman, Rotary District 5890
Isn't it amazing? When I first heard that Malawi was known as the "Warm Heart of Africa" I thought it was pretty overly sentimental and unrealistic. But after my short visit there, I can't imagine a phrase that sums it up better.
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