troos
Pack Dog
:thumleft: kewl RR man!
Taking our bikes to Malawi
- Thread starter GSLaaitie
- Start date
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Mozambique
The Mozambican officials were very friendly too and could hardly believe that we rode these big bikes through the sand. Mr Customs however requested us to unpack all our bags in search of contraband. After 15 minutes of loosening our bags from the bikes and unpacking in full bike kit in a shadeless Mozambican day, he directly asked us if we had any coke (a cola) for him. Obviously we didn’t and the little jackass let us enter.
Entering Mozambique only costs the 3rd party insurance, but this is not available at Mukumbura and we were told to find a place somewhere in the country that sells it. It was Saturday afternoon and we were leaving Moz the next day on a Sunday, making our chances of finding some insurance for sale very slim. Riding without the right documents made us very uncomfortable and easy targets for extortion, but we had no other choice than to go on and see if we could find some.
30kms of gravel going north later, we entered the small town, Borôma, just south of the large hydro dam, Cahora Bassa. Expecting 150kms of gravel heading east, all along the dam, we were very disappointed to find the Chinese had recently tarred the road all the way to Tete! Leaving the town, we were immediately stopped at the police road block. They were just interested in the bikes and our trip and shortly after, we were on our way. The new road is still in an excellent condition and has a lot of long sweeping turns. For some reason every now and then the speed limit is brought down to 30, with no sign following to allow us to speed up again. Everyone we passed waved frantically and there is an overall feeling of cheer and friendliness from the locals there. The tar went much quicker than we had planned for on gravel, so we found a little path to the dam where we could have a nice view of the dam.
Very friendly fishermen, living on the shores of Cahora Bassa
Approaching the end of the dam, we turned north, towards the dam wall. Another awesome tarred mountain pass took us up the mountain to a town called Songo. News of Mozambique’s third world status apparently has not yet reached this town and it was very neat with some statues, fountains, good roads, a new monument and large gardens. We filled up on petrol (at R20 a litre) and water, but after a long search, could still not find any place that sells 3rd party insurance. Most locals here also spoke only Portuguese, making communication very difficult. The pass continued back down from Songo towards our camp and we had a constant view of the dam wall.
Arriving at our camp site, on the shore of Cahora Bassa, we pitched out tents in a Baobab forest and went straight to the bar where we met one of the owners and a very talkative Irish civil engineer who wanted to share everything he had ever known with us and how he once had to help Kingsley Holgate find the Rift valley.
So we took our beers and got on a boat
The lake is beautiful and I would love to go back there again
There is no faster way to become great friends than a trip like this!
Back at the bar we ordered some traditional portuguese peri-peri chicken and stayed up late, drinking beer and listening to the Irish engineer’s stories.
Costs for the day:
Camping: R130
Beer: R200 (R20 each)
Dinner: R150
Border: R0
Fuel: R320 (16l)
Distance travelled so far: 1696km
The Mozambican officials were very friendly too and could hardly believe that we rode these big bikes through the sand. Mr Customs however requested us to unpack all our bags in search of contraband. After 15 minutes of loosening our bags from the bikes and unpacking in full bike kit in a shadeless Mozambican day, he directly asked us if we had any coke (a cola) for him. Obviously we didn’t and the little jackass let us enter.
Entering Mozambique only costs the 3rd party insurance, but this is not available at Mukumbura and we were told to find a place somewhere in the country that sells it. It was Saturday afternoon and we were leaving Moz the next day on a Sunday, making our chances of finding some insurance for sale very slim. Riding without the right documents made us very uncomfortable and easy targets for extortion, but we had no other choice than to go on and see if we could find some.
30kms of gravel going north later, we entered the small town, Borôma, just south of the large hydro dam, Cahora Bassa. Expecting 150kms of gravel heading east, all along the dam, we were very disappointed to find the Chinese had recently tarred the road all the way to Tete! Leaving the town, we were immediately stopped at the police road block. They were just interested in the bikes and our trip and shortly after, we were on our way. The new road is still in an excellent condition and has a lot of long sweeping turns. For some reason every now and then the speed limit is brought down to 30, with no sign following to allow us to speed up again. Everyone we passed waved frantically and there is an overall feeling of cheer and friendliness from the locals there. The tar went much quicker than we had planned for on gravel, so we found a little path to the dam where we could have a nice view of the dam.
Very friendly fishermen, living on the shores of Cahora Bassa
Approaching the end of the dam, we turned north, towards the dam wall. Another awesome tarred mountain pass took us up the mountain to a town called Songo. News of Mozambique’s third world status apparently has not yet reached this town and it was very neat with some statues, fountains, good roads, a new monument and large gardens. We filled up on petrol (at R20 a litre) and water, but after a long search, could still not find any place that sells 3rd party insurance. Most locals here also spoke only Portuguese, making communication very difficult. The pass continued back down from Songo towards our camp and we had a constant view of the dam wall.
Arriving at our camp site, on the shore of Cahora Bassa, we pitched out tents in a Baobab forest and went straight to the bar where we met one of the owners and a very talkative Irish civil engineer who wanted to share everything he had ever known with us and how he once had to help Kingsley Holgate find the Rift valley.
So we took our beers and got on a boat
The lake is beautiful and I would love to go back there again
There is no faster way to become great friends than a trip like this!
Back at the bar we ordered some traditional portuguese peri-peri chicken and stayed up late, drinking beer and listening to the Irish engineer’s stories.
Costs for the day:
Camping: R130
Beer: R200 (R20 each)
Dinner: R150
Border: R0
Fuel: R320 (16l)
Distance travelled so far: 1696km
Shangali
Pack Dog
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2008
- Messages
- 488
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Marloth Park / Mpumalanga
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS
:thumleft: :thumleft:
Go Go Go ....
long way to go ..... so much to come .....
:sip: bring bring the story, the pics, .... & the Girls?
:ricky: :ricky: :ricky:
Go Go Go ....
long way to go ..... so much to come .....
:sip: bring bring the story, the pics, .... & the Girls?
:ricky: :ricky: :ricky:
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Day 4
For some reason I woke with a huge headache, but with the sun baking on my tent I had no choice but to get up and find Dawie already busy packing his things. We were back on the road before 8 and enjoyed the short rocky gravel road, before the Chinese spoiled our fun with their new road to Tete.
We passed through many police roadblocks, stressed every time, but they all were just friendly and curious of our bikes and our trip. Very luckily we were not asked for our third party insurance by any of them. We were warned of many speed traps and maintained 100km/h, but didn’t see a single trap for the day. There are a lot fewer people next to the road here in Moz than what we were used to in Zim and at some places we could even stop for a smoke break with no one in sight.
Tete is basically just a huge informal settlement on the Zambezi with Mozambicans living on the one side and Zimbabweans on the other. We were told to rather not stop in Tete and we pressed through crossing the Zambezi over a very impressive bridge. In retrospect I am disappointed that we didn’t at least stop at one of the many interesting looking shebeens next to the main road there.
Not my pic, but this is the bridge over the Zambezi in Tete
The road from Tete to the Zobwe border post with Malawi was not recently built by the Chinese and was in a poor condition. Potholes littered the surface, matched in number and size only by trucks taking supplies to Malawi. Dodging the potholes and accelerating past the trucks on a fast motorbike turned out to be a lot of fun, but I would in my life never want to do this with a car! The crumbling road broke our speed considerably and we were starting to worry if we’ll get through the border and reach our camp site before dark. Stopping at the border, we were overwhelmed by fixers and currency exchangers and we had our hands full, convincing them that we respectfully decline their offer of service. We weren’t asked for our 3rd party insurance and checking out of Moz went very quickly. Mercifully we left Moz without sleeping in jail for not having all the necessary paperwork.
For some reason I woke with a huge headache, but with the sun baking on my tent I had no choice but to get up and find Dawie already busy packing his things. We were back on the road before 8 and enjoyed the short rocky gravel road, before the Chinese spoiled our fun with their new road to Tete.
We passed through many police roadblocks, stressed every time, but they all were just friendly and curious of our bikes and our trip. Very luckily we were not asked for our third party insurance by any of them. We were warned of many speed traps and maintained 100km/h, but didn’t see a single trap for the day. There are a lot fewer people next to the road here in Moz than what we were used to in Zim and at some places we could even stop for a smoke break with no one in sight.
Tete is basically just a huge informal settlement on the Zambezi with Mozambicans living on the one side and Zimbabweans on the other. We were told to rather not stop in Tete and we pressed through crossing the Zambezi over a very impressive bridge. In retrospect I am disappointed that we didn’t at least stop at one of the many interesting looking shebeens next to the main road there.
Not my pic, but this is the bridge over the Zambezi in Tete
The road from Tete to the Zobwe border post with Malawi was not recently built by the Chinese and was in a poor condition. Potholes littered the surface, matched in number and size only by trucks taking supplies to Malawi. Dodging the potholes and accelerating past the trucks on a fast motorbike turned out to be a lot of fun, but I would in my life never want to do this with a car! The crumbling road broke our speed considerably and we were starting to worry if we’ll get through the border and reach our camp site before dark. Stopping at the border, we were overwhelmed by fixers and currency exchangers and we had our hands full, convincing them that we respectfully decline their offer of service. We weren’t asked for our 3rd party insurance and checking out of Moz went very quickly. Mercifully we left Moz without sleeping in jail for not having all the necessary paperwork.
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Malawi
Bombshock as we stopped at the Malawian border! In front of us were close to a hundred large trucks in line and next to us were even more people trying to sell us third party insurance, currency or offering to help us get through the border. Ignoring our threats of new places we’d have to remove our bike boots from, three men remained and Dawie and I could have a quick discussion on how we’d approach this chaos. 3rd party insurance is compulsory in nearly every African country and we followed an agent to his office to try and determine the authenticity of his business. Insurance costs the same everywhere and we had to part with R500 each for a small piece of printed paper. This was essential and we were asked for this a couple of times in Malawi. Entering the official building, we expected to see hundreds of truck drivers shouting and sweating, but were pleasantly surprised by the empty queues! 15 minutes and another R300 later, we had our import permits and could enter Malawi.
Looking back at the Malawian border post
We couldn’t find any Malawian Kwachas in RSA and had to draw cash at the ATM. The ATM had a transaction upper limit of KW40 000 (R 1 250) and we had to draw KW 110 000 each. Back home I saw that the bank had charged me R45 per transaction, so this option turned out to be cheaper and safer than to buy directly from the currency traders outside.
Feeling rich
Malawi is crowded! There are people everywhere. On the roads between two towns you’d find a constant stream of people on each side on foot and bicycles. This is probably the main reason why the maximum permitted speed on any road in this country in just 80km/h. This improved our fuel efficiency considerably and at R22 for a litre of petrol, that helps a lot!
We still had 160km to go and it was getting dark. A Prado came speeding past us and we stuck to it, doing 120 all the way to Liwonde.
The road from the border post
We headed to Liwonde, 70 kms south of the lake, to a safari camp next to a nature reserve. The GPS was uncertain as to where the camp really was and we ended up following its track on a raised, sandy tweespoor, with ditches at its sides for us to completely bury our bikes in, should we have a slight lapse of concentration. Eventually we found the right track and arrived at the camp just before sunset.
Sunset view at the safari camp
Just as we had set up our camp, a game drive vehicle arrived with a couple of girls on the back. Now it was not that Dawie and I had grown tired of each other’s conversation, but this was a good change. They girls were mostly nurses, doctors and engineers volunteering in Malawi, now taking a quick break for the weekend. We ended up in a great group having a kuier late into the night.
The camp was built by a Dutch man from Cape Town, who decided that the rushed life of South Africa was too much for him. The bar works on an “honesty system” – no barman, just a book with your name and as you take drinks, you just mark them next to your name and pay the bill the next morning. Seems like something that wouldn’t work back home, but apparently he hasn’t really experienced many problems with this. They also served a great buffet with some local food.
Bar
“Dining Hall”
Costs for the day:
Camping: R80
Beer: R140 (R14 each)
Dinner: R160
Border: R820
Fuel: R320 (16l)
Distance travelled so far: 2139km
Bombshock as we stopped at the Malawian border! In front of us were close to a hundred large trucks in line and next to us were even more people trying to sell us third party insurance, currency or offering to help us get through the border. Ignoring our threats of new places we’d have to remove our bike boots from, three men remained and Dawie and I could have a quick discussion on how we’d approach this chaos. 3rd party insurance is compulsory in nearly every African country and we followed an agent to his office to try and determine the authenticity of his business. Insurance costs the same everywhere and we had to part with R500 each for a small piece of printed paper. This was essential and we were asked for this a couple of times in Malawi. Entering the official building, we expected to see hundreds of truck drivers shouting and sweating, but were pleasantly surprised by the empty queues! 15 minutes and another R300 later, we had our import permits and could enter Malawi.
Looking back at the Malawian border post
We couldn’t find any Malawian Kwachas in RSA and had to draw cash at the ATM. The ATM had a transaction upper limit of KW40 000 (R 1 250) and we had to draw KW 110 000 each. Back home I saw that the bank had charged me R45 per transaction, so this option turned out to be cheaper and safer than to buy directly from the currency traders outside.
Feeling rich
Malawi is crowded! There are people everywhere. On the roads between two towns you’d find a constant stream of people on each side on foot and bicycles. This is probably the main reason why the maximum permitted speed on any road in this country in just 80km/h. This improved our fuel efficiency considerably and at R22 for a litre of petrol, that helps a lot!
We still had 160km to go and it was getting dark. A Prado came speeding past us and we stuck to it, doing 120 all the way to Liwonde.
The road from the border post
We headed to Liwonde, 70 kms south of the lake, to a safari camp next to a nature reserve. The GPS was uncertain as to where the camp really was and we ended up following its track on a raised, sandy tweespoor, with ditches at its sides for us to completely bury our bikes in, should we have a slight lapse of concentration. Eventually we found the right track and arrived at the camp just before sunset.
Sunset view at the safari camp
Just as we had set up our camp, a game drive vehicle arrived with a couple of girls on the back. Now it was not that Dawie and I had grown tired of each other’s conversation, but this was a good change. They girls were mostly nurses, doctors and engineers volunteering in Malawi, now taking a quick break for the weekend. We ended up in a great group having a kuier late into the night.
The camp was built by a Dutch man from Cape Town, who decided that the rushed life of South Africa was too much for him. The bar works on an “honesty system” – no barman, just a book with your name and as you take drinks, you just mark them next to your name and pay the bill the next morning. Seems like something that wouldn’t work back home, but apparently he hasn’t really experienced many problems with this. They also served a great buffet with some local food.
Bar
“Dining Hall”
Costs for the day:
Camping: R80
Beer: R140 (R14 each)
Dinner: R160
Border: R820
Fuel: R320 (16l)
Distance travelled so far: 2139km
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Day 5
We had a short day’s ride ahead of us, so got up very calmly and had some coffee with a couple of Canadian girls on the game viewing deck as the sun was rising. A good breakfast later, we paid our bill, before departing at 10:00. We fuelled the bikes in Lilondwe and headed north towards Lake Malawi. From go, the temperature was 32 deg and it stayed like this until sunset.
One of very many Baobabs
It is astonishing how many people are walking next to the road at all times. In more “urban” areas, this sets the speed limit at 50km/h, which I found very frustrating. After a couple of kilos however I started to get used to these low speeds and found myself not wanting to go quicker, because I was too busy enjoying the view and watching all the people! The people are so friendly and everyone waves at everyone all the time. We were met with huge smiles everywhere and I was starting to feel like the queen or pope with my constant waving and one handed riding.
We didn’t see much commercial farming. Seems most is done as sustenance farming
The owner from last night’s camp site told us that even though speed limits are low on the open roads, they are only regulated in the “urban” areas and that you can actually drive at any speed outside of the towns. There is also a rule that you can only get fined for an infringement once in a 24 hour period. I suspect this is meant for things like broken headlights, but according to him, if you are smooth enough you might get away with only having to pay your first speeding ticket of the day. We however did not feel like we needed to put this theory to the test.
Town were filled with small shops, all remarkably neat and painted in bright colors. An interesting thing I noticed was that most buildings had signs out in front, giving their name and postal address. It seems that people in Malawi either get lots of mail, or have an intense desire to receive some!
Self-proclaimed “Toys ‘R us”. Malawians have exceptional skill in carving toys from wood
Nearing the ever so popular Monkey bay, we took a turn onto gravel to head slightly west to Cape Maclear. The road was quite corrugated, but we had mountains and many turns to keep us happy. Approaching the lake, we passed through a little village and through a sandy river bed.
Last stretch for the day
We only had to do 150km for the day and arrived at a very quiet and beautiful site at 13:00, with the entire afternoon to spare.
On the shores of Lake Malawi
I felt obligated to take a photo of my bike on the shores of Lake Malawi and this cost me my first dismount of the trip. As my front wheel got the slightest taste of the sandy shore it just folded under me and my bike was lying on its side with the rear wheel still on the grass! Not my proudest moment, but it’s all part of the fun. Dawie came to my rescue, but as we were picking up, the sand under his centre stand gave way allowing his bike to sympathise with mine!
Camp site
We set up camp quickly and grabbed some beers for an intense session of R&R. Carlsberg has a monopoly on the beer market in Malawi, it seems and we found no other local beers here.
R&R at the bar
Our friendly and very quick barman
Enjoying the African sun in July
A man calling himself “Captain Dan” approached us, trying to sell us a booze cruise on his ship for a lot of US dollars. We found out just how negotiable fees are here when his price went down by 80%, before he finally gave up. We rented a kayak and some snorkel masks from Captain Dan and asked him to bring us some beers from the village with the kayak at half the price of the beers at the bar.
We spent some time on the lake and saw a large island with what looks like a beautiful track up a mountain. We decided that perhaps transporting our bikes there on our kayak would not work, so now we have reason to return there…
Our kayak, filled with Carlsberg beers
Local fishermen returning in the sunset
On landing, we met a couple of new arrivals to the camp. An old couple from South Africa had just pimped the 4x4 dream into their new van and were very excited to show us every new chromed nut and raised wheel arch. A couple of deep sea diamond drillers from Cape Town joined us for drinks and we all had great night’s Afrikaans kuier.
Lying in my bed, I felt very humid and warm. I could hear mosquitos around my tent and was very happy for the small can of Doom I’ve learnt to always take with me on camping trips. I fell asleep feeling very blessed and relaxed, under a warm, deceivingly quiet, African sky.
Costs for the day:
Camping: R110
Beer: R200 (R15-R20 each)
Dinner: R160
Fuel: R504 (23l)
Distance travelled so far: 2296m
We had a short day’s ride ahead of us, so got up very calmly and had some coffee with a couple of Canadian girls on the game viewing deck as the sun was rising. A good breakfast later, we paid our bill, before departing at 10:00. We fuelled the bikes in Lilondwe and headed north towards Lake Malawi. From go, the temperature was 32 deg and it stayed like this until sunset.
One of very many Baobabs
It is astonishing how many people are walking next to the road at all times. In more “urban” areas, this sets the speed limit at 50km/h, which I found very frustrating. After a couple of kilos however I started to get used to these low speeds and found myself not wanting to go quicker, because I was too busy enjoying the view and watching all the people! The people are so friendly and everyone waves at everyone all the time. We were met with huge smiles everywhere and I was starting to feel like the queen or pope with my constant waving and one handed riding.
We didn’t see much commercial farming. Seems most is done as sustenance farming
The owner from last night’s camp site told us that even though speed limits are low on the open roads, they are only regulated in the “urban” areas and that you can actually drive at any speed outside of the towns. There is also a rule that you can only get fined for an infringement once in a 24 hour period. I suspect this is meant for things like broken headlights, but according to him, if you are smooth enough you might get away with only having to pay your first speeding ticket of the day. We however did not feel like we needed to put this theory to the test.
Town were filled with small shops, all remarkably neat and painted in bright colors. An interesting thing I noticed was that most buildings had signs out in front, giving their name and postal address. It seems that people in Malawi either get lots of mail, or have an intense desire to receive some!
Self-proclaimed “Toys ‘R us”. Malawians have exceptional skill in carving toys from wood
Nearing the ever so popular Monkey bay, we took a turn onto gravel to head slightly west to Cape Maclear. The road was quite corrugated, but we had mountains and many turns to keep us happy. Approaching the lake, we passed through a little village and through a sandy river bed.
Last stretch for the day
We only had to do 150km for the day and arrived at a very quiet and beautiful site at 13:00, with the entire afternoon to spare.
On the shores of Lake Malawi
I felt obligated to take a photo of my bike on the shores of Lake Malawi and this cost me my first dismount of the trip. As my front wheel got the slightest taste of the sandy shore it just folded under me and my bike was lying on its side with the rear wheel still on the grass! Not my proudest moment, but it’s all part of the fun. Dawie came to my rescue, but as we were picking up, the sand under his centre stand gave way allowing his bike to sympathise with mine!
Camp site
We set up camp quickly and grabbed some beers for an intense session of R&R. Carlsberg has a monopoly on the beer market in Malawi, it seems and we found no other local beers here.
R&R at the bar
Our friendly and very quick barman
Enjoying the African sun in July
A man calling himself “Captain Dan” approached us, trying to sell us a booze cruise on his ship for a lot of US dollars. We found out just how negotiable fees are here when his price went down by 80%, before he finally gave up. We rented a kayak and some snorkel masks from Captain Dan and asked him to bring us some beers from the village with the kayak at half the price of the beers at the bar.
We spent some time on the lake and saw a large island with what looks like a beautiful track up a mountain. We decided that perhaps transporting our bikes there on our kayak would not work, so now we have reason to return there…
Our kayak, filled with Carlsberg beers
Local fishermen returning in the sunset
On landing, we met a couple of new arrivals to the camp. An old couple from South Africa had just pimped the 4x4 dream into their new van and were very excited to show us every new chromed nut and raised wheel arch. A couple of deep sea diamond drillers from Cape Town joined us for drinks and we all had great night’s Afrikaans kuier.
Lying in my bed, I felt very humid and warm. I could hear mosquitos around my tent and was very happy for the small can of Doom I’ve learnt to always take with me on camping trips. I fell asleep feeling very blessed and relaxed, under a warm, deceivingly quiet, African sky.
Costs for the day:
Camping: R110
Beer: R200 (R15-R20 each)
Dinner: R160
Fuel: R504 (23l)
Distance travelled so far: 2296m
sheldyn
Race Dog
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2012
- Messages
- 1,066
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Dallas, Texas (Formerly of the Vale)
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
lekker RR, thanks for sharing ;D
Gasman
Pack Dog
Baie lekker, gooi nog :thumleft:
Waar in Cape McClear het julle gebly?
Waar in Cape McClear het julle gebly?
Enjoying this
Pistol
Race Dog
Thats the last campsite at the far RHS of Cape Maclear I think. Nice expensive Hotel there as well!! :thumleft:
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Day 6
We awoke in the middle of the night to a huge storm, blowing my tent flat onto my face. A couple of makeshift anchors outside had my tent more stable, but hoping for any rest for the remainder of the night was a lost cause.
Anchored tent
Packing and folding tents in this wind was a mission strictly for professionals, but without any of these at hand, we combined our packing skills with a lot of time and swearing to eventually get it done. When we left it was very cloudy, but still warm with my bike claiming above 30 deg temperatures. We had 450km to go on these slow roads and tried to get going early. The sand that welcomed us into the camp was not as happy for us to leave and caught me completely unaware and still half-asleep, resulting in my second dismount of the trip barely a couple of meters from the camp site.
We kept next to the lake, heading north up its western side towards Nkata bay, our destination for the day.
I’m still surprised by the many people next to the roads. A lot of the locals were riding bicycles carrying large loads, like huge bundles of wood, heaps of grass, 2 extra passengers, bricks and even a goat.
Wide load transport
“Malawi – the warm heart of Africa” - Leo
The friendliest intimidating man I’ve met yet.
By lunch, the wind had subsided slightly and we had a comfortable ride along the river, stopping for the occasional smoke break, photo or police roadblock. Malawi has a lot of these roadblocks and this was the only country where any of our papers were checked. Never enter this country without your 3rd party insurance, because it will be checked and you will be locked away in a dark, forgotten cell if you don’t have it!
Standard issue Malawian bridge
Next to the lake
Paraffin at the local market
I was expecting to see a lot of lodges and campsites next to the lake, but here at the southern part it was very quiet and most buildings that stood on the shore did so empty and condemned. After lunch, we found more and more hills and mountains and suddenly Malawi got busy again. We were surrounded by beautiful rubber tree plantations and small roads leading through them
Bospaadjie, anyone?
After a long day’s ride, we stopped at Nkata bay, finding it bursting from its seams. The road was full of people, with barely enough space for a bike to pass through. After a quick refill at the local Puma station, we headed for the backpackers to find the most amazing camp site.
This was the furthest from home we’d be on this trip. On the map of Africa we are now next to the lake, at the same height where Tanzania begins on the opposite shore.
Petrol at Nkata bay
The Backpackers was built on the terraces next to the lake by another South African with a very limited budget. He told us how he had to use local labor and reeds to build most of it. Every campsite as a beautiful view of the lake and small walkways connected many chalets, flats and tents. The steep gradient and narrow walkways made it impossible for vehicles to get to the sites and we had to carry all our luggage down to our campsite.
Entering my tent late at night after many beers on that small stoep turned out to be an extreme sport!
The camp was crowded with young tourists from all around the world and we made some American and Ukrainian friends.
The following morning we were wakened by the previous day’s storm which has finally caught up with us and had brought his friend – rain – with him. Very luckily for us, this was our planned rest day. The rain however meant that we couldn’t go out on the lake and do some diving or rowing. So a rest day it was!
Captain Hendrik and his faithful companion, resting like gentlemen
So we had a late breakfast, lay around for a while, shared a couple of beers while trading stories with other travellers.
Costs for the 2 days:
Camping: R110 (R55 per night)
Beer: R400 (R15-R20 each)
Food: R240
Fuel: R449 (20l)
Distance travelled so far: 2750m
We awoke in the middle of the night to a huge storm, blowing my tent flat onto my face. A couple of makeshift anchors outside had my tent more stable, but hoping for any rest for the remainder of the night was a lost cause.
Anchored tent
Packing and folding tents in this wind was a mission strictly for professionals, but without any of these at hand, we combined our packing skills with a lot of time and swearing to eventually get it done. When we left it was very cloudy, but still warm with my bike claiming above 30 deg temperatures. We had 450km to go on these slow roads and tried to get going early. The sand that welcomed us into the camp was not as happy for us to leave and caught me completely unaware and still half-asleep, resulting in my second dismount of the trip barely a couple of meters from the camp site.
We kept next to the lake, heading north up its western side towards Nkata bay, our destination for the day.
I’m still surprised by the many people next to the roads. A lot of the locals were riding bicycles carrying large loads, like huge bundles of wood, heaps of grass, 2 extra passengers, bricks and even a goat.
Wide load transport
“Malawi – the warm heart of Africa” - Leo
The friendliest intimidating man I’ve met yet.
By lunch, the wind had subsided slightly and we had a comfortable ride along the river, stopping for the occasional smoke break, photo or police roadblock. Malawi has a lot of these roadblocks and this was the only country where any of our papers were checked. Never enter this country without your 3rd party insurance, because it will be checked and you will be locked away in a dark, forgotten cell if you don’t have it!
Standard issue Malawian bridge
Next to the lake
Paraffin at the local market
I was expecting to see a lot of lodges and campsites next to the lake, but here at the southern part it was very quiet and most buildings that stood on the shore did so empty and condemned. After lunch, we found more and more hills and mountains and suddenly Malawi got busy again. We were surrounded by beautiful rubber tree plantations and small roads leading through them
Bospaadjie, anyone?
After a long day’s ride, we stopped at Nkata bay, finding it bursting from its seams. The road was full of people, with barely enough space for a bike to pass through. After a quick refill at the local Puma station, we headed for the backpackers to find the most amazing camp site.
This was the furthest from home we’d be on this trip. On the map of Africa we are now next to the lake, at the same height where Tanzania begins on the opposite shore.
Petrol at Nkata bay
The Backpackers was built on the terraces next to the lake by another South African with a very limited budget. He told us how he had to use local labor and reeds to build most of it. Every campsite as a beautiful view of the lake and small walkways connected many chalets, flats and tents. The steep gradient and narrow walkways made it impossible for vehicles to get to the sites and we had to carry all our luggage down to our campsite.
Entering my tent late at night after many beers on that small stoep turned out to be an extreme sport!
The camp was crowded with young tourists from all around the world and we made some American and Ukrainian friends.
The following morning we were wakened by the previous day’s storm which has finally caught up with us and had brought his friend – rain – with him. Very luckily for us, this was our planned rest day. The rain however meant that we couldn’t go out on the lake and do some diving or rowing. So a rest day it was!
Captain Hendrik and his faithful companion, resting like gentlemen
So we had a late breakfast, lay around for a while, shared a couple of beers while trading stories with other travellers.
Costs for the 2 days:
Camping: R110 (R55 per night)
Beer: R400 (R15-R20 each)
Food: R240
Fuel: R449 (20l)
Distance travelled so far: 2750m
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Day 8
Following our rest day, we were awake early and eager to get back on the bikes and enter Zambia today. Everything felt heavy and wet from the previous day’s rain as we carried it back up to the bikes. The day was humid, dark and cloudy – good weather for motor biking. As the first drop of rain fell on my visor, we took off, leaving the rain in the company of our American friends. After backtracking the first 10km back on yesterday’s route, we took a small, inconspicuous gravel road heading away from the lake.
Theses children seemed very happy to see us!
We arrived at a random boom. The guard said nothing, but just handed us a book to sign. After being entertained by his very drunk friend, he opened the gate and let us through. I’m not quite certain as to what the exact purpose of that book is, but I’m sure it’s not very efficient.
Suddenly – Bospaadjies!
We were surprised by one of the best rides we’ve had on a trip. Lots of turns on a narrow road, having us average at about 40km/h
While enjoying the view, some technical sections surprised us
Parts of the bush over road was overgrown, blocking out most of the sunlight
Dawie fighting some mud, courtesy of yesterday’s rain
Every now and again we’d be on top of a hill and out of the bush. This always presented us with brilliant views, before we descended back into the fun!
Tea plantations, much like those we saw in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands last year
After about a 100kms of fun, we found a larger tar road, taking us south. We were stopped at another of Malawi’s hundreds of roadblocks, but were just greeted with lots of curiosity about the bikes’ range, top speed and price. The tar took us over a few short kms, before delivering us at a new gravel road.
Some sand, just in case the mud started to bore us
The rain had not fallen as hard here and we had some sand to play with. So we increased our speeds to about 60 and glided over the sand towards Zambia. A boom, smaller than this morning’s bookholder’s gate blocked our path and we were surprised to find that this was the border post between Malawi and Zambia
The gate separating two countries. The fence on both sides carries on for about three metres.
Immigration and customs - Malawi
So here we were, already leaving Malawi. I felt sad, not knowing when I’ll have the chance to come back, but excited to enter Zambia.
Following our rest day, we were awake early and eager to get back on the bikes and enter Zambia today. Everything felt heavy and wet from the previous day’s rain as we carried it back up to the bikes. The day was humid, dark and cloudy – good weather for motor biking. As the first drop of rain fell on my visor, we took off, leaving the rain in the company of our American friends. After backtracking the first 10km back on yesterday’s route, we took a small, inconspicuous gravel road heading away from the lake.
Theses children seemed very happy to see us!
We arrived at a random boom. The guard said nothing, but just handed us a book to sign. After being entertained by his very drunk friend, he opened the gate and let us through. I’m not quite certain as to what the exact purpose of that book is, but I’m sure it’s not very efficient.
Suddenly – Bospaadjies!
We were surprised by one of the best rides we’ve had on a trip. Lots of turns on a narrow road, having us average at about 40km/h
While enjoying the view, some technical sections surprised us
Parts of the bush over road was overgrown, blocking out most of the sunlight
Dawie fighting some mud, courtesy of yesterday’s rain
Every now and again we’d be on top of a hill and out of the bush. This always presented us with brilliant views, before we descended back into the fun!
Tea plantations, much like those we saw in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands last year
After about a 100kms of fun, we found a larger tar road, taking us south. We were stopped at another of Malawi’s hundreds of roadblocks, but were just greeted with lots of curiosity about the bikes’ range, top speed and price. The tar took us over a few short kms, before delivering us at a new gravel road.
Some sand, just in case the mud started to bore us
The rain had not fallen as hard here and we had some sand to play with. So we increased our speeds to about 60 and glided over the sand towards Zambia. A boom, smaller than this morning’s bookholder’s gate blocked our path and we were surprised to find that this was the border post between Malawi and Zambia
The gate separating two countries. The fence on both sides carries on for about three metres.
Immigration and customs - Malawi
So here we were, already leaving Malawi. I felt sad, not knowing when I’ll have the chance to come back, but excited to enter Zambia.
Another nice read
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Zambia
Zambia refers to itself as the land of friendliest people. I immediately felt sceptic, because this was a big claim with neighbours like the Malawians. But upon meeting the ladies at immigration, this seemed possible. They were very talkative and full of jokes. They quickly stamped our passports and told us that the customs official was on a workshop, so we could pay our carbon tax and road access fees at the border when we leave. The nearest town to the border is called Lundazi and we headed there in search of fuel. Zambia’s gravel road from the border was a highway! We easily cruised to Lundazi at over 100km/h (higher speeds than we had done on Malawi’s best tar…).
After filling the bikes at Lundazi, Dawie pulled over and we discussed our plans for the afternoon. We had no planned campsite for the night and could find none close to where we expected to be at about the time the sun would set. Our intended route was to head straight west until we met the Luangwa River, camp next to the road and then head south towards Mfuwe, at the gate of the South Luangwa National Park, where we would to spend the subsequent two nights. Back home we were warned by some very experienced riders of the thick sand on the track next to the river and were unsure if we should attempt Mozambican type sand with our heavy loaded bikes so far away from home.
We decided to find lodging here at Lundazi, take the larger road to the camp and rather play in thick sand back home. This was probably our second biggest mistake of the trip...
5 minutes into our search for lodgings, we stopped at a freaking castle.
Lundazi Castle – Zambia
The castle was built 1948 by an Englishmen (Errol Buton) who was tasked to build accommodation for visitors to his town. The castle is now under administration of the tourism board of Zambia and is used as a hotel. It has no running hot water, but the staff does bring you a bucket of hot water to wash with.
We still had some sunlight remaining in the day, so we went to buy some beers at the market and spent some time fixing up our bikes and tightening all the screws that might have started to shake loose.
After dinner at the castle of some chicken and a giant heap of boiled potatoes we met two more American volunteers, training locals in conservation farming methods.
Costs for the day:
Lodging: R94
Beer: R60 (R12 each)
Dinner: R47
Fuel: R370 (20l)
Border: R0
Distance travelled so far: 2955m
Zambia refers to itself as the land of friendliest people. I immediately felt sceptic, because this was a big claim with neighbours like the Malawians. But upon meeting the ladies at immigration, this seemed possible. They were very talkative and full of jokes. They quickly stamped our passports and told us that the customs official was on a workshop, so we could pay our carbon tax and road access fees at the border when we leave. The nearest town to the border is called Lundazi and we headed there in search of fuel. Zambia’s gravel road from the border was a highway! We easily cruised to Lundazi at over 100km/h (higher speeds than we had done on Malawi’s best tar…).
After filling the bikes at Lundazi, Dawie pulled over and we discussed our plans for the afternoon. We had no planned campsite for the night and could find none close to where we expected to be at about the time the sun would set. Our intended route was to head straight west until we met the Luangwa River, camp next to the road and then head south towards Mfuwe, at the gate of the South Luangwa National Park, where we would to spend the subsequent two nights. Back home we were warned by some very experienced riders of the thick sand on the track next to the river and were unsure if we should attempt Mozambican type sand with our heavy loaded bikes so far away from home.
We decided to find lodging here at Lundazi, take the larger road to the camp and rather play in thick sand back home. This was probably our second biggest mistake of the trip...
5 minutes into our search for lodgings, we stopped at a freaking castle.
Lundazi Castle – Zambia
The castle was built 1948 by an Englishmen (Errol Buton) who was tasked to build accommodation for visitors to his town. The castle is now under administration of the tourism board of Zambia and is used as a hotel. It has no running hot water, but the staff does bring you a bucket of hot water to wash with.
We still had some sunlight remaining in the day, so we went to buy some beers at the market and spent some time fixing up our bikes and tightening all the screws that might have started to shake loose.
After dinner at the castle of some chicken and a giant heap of boiled potatoes we met two more American volunteers, training locals in conservation farming methods.
Costs for the day:
Lodging: R94
Beer: R60 (R12 each)
Dinner: R47
Fuel: R370 (20l)
Border: R0
Distance travelled so far: 2955m
GSLaaitie
Race Dog
Day 9
Packing our bikes went quick, because we had no tents or matrasses to fold. The main road to Mfuwe was very quiet and recently tarred, but had no real surprises, other than the cloudy 16 deg, cold morning. It was immediately noticeable how there are so fewer people next to the roads here than in Malawi. We were expecting another of Zambia’s gravel highways, but the Chinese beat us to it again and by the time we got there, the road was mostly tarred.
Though the land was quite flat, the road had many twisties, which while not really making sense, offered some entertainment. We covered a lot of kilos quickly, before the surroundings suddenly became very populated. We saw many “cultural villages” – a clear sign that tourists are nearby…
The Chinese’s road saved us a lot of time and we arrived at Croc valley river camp just in time for lunch. The camp is on the Luangwa River (the National park’s border) and we pitched our tents on its banks.
This crash of hippo were chilling on the river banks for the full duration of our stay
Wildlife cross the river regularly
Campsite bar
The camp had a very nice bar, but the prices were slightly out of our budget at R25 per beer with a compulsory 10% tip added later. Our solution to this was part of our daily routine by now: Set up camp and then stock up at the nearest local market at less than half the price. Tin cans get scarcer the further from home you are and most beers and drinks are sold in glass bottles. There is a deposit on these bottles and the shop owners get very stressed if they see you planning to leave with their bottles. The phrase “one bottle, one kwacha” was used very often! We still had dinner at the camp sites most nights. You can save a lot if you buy some food from the markets, but we were glad to have a good meal at the end of each day’s riding.
Enjoying Zambia’s famous “Mosi” beer on the banks of the Luangwa River
Costs for the day:
Camping: R140
Beer: R120 (R14 each)
Dinner: R140
Distance travelled so far: 3257m
Packing our bikes went quick, because we had no tents or matrasses to fold. The main road to Mfuwe was very quiet and recently tarred, but had no real surprises, other than the cloudy 16 deg, cold morning. It was immediately noticeable how there are so fewer people next to the roads here than in Malawi. We were expecting another of Zambia’s gravel highways, but the Chinese beat us to it again and by the time we got there, the road was mostly tarred.
Though the land was quite flat, the road had many twisties, which while not really making sense, offered some entertainment. We covered a lot of kilos quickly, before the surroundings suddenly became very populated. We saw many “cultural villages” – a clear sign that tourists are nearby…
The Chinese’s road saved us a lot of time and we arrived at Croc valley river camp just in time for lunch. The camp is on the Luangwa River (the National park’s border) and we pitched our tents on its banks.
This crash of hippo were chilling on the river banks for the full duration of our stay
Wildlife cross the river regularly
Campsite bar
The camp had a very nice bar, but the prices were slightly out of our budget at R25 per beer with a compulsory 10% tip added later. Our solution to this was part of our daily routine by now: Set up camp and then stock up at the nearest local market at less than half the price. Tin cans get scarcer the further from home you are and most beers and drinks are sold in glass bottles. There is a deposit on these bottles and the shop owners get very stressed if they see you planning to leave with their bottles. The phrase “one bottle, one kwacha” was used very often! We still had dinner at the camp sites most nights. You can save a lot if you buy some food from the markets, but we were glad to have a good meal at the end of each day’s riding.
Enjoying Zambia’s famous “Mosi” beer on the banks of the Luangwa River
Costs for the day:
Camping: R140
Beer: R120 (R14 each)
Dinner: R140
Distance travelled so far: 3257m
Similar threads
