Malawi 2026 Day 01: An Explosive Start

And I don’t mean early onset traveller’s diarrhoea! Port Macquarie Airport security, though now relatively benign, invokes my grumpy side - fueled by past encounters with staff who clearly had woken up with a splitting headache, taking it out on me: “take off your shoes; take off your belt; empty your pockets “. Not even at the Israel-Gaza border will you encounter this level of security.
Fortunately, I had almost always managed to escape the sampling station that follows security- Marie invariably took that one, for the team.
This time, however, the dice rolled the wrong way and Marie slipped past untested and the uniformed lady locked her radar on me and, despite some fancy footwork and manoeuvring on my part, I got pulled over and tested.
The testing machine flashed red! Clearly a technical error. But, the red light had triggered a protocol driven response invoked by the highest levels of security in the history of PM airport. The lady tested herself, the “control” test: Green. Now a second test for me: RED again. I had heard stories of people being locked up for less. Two REDs invokes an even higher level of response - shifting eyes and twitching movements and staff getting excited. “Would I prefer a private room for the body search?” “Definitely bloody not!” Do it where there are multiple witnesses.
No explosives found, obviously. But why the positive tests on so innocent a visage?
I had had in mind to take a Biolite stove to give to someone in Malawi. This clever little item is fueled by small sticks and has a built in battery charged by a thermocouple. Thus can be used in a remote environment using easily available fuel to generate power to charge a phone or power a light - perfect for Africa. This stove had been stored a with starter fuel. At the last minute, the time a usually do my packing, I had removed this from my bag, worried more about the restriction on battery power for air travel. Presumably there was enough residue in my bag to trigger the PM Airport security system. Imagine the excitement if they had found the stove in my bag!
The rest of the trip was uneventful.Read more