Gee eS
Race Dog
What a report!! It must have been an awsome ride. Well done
Niassa, Chucky Norris and John the Baptist.
- Thread starter Metaljockey
- Start date
Mark Hardy
Grey Hound
ok now I'm going back to the begining to enjoy it all over again. ;D
Thanks for sharing guys :thumleft: absolutly awsome RR
Thanks for sharing guys :thumleft: absolutly awsome RR
Metaljockey
Race Dog
I added a couple of pictures to the last post if you want to check it out.
On the countryside.
Being the last month of the dry season, one can expect that the place might be a little unpretty. And so it was, but really, the locals decimate large swathes of land. They burn to get access, and then they clearcut. I have pointed out before how they cut for sustainability, but you have to see the extent of the cutting to appreciate it. It took me by surprise because I expected wilderness.
This is the last major trip I do in the dry season. I'm gatvol of everything being dry, dusty and grey. Next time I'll rather try for the end of the rainy season.
On the population
These people are poor, really poor. You will notice that there aren't as many pics of the locals as I normally include. This is because not too many of them were friendly or smiling. Don't get me wrong, no-one was unfriendly, I just got the feeling that happiness was a scarce commodity here.
It appeared to be very much a hand to mouth existence. What commerce we saw was the very basic, stone age, live from the land type thing. Cutting trees for house building and charcoal, cutting grass for roofing, that kind of thing.
The trees are cut into logs which gets transported one by one on bicycles. Often we would come across a lone oke pushing his bicycle along the path 200km from the nearest town.
The second use for the logs is charcoal.
Again transported by bicycle.
In a lot of faces you could see that surviving was the sole activity that this human being was consumed with. It got to me a little. Poverty is everywhere in Africa, but here it was different to any other place I had been to.
On the trip
I am loathe to bring this up, but one has to be honest. I have no intention of writing fiction.
I was dissapointed with this trip. Ja, I know, you are thinking 'what a doos'.
It was like I was waiting for the real trip to start the whole time. I have tried to figure out why it did not work for me.
It could be the immense poverty that made it depressing.
It could be that the mindfuck of an Angolan trip spoiled me forever.
It could be that my expectations of the wildlife wasn't met.
It could be that not completing the trip by reaching the ocean made it feel inadequate.
It could be that it was too short.
It could be that it was too easy, there is nothing like a bit of suffering to make you feel accomplished.
It could be all of the above.
My wife said something that sounds about right though. Not all trips can be the best one ever. Like anything else in life there are going to be good ones and less good ones (can't really picture a bad one).
And so it is OK. I'm cool with it. It was still very memorable and I enjoyed it.
On expats
In Malawi we got to meet a good many of the expat community. Most of them know each other even though they may be scattered through the country. I liked every single one I met. Tanya, Maria, Kate, Mia, Julie, Dan, Jurie and many others that I do not recall the names of. There are of course a couple of odd ones, but like any small society, their quirks do not exclude them. They are a tolerant lot. I could see myself having a good life there. I was also surprised about the amount of young white girls just migrating around Zim, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia by themselves, finding a job at one place, staying a year or so and then moving on again. And they party hard when they get together.
Some arbitrary pics
This oke makes probably the best wooden cars trucks and excavating equipment in Africa. All of them have moving parts. Fascinating.
Here's his workshop. Hard to believe eh?
Taxi
Bike taxi
Local delicacy, birds on a stick.
At the odd village we would find boreholes like this.
This plaque is on each one. Looks like some biker connection?
Just for you sweat in the sun tyre lever specialists.
Yes that's a plug. Yes on a 640 tyre. Tubeless baby, tubeless. Or more correctly Tubliss. I've converted three of my bikes so far. Fantastic stuff, cannot stop myself smiling like I won the lottery everytime I fix a flat.
And a last Malawi pic, because it's pretty.
These weeks were not wasted time. We brought back memories, we brought back pictures, I brought back bilharzia and Hennie brought back malaria.
And I brought back an excellent idea for a new trip. Woohoo.
Oh, I almost forgot about John the Baptist.
We drop Brian in Blantyre to catch a flight and we stay over at Doogles. Doogles is a backpackers situated in a taxi rank. Thursdays are the unofficial party day there for expats. We are there on a Thursday. Big get together of locals, expats and overlanders, socializing and drinking till late. The owner of Doogles allow prostitutes (ugly word, there should be something better) on the premises. They are well behaved because if they are not, their priviledges are revoked. Some pretty ones too.
One of these girls, introduces herself as Sugar, or 'Shooogah' (in a husky voice). This ample bodied, very dark, heavily made up femme fatale (with no concept of personal space) leaves me speechless when she hotly breathes - "You look exactly like John the Baptist".
John the Baptist!
Me?
And there you have it, one man's Chucky Norris is another woman's John the Baptist
On the countryside.
Being the last month of the dry season, one can expect that the place might be a little unpretty. And so it was, but really, the locals decimate large swathes of land. They burn to get access, and then they clearcut. I have pointed out before how they cut for sustainability, but you have to see the extent of the cutting to appreciate it. It took me by surprise because I expected wilderness.
This is the last major trip I do in the dry season. I'm gatvol of everything being dry, dusty and grey. Next time I'll rather try for the end of the rainy season.
On the population
These people are poor, really poor. You will notice that there aren't as many pics of the locals as I normally include. This is because not too many of them were friendly or smiling. Don't get me wrong, no-one was unfriendly, I just got the feeling that happiness was a scarce commodity here.
It appeared to be very much a hand to mouth existence. What commerce we saw was the very basic, stone age, live from the land type thing. Cutting trees for house building and charcoal, cutting grass for roofing, that kind of thing.
The trees are cut into logs which gets transported one by one on bicycles. Often we would come across a lone oke pushing his bicycle along the path 200km from the nearest town.
The second use for the logs is charcoal.
Again transported by bicycle.
In a lot of faces you could see that surviving was the sole activity that this human being was consumed with. It got to me a little. Poverty is everywhere in Africa, but here it was different to any other place I had been to.
On the trip
I am loathe to bring this up, but one has to be honest. I have no intention of writing fiction.
I was dissapointed with this trip. Ja, I know, you are thinking 'what a doos'.
It was like I was waiting for the real trip to start the whole time. I have tried to figure out why it did not work for me.
It could be the immense poverty that made it depressing.
It could be that the mindfuck of an Angolan trip spoiled me forever.
It could be that my expectations of the wildlife wasn't met.
It could be that not completing the trip by reaching the ocean made it feel inadequate.
It could be that it was too short.
It could be that it was too easy, there is nothing like a bit of suffering to make you feel accomplished.
It could be all of the above.
My wife said something that sounds about right though. Not all trips can be the best one ever. Like anything else in life there are going to be good ones and less good ones (can't really picture a bad one).
And so it is OK. I'm cool with it. It was still very memorable and I enjoyed it.
On expats
In Malawi we got to meet a good many of the expat community. Most of them know each other even though they may be scattered through the country. I liked every single one I met. Tanya, Maria, Kate, Mia, Julie, Dan, Jurie and many others that I do not recall the names of. There are of course a couple of odd ones, but like any small society, their quirks do not exclude them. They are a tolerant lot. I could see myself having a good life there. I was also surprised about the amount of young white girls just migrating around Zim, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia by themselves, finding a job at one place, staying a year or so and then moving on again. And they party hard when they get together.
Some arbitrary pics
This oke makes probably the best wooden cars trucks and excavating equipment in Africa. All of them have moving parts. Fascinating.
Here's his workshop. Hard to believe eh?
Taxi
Bike taxi
Local delicacy, birds on a stick.
At the odd village we would find boreholes like this.
This plaque is on each one. Looks like some biker connection?
Just for you sweat in the sun tyre lever specialists.
Yes that's a plug. Yes on a 640 tyre. Tubeless baby, tubeless. Or more correctly Tubliss. I've converted three of my bikes so far. Fantastic stuff, cannot stop myself smiling like I won the lottery everytime I fix a flat.
And a last Malawi pic, because it's pretty.
These weeks were not wasted time. We brought back memories, we brought back pictures, I brought back bilharzia and Hennie brought back malaria.
And I brought back an excellent idea for a new trip. Woohoo.
Oh, I almost forgot about John the Baptist.
We drop Brian in Blantyre to catch a flight and we stay over at Doogles. Doogles is a backpackers situated in a taxi rank. Thursdays are the unofficial party day there for expats. We are there on a Thursday. Big get together of locals, expats and overlanders, socializing and drinking till late. The owner of Doogles allow prostitutes (ugly word, there should be something better) on the premises. They are well behaved because if they are not, their priviledges are revoked. Some pretty ones too.
One of these girls, introduces herself as Sugar, or 'Shooogah' (in a husky voice). This ample bodied, very dark, heavily made up femme fatale (with no concept of personal space) leaves me speechless when she hotly breathes - "You look exactly like John the Baptist".
John the Baptist!
Me?
And there you have it, one man's Chucky Norris is another woman's John the Baptist
Trailrider
Bachelor Dog
Bwaaaaahahahaha!
Cool report!
Cool report!
Mark Hardy
Grey Hound
:hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :hello2:
Ama ride ride
Grey Hound
Good report and pics MJ.
:thumleft:
:thumleft:
S
shark_za
Guest
Shame poor Hennie always gets beaten with the long stick.
Thanks for letting us experience this through your words.
Thanks for letting us experience this through your words.
the ant
Race Dog
What a RR!!! Thanks so much MJ from keeping me out of work!!! You write really well and ride even better! Hats off!!!
How the heck am I going to go back to everyday work without this RR to look forward too every day?! :dousing:
THANKS GUYS!
:ricky:
How the heck am I going to go back to everyday work without this RR to look forward too every day?! :dousing:
THANKS GUYS!
:ricky:
surf
Race Dog
Trailrider said:
+1
Spore
Pack Dog
Fantastic MJ and Co!!
Your unique way of capturing your experiences (words & pics) makes me actually taste and smell your sitrap!
Good luck with planning the next one - hope this will again be a great one for you - for us it will allways be!!
Mooi loop!
Your unique way of capturing your experiences (words & pics) makes me actually taste and smell your sitrap!
Good luck with planning the next one - hope this will again be a great one for you - for us it will allways be!!
Mooi loop!
tok-tokkie
Race Dog
I love your writing MJ. I really respect your appreciation of humble people & the way it infuses your writing.
Those wooden toys blow me away. I made some stuff for my children using some pretty sophisticated power tools. Those ones are 2 orders of magnitude more complicated and elegant. Craftsmanship. I salute that man.
Those wooden toys blow me away. I made some stuff for my children using some pretty sophisticated power tools. Those ones are 2 orders of magnitude more complicated and elegant. Craftsmanship. I salute that man.
Nardus
Pack Dog
Thanks MJ - well done !
Have to say that I enjoyed this trip a lot (knew that it should not compete with the Angola trip).
I will add a couple of pictures just for fun:
How is this for a crowd ?!
Kids at Mango tree
Local biker at a village in one of the hunting areas
Local transport in the Niassa Park - How romantic !
And then - a close-up that MJ did not want to post, so I will
Have to say that I enjoyed this trip a lot (knew that it should not compete with the Angola trip).
I will add a couple of pictures just for fun:
How is this for a crowd ?!
Kids at Mango tree
Local biker at a village in one of the hunting areas
Local transport in the Niassa Park - How romantic !
And then - a close-up that MJ did not want to post, so I will
iep_kruger
Race Dog
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wow guys,,,,words cannot describe sharing this trip
bravo,,,bravo,,,,,applaud!!!!!!
bravo,,,bravo,,,,,applaud!!!!!!
MJ et al, great ride, great report! Thanks.
Yes, the Angola trip seemed to have come together with everything a great adventure should have: the excitement, the weird, the painful, the tragic, the exultation of a hooligan chase to finish it off. However, this still seems to me to have been a brill ride in its own way, and the "things lacking" give it a bit of zen appeal! I think it will come back to your mind many times in the future, for where Angola presented answers and achievements, Niassa seems to query and tease...
Thanks again.
Yes, the Angola trip seemed to have come together with everything a great adventure should have: the excitement, the weird, the painful, the tragic, the exultation of a hooligan chase to finish it off. However, this still seems to me to have been a brill ride in its own way, and the "things lacking" give it a bit of zen appeal! I think it will come back to your mind many times in the future, for where Angola presented answers and achievements, Niassa seems to query and tease...
Thanks again.
bud500 (R.I.P)
Grey Hound
:thumleft: :thumleft: :ricky:
Another one to be inspired by.
Not for me to say, but I suspect the let down has got a lot to do with preperceptions of it being wild, lush jungle with ample wildlife. Instead it was a lot of deforrested brushland.
That was my expectation when I started reading.
Thank you for the report.
Another one to be inspired by.
Not for me to say, but I suspect the let down has got a lot to do with preperceptions of it being wild, lush jungle with ample wildlife. Instead it was a lot of deforrested brushland.
That was my expectation when I started reading.
Thank you for the report.
Pistol
Race Dog
What a great report, and well written in order to "feel" the experience, thanks :thumleft:
Blackballl
Pack Dog
Gr8 retport MJ , you should think of writing a book Long way ....... with chuck and John the Baptist.
Once I start I can't stop reading .
Thanks :thumleft:
Once I start I can't stop reading .
Thanks :thumleft:
R
Red Adventure
Guest
Another excellent adventure MJ and the guys. Thank you for sharing it with use :thumleft:
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