wildside
Pack Dog
][size=14pt]SQUARING THE CIRCLE ~ The Lake of Stars
....Malawi , Tanzania, Mozambique.... DECEMBER 2018[/i][/size]
The idea of riding all the way around Lake Malawi from the southern shores of Malawi, up through Tanzania down to the eastern shore of the now Lake Nyasa and into Mozambique continuing down the eastern shore of the same Lago Niassa had been on our minds for about 3 years now but there was always some reason why we couldn’t pull it off. However, finally our plans were in motion with the intention of actually doing this trip. We dangled the carrot for our daughter, Roxy, whose first adventure ride was to Kubu Island in 2016. https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=192841.msg3566810#msg3566810
To our delight she grabbed the opportunity to keep us company and participate in this ride. Once she had booked her tickets from the Netherlands, confirming her decision, we knew that this adventure was now for real!
Hopefully some readers will find my account of our ride around the lake of interest. I have called it ‘Squaring the Circle’ as it was by no means an impossible ride but at some stages it seemed fairly improbable that we would complete the circle.
“ You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by...
Teach your children well...
And feed them on your dreams.... ” Graham Nash
Believe it or not we had done a lot of preparation for this trip. We tried our best to ‘Google’ other people’s travels around Lake Malawi but information and experiences were not available. The adventure riding sites and 4x4 travel forums also came up with nothing. The info may have been there but we couldn’t find anything that would help us in planning our route down the eastern side of the ‘Lake of Stars’ ...as David Livingston once referred to it.
We worked with ‘open street maps’ and Google Earth when plotting our route as close to the eastern shores as possible. So the roads were there and we managed to connect all the villages we were passing through. We tried to keep off the main roads by finding the shortest route. After many frustrating weeks of plotting we tweaked it to the point where we could ‘fly’ the route on Google Earth. We did it...we had our route and it was doable!
Above is the the Map of the 585 km long Rift Valley Lake Malawi which is split between Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. It is the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world by volume and the nineth largest lake in the world by area.
The route we originally planned is the grey route and the blue is the actual route completed. At times I have had to fill in the route manually as the GPS would have been off to save batteries or perhaps the batteries were flat.
Our recently replaced Honda XR 650’s were sporting new back tyres and were ready to take on the new African terrain. Roxy’s bike was a newly purchased old Honda 200 R, with electric start. The only work done on it was a service, a luggage rack and a long range tank – probably worth more than the bike. So the trailer and bikes were also ready to roll.
The distance was just too far for us to ride these small bikes to Malawi so we would be trailering the bikes to Cape Maclear – southern shores o Lake Malawi. Once again we had made arrangements with Geoff and Karin from Fat Monkey’s to leave the Hilux and trailer there until our return.
We were fully aware that it was the wet season up there as we had experienced it 7 years ago when ‘Riding the Rift’ ( https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=90093.msg1774124#msg1774124 ) but December is the only time we have available to take time off work so we were prepared for wet and muddy conditions....or so we thought!
“Since we can rarely foresee the consequences of anything you do, you may as well do it.” W.H.Austen
THURSDAY 13 DECEMBER 2018
HOWICK (KZN) to CAPE MACLEAR – MALAWI : 2627 Km
“ I’m going up the country, babe don’t you want to go
I’m going to some place I’ve never been before
I’m going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump into the water, stay drunk all the time.” Canned Heat
It was so good to see Roxy again. She had arrived the previous afternoon and still had some final packing to do so there was a lot of last minute fussing. Preparing for this trip took up a lot of time and by the time we left at 4 am I was physically and mentally exhausted. Sitting in a vehicle doing nothing, except talking, for the next two days was just what I needed.
Roxy fighting off boredom.
Catching up with Roxy added some excitement and humour to our trip. We chatted so much along the way that we enjoyed very little sleep. We entered Swaziland at Lavumusa border Post and had no problems there. It was very quiet. We assumed that all the trucks had started using the new road via Kosi Bay to Maputo.
Our cross over from Swaziland into Mozambique was a drama. It was very quiet here and it appeared that we were the only tourists. As usual the ‘runners’ were immediately indicating where we should park. We ignored the guy who, never the less, insisted on sticking close to us. After getting out passports stamped at Immigrations we moved over to Customs where the officer behind the counter gave the ‘runner’ the forms to complete. When we gave him the genuine value of the vehicle, trailer and 3 bikes he insisted on making them lower as he said we would have to pay R 25 000 for our TIP (Temporary Import Permit) if we gave the real value. We knew this was nonsense and realised this was the starting process of a bribe. Regardless we left the form as he had filled it in and went back to the vehicle. Here he asked for his money. Kingsley offered him R 100 which he immediately declined and requested more because he had saved us a lot of money. It ended up in a loud disagreement and Kingsley being told to keep his voice down. In the meantime we had found the number for the SA Embassy in Maputo and informed them we were making the call. There was no reply, however, Roxy made out that she was having a conversation with them. Kingsley returned inside, was given another form by the officer, completed it with the genuine values, handed it back and walked out without further adieu and no payments made. This incident just left us feeling so rattled and had wasted an hour of our time.
A snatch of local village life in Mozambique
I couldn't get enough of all the bright colours of the materials and wares
By the time we reached Maputo it was late afternoon and we slowly worked our way out of the hustle and bustle and headed north...more time wasted. We were all tired by now as we had been on the road for over 12 hours. Xai- Xai was our choice for an overnight stop. It was late evening when we arrived at the backpackers and badly timed with a power failure. The light of the torch was enough to put me off the place and the lack of secure parking confirmed our decision to look elsewhere. Further down the road was the campsite. This was also a poor choice. We decided it was safer to just travel through the night. Lack of tourism to these areas has taken its toll on these resorts. What was once a thriving holiday destination is now a rundown and forgotten part of Xai-Xai.
We took turns to sleep and drive. This stretch of road is so long and fortunately the condition of the road up to Vilanculos was very good which made for safe driving in the dark but there after it was a shocking road. The left over tar road was so badly potholed that it was wiser to use the gravel section of road on either side. This reduced our travelling speed a great deal and the 403 km to Inchope was frustratingly slow. The scary part about this section were the huge trucks that thundered and bounced towards us and from behind encouraging us to go faster. The poor trailer bounced and jolted around behind us but the bikes were firmly strapped down and didn’t create a problem.
These narrow roads made it difficult to over take.
Now these guys know how to pack!!
Somewhere along the way the trailer finally objected to the hectic roads and popped a tyre. Thanks to the truck behind us indicating that something was amiss we were made aware of a flat. Damn.... more time wasted!
Roxy took this opportunity to entertain some local kiddies
Getting the punctured tyre repaired.
Heading up towards Tete we decided we had to stop for the night otherwise we would just have to sleep at the Mozambique/Malawi border post and besides we were too exhausted to travel further.
While Kingsley was sleeping Roxy and I found our way to some accommodation in Tete along the shores of the mighty Zambezi River. What a relief to arrive here, have a shower, freshen up and have a good night’s sleep.
We left after breakfast the following morning.
The impressive Zambezi River...and the impressive Hondas :thumleft:
One of the bridges crossing over the Zambezi
Tete to Zobue (Mozambique/Malawi border post) was another 122 km which should take us about 2 hours but after finding a fuel station, filling up, buying coffee and the bad road conditions delayed us a lot.
Another typical day in a Mozambique village
Arriving at the Mozambique/Malawi border post at 9.45 am
Exiting Mozambique was no problem at all as we slipped through any little gap we could find to pass the extended line of trucks snaking down the road and get closer to the border post.
Once again we ignored the ‘runners’ or 'dobadobas', as they are sometimes referred to, at the Malawi border post and paid a high price in regards to time for it.
I think this sign is purely for show...as the 'dobadobas' are plentiful.
We thought we were so cool in getting all our paperwork done, TIP sorted and Innoculation certificates checked and on departing were informed that, unlike Mozambique, each motorbike had to have its own TIP. So after 2 hours, USD80 poorer ($20 per bike and vehicle) and 40 000 Malawian Kwacha ( 10 000 MWK per vehicle for road tax - about ZAR190 each) later we breathed a sigh of relief and rolled into Malawi (+/-ZAR 1300). This was now our third day of travelling.
About 10km down the road we were stopped by the police and documents checked. They refused to accept our insurance. We were covered by our personal insurance which was accepted at the border post. So we had to turn around and head back to the border post. I went to the kind ladies who did our TIP’s and she laughed and said they had to accept it and promptly stamped and signed it. This worked and once again we set off in the direction of the lake. It was such a relief to have finally arrived in Malawi.
It’s a scenic route to the lake and it was good to see the familiar little villages and the friendly folk.
The locals trying to make money from selling bags of coal....a very familiar sight all along the way
These chaps were in no hurry to moooove along.
The result of heavy rains was starting to become obvious as all along the road we could see vast expanses of water. The rains had arrived early this year.
It was evening by the time we completed our third full day of travelling, and with relief, entered through the welcoming gates of Fat Monkeys.
We now had the opportunity to celebrate Kingsleys 60th birthday - what was left of it. After a delicious meal of fried kampango, (a critically endangered species of fresh water catfish endemic to Lake Malawi) we enjoyed the cake which the chef had kindly made for the occasion. Had we known then that kampango was endangered we certainly wouldn’t have eaten it.
CHEERS ~ TO OUR ADVENTURE :ricky:
....Malawi , Tanzania, Mozambique.... DECEMBER 2018[/i][/size]
The idea of riding all the way around Lake Malawi from the southern shores of Malawi, up through Tanzania down to the eastern shore of the now Lake Nyasa and into Mozambique continuing down the eastern shore of the same Lago Niassa had been on our minds for about 3 years now but there was always some reason why we couldn’t pull it off. However, finally our plans were in motion with the intention of actually doing this trip. We dangled the carrot for our daughter, Roxy, whose first adventure ride was to Kubu Island in 2016. https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=192841.msg3566810#msg3566810
To our delight she grabbed the opportunity to keep us company and participate in this ride. Once she had booked her tickets from the Netherlands, confirming her decision, we knew that this adventure was now for real!
Hopefully some readers will find my account of our ride around the lake of interest. I have called it ‘Squaring the Circle’ as it was by no means an impossible ride but at some stages it seemed fairly improbable that we would complete the circle.
“ You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by...
Teach your children well...
And feed them on your dreams.... ” Graham Nash
Believe it or not we had done a lot of preparation for this trip. We tried our best to ‘Google’ other people’s travels around Lake Malawi but information and experiences were not available. The adventure riding sites and 4x4 travel forums also came up with nothing. The info may have been there but we couldn’t find anything that would help us in planning our route down the eastern side of the ‘Lake of Stars’ ...as David Livingston once referred to it.
We worked with ‘open street maps’ and Google Earth when plotting our route as close to the eastern shores as possible. So the roads were there and we managed to connect all the villages we were passing through. We tried to keep off the main roads by finding the shortest route. After many frustrating weeks of plotting we tweaked it to the point where we could ‘fly’ the route on Google Earth. We did it...we had our route and it was doable!
Above is the the Map of the 585 km long Rift Valley Lake Malawi which is split between Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. It is the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world by volume and the nineth largest lake in the world by area.
The route we originally planned is the grey route and the blue is the actual route completed. At times I have had to fill in the route manually as the GPS would have been off to save batteries or perhaps the batteries were flat.
Our recently replaced Honda XR 650’s were sporting new back tyres and were ready to take on the new African terrain. Roxy’s bike was a newly purchased old Honda 200 R, with electric start. The only work done on it was a service, a luggage rack and a long range tank – probably worth more than the bike. So the trailer and bikes were also ready to roll.
The distance was just too far for us to ride these small bikes to Malawi so we would be trailering the bikes to Cape Maclear – southern shores o Lake Malawi. Once again we had made arrangements with Geoff and Karin from Fat Monkey’s to leave the Hilux and trailer there until our return.
We were fully aware that it was the wet season up there as we had experienced it 7 years ago when ‘Riding the Rift’ ( https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=90093.msg1774124#msg1774124 ) but December is the only time we have available to take time off work so we were prepared for wet and muddy conditions....or so we thought!
“Since we can rarely foresee the consequences of anything you do, you may as well do it.” W.H.Austen
THURSDAY 13 DECEMBER 2018
HOWICK (KZN) to CAPE MACLEAR – MALAWI : 2627 Km
“ I’m going up the country, babe don’t you want to go
I’m going to some place I’ve never been before
I’m going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump into the water, stay drunk all the time.” Canned Heat
It was so good to see Roxy again. She had arrived the previous afternoon and still had some final packing to do so there was a lot of last minute fussing. Preparing for this trip took up a lot of time and by the time we left at 4 am I was physically and mentally exhausted. Sitting in a vehicle doing nothing, except talking, for the next two days was just what I needed.
Roxy fighting off boredom.
Catching up with Roxy added some excitement and humour to our trip. We chatted so much along the way that we enjoyed very little sleep. We entered Swaziland at Lavumusa border Post and had no problems there. It was very quiet. We assumed that all the trucks had started using the new road via Kosi Bay to Maputo.
Our cross over from Swaziland into Mozambique was a drama. It was very quiet here and it appeared that we were the only tourists. As usual the ‘runners’ were immediately indicating where we should park. We ignored the guy who, never the less, insisted on sticking close to us. After getting out passports stamped at Immigrations we moved over to Customs where the officer behind the counter gave the ‘runner’ the forms to complete. When we gave him the genuine value of the vehicle, trailer and 3 bikes he insisted on making them lower as he said we would have to pay R 25 000 for our TIP (Temporary Import Permit) if we gave the real value. We knew this was nonsense and realised this was the starting process of a bribe. Regardless we left the form as he had filled it in and went back to the vehicle. Here he asked for his money. Kingsley offered him R 100 which he immediately declined and requested more because he had saved us a lot of money. It ended up in a loud disagreement and Kingsley being told to keep his voice down. In the meantime we had found the number for the SA Embassy in Maputo and informed them we were making the call. There was no reply, however, Roxy made out that she was having a conversation with them. Kingsley returned inside, was given another form by the officer, completed it with the genuine values, handed it back and walked out without further adieu and no payments made. This incident just left us feeling so rattled and had wasted an hour of our time.
A snatch of local village life in Mozambique
I couldn't get enough of all the bright colours of the materials and wares
By the time we reached Maputo it was late afternoon and we slowly worked our way out of the hustle and bustle and headed north...more time wasted. We were all tired by now as we had been on the road for over 12 hours. Xai- Xai was our choice for an overnight stop. It was late evening when we arrived at the backpackers and badly timed with a power failure. The light of the torch was enough to put me off the place and the lack of secure parking confirmed our decision to look elsewhere. Further down the road was the campsite. This was also a poor choice. We decided it was safer to just travel through the night. Lack of tourism to these areas has taken its toll on these resorts. What was once a thriving holiday destination is now a rundown and forgotten part of Xai-Xai.
We took turns to sleep and drive. This stretch of road is so long and fortunately the condition of the road up to Vilanculos was very good which made for safe driving in the dark but there after it was a shocking road. The left over tar road was so badly potholed that it was wiser to use the gravel section of road on either side. This reduced our travelling speed a great deal and the 403 km to Inchope was frustratingly slow. The scary part about this section were the huge trucks that thundered and bounced towards us and from behind encouraging us to go faster. The poor trailer bounced and jolted around behind us but the bikes were firmly strapped down and didn’t create a problem.
These narrow roads made it difficult to over take.
Now these guys know how to pack!!
Somewhere along the way the trailer finally objected to the hectic roads and popped a tyre. Thanks to the truck behind us indicating that something was amiss we were made aware of a flat. Damn.... more time wasted!
Roxy took this opportunity to entertain some local kiddies
Getting the punctured tyre repaired.
Heading up towards Tete we decided we had to stop for the night otherwise we would just have to sleep at the Mozambique/Malawi border post and besides we were too exhausted to travel further.
While Kingsley was sleeping Roxy and I found our way to some accommodation in Tete along the shores of the mighty Zambezi River. What a relief to arrive here, have a shower, freshen up and have a good night’s sleep.
We left after breakfast the following morning.
The impressive Zambezi River...and the impressive Hondas :thumleft:
One of the bridges crossing over the Zambezi
Tete to Zobue (Mozambique/Malawi border post) was another 122 km which should take us about 2 hours but after finding a fuel station, filling up, buying coffee and the bad road conditions delayed us a lot.
Another typical day in a Mozambique village
Arriving at the Mozambique/Malawi border post at 9.45 am
Exiting Mozambique was no problem at all as we slipped through any little gap we could find to pass the extended line of trucks snaking down the road and get closer to the border post.
Once again we ignored the ‘runners’ or 'dobadobas', as they are sometimes referred to, at the Malawi border post and paid a high price in regards to time for it.
I think this sign is purely for show...as the 'dobadobas' are plentiful.
We thought we were so cool in getting all our paperwork done, TIP sorted and Innoculation certificates checked and on departing were informed that, unlike Mozambique, each motorbike had to have its own TIP. So after 2 hours, USD80 poorer ($20 per bike and vehicle) and 40 000 Malawian Kwacha ( 10 000 MWK per vehicle for road tax - about ZAR190 each) later we breathed a sigh of relief and rolled into Malawi (+/-ZAR 1300). This was now our third day of travelling.
About 10km down the road we were stopped by the police and documents checked. They refused to accept our insurance. We were covered by our personal insurance which was accepted at the border post. So we had to turn around and head back to the border post. I went to the kind ladies who did our TIP’s and she laughed and said they had to accept it and promptly stamped and signed it. This worked and once again we set off in the direction of the lake. It was such a relief to have finally arrived in Malawi.
It’s a scenic route to the lake and it was good to see the familiar little villages and the friendly folk.
The locals trying to make money from selling bags of coal....a very familiar sight all along the way
These chaps were in no hurry to moooove along.
The result of heavy rains was starting to become obvious as all along the road we could see vast expanses of water. The rains had arrived early this year.
It was evening by the time we completed our third full day of travelling, and with relief, entered through the welcoming gates of Fat Monkeys.
We now had the opportunity to celebrate Kingsleys 60th birthday - what was left of it. After a delicious meal of fried kampango, (a critically endangered species of fresh water catfish endemic to Lake Malawi) we enjoyed the cake which the chef had kindly made for the occasion. Had we known then that kampango was endangered we certainly wouldn’t have eaten it.
CHEERS ~ TO OUR ADVENTURE :ricky:
