Malawi- the land of the lake

Malawi. How magic it is to land in a new country with very little idea of what is in store. (Not really new, as I lived here when I was six, but new as far as adult experience goes).

It started well. The immigration process at Lilongwe airport was unusual as we were moved three times to three different queues resulting in four stamps in our passports. The important thing was we got through, and even better, so did our bags. We were met in arrivals by our driver, MacDonald, and shown to our car which was a Toyota 4WD of some description, and looks up to being able to manage Malawi roads. Lovely bonus was a very fancy water bottle as a gift and two bottles of wine.

When I first booked this trip I was going to do it alone, hence the driver. Now Grant has joined me I am still glad of the driver option as it is infinitely more relaxing not being responsible for either driving or navigating.

Today was a big drive north of Lilongwe (Malawi’s capital) to an area called the Viphya Mountains. We were on the main highway north that leads to Tanzania and there were times when it felt like a highway, and others when it was more like a river bed. As it always seems to be in Africa, the road was constantly lined with people on foot, bicycle or on donkey carts, their brightly colored clothes in contrast to the rich red soil of the area. The tiny houses along the way were made from bricks formed from the same red soil.

This, the Central province of Malawi, has rich agricultural land. The main money maker is tobacco, but we saw maize, sunflowers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes,pumpkins, multi colored beans, onions, honey and sugar cane for sale on the road side and at several vibrant markets we passed. Various chickens were also thrust at us hopefully. All the crops appeared to be small holdings although we were told Philip Morris ( the big tobacco company) has some big plantations.

With so much activity road-side the hours passed very easily.

A highlight was passing through the town my grandmother (mums mum) was born in. We called her Dan but her name was Margaret (Peggy) Prentice. The town was Kasungu. It means ‘Place of the Holy People’. Quite a bustling place now. When my grandmother was born her parents were running the mission there. Her dad was a doctor and her mother an opera singer ! Both Scottish.

The other person born in Kasungu was Hastings Banda. He became my great grandmother’s kitchen hand. She soon realized he was a bright lad and arranged for him to access education. My great grandfather also allowed him to sit in and observe some operating sessions when he was older as he’d expressed an interest in medicine. Hastings Banda did well enough to train as a doctor overseas and returned to Malawi to become its first president in 1964 when Malawi declared its independence from the British.

That all sounds quite romantic but sadly he became a bit of a despot, declaring himself President for Life and running Malawi’s already fragile economy into the ground. It was only in the early 1990s that democracy returned and Banda was voted out - a very old man by then. The subsequent Presidents have been a rotating door of people who have yet to do much to improve the lot of their people. The HIV levels here are still terribly high and that’s just one example of the government not dealing with important issues.

The other not so happy place in history played by Kasungu was during the 18th and 19th centuries when it was the centre of slave trading in the region. The space trading was run by the Portuguese who occupied Mozambique at the time. They recruited local tribes to act as their agents and hundreds of thousands of African people in what is now Zambia and Malawi were captured, gathered in Kadungu and then shipped across Lake Malawi to Mozambique and then Europe. Hundreds of thousands were also murdered by the slavers if they weren’t deemed strong enough. It was a terrible time in the history of this region. David Livingstone witnessed it on his travels and made the British public aware. This resulted in huge pressure on the British government to do something- and that is why Nyasaland (as Malawi was called then) became a British protectorate. It was also strategic as it prevented the Portuguese from taking on more of Central Africa. Livingstone also inspired a new generation of Scottish missionaries to travel here at enormous loss of life to set up missions to help protect the local people from the slavers. All four of my great grandparents on my mothers’s side came here as missionaries, and that’s really why I’m here as well. I want to see what they built and better understand their stories.

David Livingstone was married to my great great aunt, a close friend of my great great grandfather and godfather to my great grandfather, Malcolm. Lots of greats :)

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Its mostly rural population of 22 million has a largely subsistence existence. Luckily the good soil and reliable rainy season means there is plenty of food, but the job opportunities are few.

The War We Didn’t Need to Have is particularly devastating for countries like this as they are running out of fuel, and with the huge inflation they have here, the costs of importation means that Malawi’s fuel costs at the moment are only second to Hong Kong (or so I was told tonight by a fellow traveler). Most petrol stations we passed had run out. Luckily our car has two tanks…

Despite the poverty, I was struck with how clean and ordered the villages and towns were. I hardly saw a scrap of litter and the red dirt around the houses and tiny little ramshackle shops was swept and clear. That shows a great sense of pride and dignity. There was also a sense of purpose; even though it’s Sunday today there was plenty of activity. Lots of laughter, social gatherings and just a very good feeling about the place. I love rural African shops and their wonderful names. My favorite today was ‘God Answers. Furniture and Coffins.’

We are in the middle of nowhere tonight surrounded by the biggest man made forest in Africa. The Viphya Mountains are on the Viphya plateau on the divide between North and Central Malawi. It’s a very pretty area with rolling hills and interesting pointed mountains with scattered granite ridges that look like volcanic cores. We are staying at Luwawa Forest Lodge, which was once government owned and then bought by an English couple about 20 years ago. It’s got a tired colonial feel to it, like a pair of comfortable socks. Not luxurious by any means but characterful with interesting people. The dinner tonight was very tasty as was the gin and tonic by the fire before hand. It’s renowned for its birds so we are going out with the bird guide tomorrow at dawn.

The jet lag is manageable so far, as long as I stay busy. I didn’t take any photos today sorry as we arrived in the dark. I do have a couple of shots from the car so you can get a feel but I don’t have good enough Internet to upload them here so they will have to wait.

Thanks for joining me on this new adventure xRead more