Bugs, Spider’s n Things

Chi Sawasawa, that’s spider in Chi Nyanja, the local language. When we walk through the bush, there are hundreds of the big black and white spiders. Their web is yellow and quite tough, not like the webs we are used to in the UK.

I thought I would make a bug list, with a note of sorts about each one and the degree of like/ dislike.

We’ll start with our dislikes and work through to the likes.

Mosquito         They are probably the worst, biting insect. You hear one at night and wonder if it’s inside the net or not.

Tsetse Flies      About the size of a horse fly. Land quietly on your leg or arm and you don t notice until, they have taken a bite. Luckily you can then give a good swat and it’s Adios Mr. Tsetse. It seems that there are no cattle in regions where there are tsetse flies since they spread sleeping sickness to the cattle and they die.

Sweat fly         Very annoying, you are in the bush and its hot, these little guys fly about 2 inches in front of your face, backwards I guess, not harmful but a real annoyance

Ants                 Often on the path, there are many kinds, big and small. The worst are the aggressive ones that immediately climb your legs and bite Eeeee! They leave little blisters.

Spiders             Not nasty to me, there are big ones, small ones, black ones with yellow fringes. My favourites are wall spiders, thin and zoom under anything to hide, or into a crack in the wall. In the bush yesterday we saw a spider on a tree that looked like a piece of lichen.

Earwigs            Big and nasty looking, like something from Alien

Centipedes       Seem to be harmless but look fierce. Amazing, they walk with legs moving in waves.

Millipedes        Similar to centipedes but even more so, very big is some cases.

Grass hoppers  The bush is full of these guys, everything from little green ones like home, to large 2 inch plus flamboyant ones, with coloured wings. This morning I saw a bright red purple one.

Dragon flies     Have now appeared with the rains, all colours, my favourite is red

Butterflies        Seen many, small and large. In the dry season the majority were LBJ, Little Brown Jobbies. J Now we have a range, bright yellow, some blue on top and white with orange lines on the bottom, purple, and my favourite, this amazing blue and orange guy.

Nkwichi in the rain

After 4 days of hot weather and beautiful blue skies with white fluffy clouds we woke to torrential rain. Very welcome as it cools and refreshes!

Yesterday we all had dinner together on Venus beach, Malcolm, Helen and Kiri, Fiona the American volunteer and ourselves. Lightning over the Malawian hills gave a beautiful light show. In the night we heard thunder rolling across the sky. Very different to England where we hear a single clap of thunder. Here it rolls across the sky like train running above the clouds, coming from one direction and rushing past to the other side of the sky.

The next day was our first at the lodge with rain, the cloudy skies mean no power and therefore no PC’s and no internet. Malcolm has taken the boat out on the lake with a laptop and will use wireless dongle from the Malawian TNM network to connect and collect the email .

The internet service has become critical here again, our provider has been warning that the satellite signal level is way too low and that they will have to cut us off.  This has been ongoing for a while and was an issue when we first came in August 2009.

It seems now to have reached a final stage and so yesterday was spent tuning the satellite antenna. We improved the signal a bit but it is still a way off the required level.

The claim was that the antenna was warped but now following some images of the view from the antenna it seems that there may be too many trees around the location. We are still discussing.

Peggy is teaching daily and enjoying it very much. All the staff are so happy that teacher is back, and she has had good feedback on success in training individuals from the other expat managers.

Those who we brought requested items back from the UK for are thrilled with their new acquisitions.

Veronica and Flora with their watches, Flora is so happy!  Every time I see her I ask the time, she loves showing her new watch.

The roof at Songea house has problems, the thatch has come off about a quarter of it. The builders are busy making repairs before more rain comes.  There are small leaks in some of the chalets as well, It seems that there has been so little rain so far this year the rooves have not been properly tested by the water yet. This is important because we have guest arriving tomorrow for one of the leaky chalets.

It is funny to see the local staff walking around with umbrellas, something expected of England!

We sleep well and the food is simple and delicious. We have enough!

Its Friday, we wake to blue skies but the thunder rumbles again. By 7 in the morning the storm is on us, Lighting flashes across the sky, and the rain falls in sheets. Everything is immediately soaked and the paths run like streams. There is no power from the solar cells so again no power or network. The sky is dark and I read a while and enjoy the cool that the rain brings.

Past the Snows of Kilimanjaro, or into the Emerald Season

We woke to a grey and misty morning, breakfasted on fresh white toast with butter and marmalade and a mug of tea for breakfast.

We are relaxed and moving to a more positive feeling as we prepare to leave.  The bus to the airport is warm and comfortable, then I realise that I have forgotten my fleece!  The weather in Malawi is 28 degrees and wet, so I feel I might not need it.

Check in at Heathrow terminal 4 is impeccable, there are no queues for security and by 3.00 we are in the terminal with a coffee.

While we are at the gate we check passport details and realise we have 6 month visas with a 90 day period before we need to leave and re enter Mozambique, this is a real bonus and removes a lot of hassle that we had before where we had a 30 day turnaround requirement.

All the hassle of life in the UK finally falls away as we board and we look forward to arriving in Malawi, the warm heart of Africa tomorrow midday.  We are both looking forward to travelling together and seeing our African friends again as well as seeing the Emerald landscape of the wet season. We wonder what changes have taken place at Nkwichi Lodge.

We are both feeling happy and we are lucky that we enjoy travelling together and experiencing new adventures.

After a gin and tonic and an excellent lamb curry we doze and wake at 5.00 am Nairobi time.  After landing we are immediately immersed in African culture, flights are called to Somalia, Brazzaville, Entebbe, Johannesburg, and Amsterdam.

The airport looks green and pleasant, swallows make low passes in front of the terminal windows and Yellow Billed Kites patrol looking for small mammals on the airport grassed areas.

Tiredness comes in waves as we wait for the flight to Lilongwe via Lusaka.

Finally we board on time, and take off. Immediately we go up through the clouds we see Mount Kilimanjaro to our left, snowy tipped it rises gracefully above the clouds. This view is an unexpected bonus on the flight.

We slept on the flight for a couple of hours and feel much refreshed. As we descend to Lusaka the immediate impression is of a bright green patchwork, very green and fertile, every corner covered with bright green crops.

The flight into Lilongwe was easy and again our landing the bright emerald patchwork was a striking contrast to our previous view of the African landscape.

Clearing immigration was easy and we picked up our bags, always a relief. As we cleared customs we found a driver waiting for us with our name on a board. We thought that the hotel had arranged this, but in the end it seems that the Immigration officer and his taxi driver friend had an enterprising approach to acquiring customers. We did however arrange a good price, and also arranged a trip from Lilongwe to Chipoka at a good rate but more of that tomorrow.

Mufasa Backpackers lodge was great, and we showered and slept and then woke at 7 for a meal and then slept again. (We had made sure phones worked and emails were sent) We also looked at the published timetable for the Ilala and discovered it was incorrect; the correct departure time was 4.00 pm. We were lucky we went for the earlier time ensuring that we hadn’t missed the boat (literally!)

As we left Lilongwe we saw a sight, never seen before, a man wearing nothing but a cardboard box around his waist. Never seen anything like it before, it seems he was a known “crazy”

As we drove from Lilongwe to Chipoka the lush crops contrasted dramatically with our earlier memories of the landscape.

Our taxi driver was very pleasant and we arrived with about an hour to spare. Sadly for him as we arrived his driver side front wheel bearing shattered and ball bearings were liberally strewn on the concrete around the wheel of the car. My heart went out to the guy as we boarded the boat and settled down for a relaxing cruise on the lake. We were amazingly lucky that the bearing had lasted to get us to the dockside. We could have been stuck halfway between Lilongwe and Chipoka.  Our luck and foresight had gotten us to Chipoka, with an hour to spare before we were to catch the ferry.

We had chosen to board the Ilala at Chipoka because they have a dock, so we wouldn’t have to climb in and out of the Ilala lighters.  As it turned out the water level in the lake was too low and there wasn’t enough water for the Ilala to dock so we ended up clambering down ladders with our multitude of bags, and then back up to board the Ilala. Fortunately everyone was helpful and the bags were transferred easily and quickly.

Travel on the Ilala was uneventful and quiet. We sat on deck enjoying the evening sun with a bottle of Carlsberg “green” in our hand. The boat was quiet and strangely empty compared to earlier journeys.  We ate a delicious beef curry with rice and slept early on deck, under the African sky and stars, the air warm and still.

We woke at about 6:30 to a heavy rain shower, and quickly moved our gear under a permanent shelter by the bar.  After 30 minutes the rain cleared and we continued to sail to Metangula, where we loaded and unloaded passengers, and then on too Likoma Island.

We are both happy to be back in Africa, we have felt the stress and pressure of the UK slip away and we have relaxed and felt a peace come over us as we travel.  We are both very lucky to enjoy travel and each other’s company so much. We have become used to the African way, and are happy to travel on local buses and minibuses, we meet great local people and as long as the accommodation has a comfortable bed and a shower we are satisfied.  I am sure that travelling in this way we experience much more of the local people and their lives.