Missive #4, Wed, Feb 1st to Tue, Feb 7th

Day 18, Wed Feb 1st

Best Western, Lusaka to Protea Hotel, Chipata, 570km

This was a tough, tough riding day. It started out benignly. ‎Steve (and I could not have lucked out with a better or more mellow room mate)and I were up at 5 am, organized to go in short order and had a quick bite at 6 am before gassing up and departing. We were told not to plan on much in the way of fill up stations along the way.

We expected some traffic but getting out of the capital was pretty easy as all of the congestion was incoming. The roads were amazing, better than home. On and on we went greatly enjoying the scenery and rolling hills, simply spectacular, lush greenery, lots of easy 'twisties' and village life we passed through- a nice change from all of the miles and miles of straight roads.

We are sad to be leaving Zambia as we have been incredibly well treated ‎everywhere we go. I said that the Cape Towners were good but these people take it to another level again. The hotel staff are impeccably well dressed, well mannered and communicative, all in perfect english. The people are all so handsome looking! A sparkle to their eyes, wonderful smiles, great features with high cheekbones, complexions that Vogue women could only dream of, whiter than white teeth, and just darn pleasant all around. The young men and women all carry themselves with such grace and dignity, what more can I say (aside, the hospitality and generous assistance in Namibia and Botswana were also other worldly).

Out and about, the locals are pleasant and nice to be around too, harmless and innocent to this traveller's eyes. ‎I would encourage anyone to come here for a visit and soak up the hospitality.

Back to the story; 570 km is a long way on a motorbike for one day even if you are used to the routine as we are all becoming. Throw in serious downpours and a few unscheduled detours and it becomes an even greater challenge.

You can see the imposing black cumulo nimbus clouds from well in the distance and you just hope the road will skirt around it; not likely they are just too big! At the first one I elected to not put on any wet gear because it is hot here and I reasoned that I would dry out pretty soon. First mistake! The temperature went from 29.5 to 19.5 in a heartbeat and I actually got darn cold as I got blasted with water. It was too late to suit up so I pressed on.

Before the next one I got my gear on and good thing because it was far worse. The rain pelted down something fierce and I could hardly see. By this time I had been on my own for sometime so my less than 80 km speed would not bother anyone; another positive is that there was not much traffic.

The third one was even more difficult to navigate. The visibility was horrible and I just hung on and continued as best I could because there is no other choice. You just hope you will emerge out the other end without getting struck by a lightning bolt; the best analogy I can make is that it looked and felt like Victoria Falls in action.

Getting closer to Chipata I next encountered two muddy detours due to new highway construction. The first was short maybe a few klics. The second was a wet, pot holed monster for 25 klics! Again, Helge is not looking for any excuses, just suck it up and get the job done. I was standing on the pegs in first and second  throughout, dodging the occasional big tractor trailer and vehicle traffic and wondering when it would end. Being nervous at the start, I told myself, this is doable and just keep breathing deeply. 45 minutes later it turned out well and no slip ups although a few small skids here and there that makes your heart go a little quicker.

Steve and I got our filthy bikes ‎washed at the hotel for 20 Kratchas ($2!) plus tip and I washed my riding gear in the tub.

(one sideline that I may erase later if this looks to be too long. Tom Botz the German/Canadian from LA is a great rider‎ and loves riding at high speeds on his own. We were all worried when he didn't turn up at the end of the day. It turns out that he hates rain! He had holed up in a shanty town under cover hoping it would blow over. Along comes Andy in the follow up truck and trailer. 'What are you doing here, let's get going, pal!' Off they go and almost didn't make it. They came to a bridge under which the river was flash flooding. The water was up to knee level and very nearly impassable (sure would have been for me!). With a tractor trailer coming the other way to act as a partial guard should they get washed away, they inched themsleves the 150 metres across the bridge that contained no guard rails. Andy is a very experienced South African motorcyclist and he said he was concerned for both of their safetys as one mess up and they could have been washed down the river.

What a day! We all said it was the best yet. Despite the long hours and adverse riding conditions, the scenery was spectacular, the road outstanding and the African villages and activities we encountered were truly worth the price of admission.

A short comment about the highways we have been travelling. They are the roadway of life for most Africans. They walk everywhere in all sorts of group sizes, kids large and small, men with hoes and machetes (for cutting roadside grass, it is all done by hand), women with stuff on their heads; they ride their single speed rickety bikes loaded with all sorts of produce, firewood and extra beings up and down the most harrowing hills; quite amazing to watch as you wizz by.

This part of the world is experiencing record rainfall this year which is encouraging for a full harvest for the village people‎ (they mostly grow for their own consumption).

Day 19, Thur, Feb 2nd

Protea Hotel, Chipata to Cross Road Hotel, Lilongwe, Malawi, 144 km

We were all tired and knowing it was a short next days ride across the border had a few more brewskies than normal. Helge's evening presentation is always entertaining with his Norwegian wit coming in to play.

‎After chatting about our 5 day visit coming up in Malawi he launched into the key part of his chat. The money changers are notoriously crooked and fast talking so watch out. Fair warning everyone.

Well, what a gol-darn fiasco that turned out ‎to be! It was like half of us tuned out! The exchange rate is 720 Kwachas to the dollar, sounds pretty simple, right?

We get to the border and this big fat bastard with ‎a mit full of money and a few cronies accompanying him goes to work. I have $50 to exchange because we need some dough for the border crossing. Quick as a flash he gives me 3600 and goes to grab my 50. I said hold on a minute friend, I got to talk to my boss. Helge is nearby and I do a little math and wind up getting my 36000 (18 in 2000 Kwacha allotments).

The problem turned out to be the next group 10 minutes later that got totally bamboozled by these guys! Gary, Andy and Aaron got totally fleeced! Aaron ‎got talked in to exchanging 300 bucks for 21,600 instead of 216,000! Those pricks must be laughing all the way to the bank and frankly I have been all day too. It serves them right unfortunately and it's pretty embarassing all round but worth a chuckle at the same time.

Having been disappointed with the number of missed photo ops along the way I had a bit of an ah ha epiphany today. How does one capture the essence of life along this busy highway‎? Stop, try and capture a moment, go, stop, repeat etc. Doesn't work very well. This morning I stopped to do my routine and thought, what the hell, why not just shoot enroute? With left hand glove off, camera loop around my wrist, away I go plinking away, case closed- these bikes can shift many of the gears without using the clutch handle on the left hand side which makes this exercise easier and reasonably safe. 

100 shots later and feeling pretty chuffed I survey the poor results. The shutter speed is too slow and many pics are blurry! With an automatic camera I need to slow right down to allow the camera ‎to do its work while still maintaining forward motion; will have to see how all of this works and fine tune along the way (need to program 1/400th of a second but no can do on this camera).

The day's highlight was stopping at a small tobacco farm right on the highway. We were soon surrounded by kids and adults as this is a stop for Helge every year and they all know him. He had a stack of pics to pass out from last year.

‎I got out a bunch of balloons and blew them up for the kids which was a big hit‎. I gave a ball to Aaron so he could enjoy the pumping up and giveaway experience.

So here we are at our very nice hotel in Lilongwe‎ and I am contemplating tomorrow. One of the village elders came up to me with his son or maybe his grand son and told me in very broken English about his eyesight problem. Why he came to me I do not know. He asked me in an imploring manner if I would bring him some glasses next year when I come. How sweet but also how sad. I got to thinking, if I don't help this poor guy out, who will? No one.

Fast forward and I have a driver organized for a 6 am departure to pick the guy up, bring him to an ophthalmologist for an eye inspection then (hopefully, fingers crossed) to an optometrist for some eye glasses. My driver Patrick and I will bring the two of them in to town and they can catch a bus back. I have no idea what it will cost besides the $85 taxi ride. The others will be doing a bus tour of the city and will have to inform me later about that.

My odometer started at 7782, is now at 12284 for 4502 km completed, maybe a third of the way through now being in our 5 th country of 10 to visit.

Day 20, Fri, Feb 3rd

Lilongwe, 0 km

Up at 5 am for a quick snack and pick up by Patrick. We have a great chat in the 40 minute drive with the following notes below:

-17.5 mm Malawi pop, 1.5 in Lilongwe

-the country is extremely poor, little industry

-revenue farming includes corn, tobacco, tea, rice with some mill processing for the rice and tobacco

-cultural practices for‎ for young girls approaching puberty still very prevalent for approx. 50% with the initiation ceremony involving all sorts of clipping and chopping; this occurs more in the Muslim tribes comprising 40% of ‎ the people and less frequent but still there with the 60% Christians (have seen very few churches or mosques so far)

-due to poverty, tons of teenage prostitution despite laws against such activities that are unenforced; unprotected sex another sad issue and HIV a big problem

-it is considered appropriate to have large families for all sort of reasons‎ so little or no family planning

- government schools are‎ poorly run, free for primary but a pay as you go system after; kids walk up to 5 km each way to attend 7:30 am to 1:30 pm

-Indians ‎control much of the commerce and pay poorly

-sales tax 16.5% on all goods, primary source of revenue for corrupt govt (and police) officials

-donor nations reducing support due to govt stealing supports my earlier reading conclusions

-there are 7 languages in Malawi and Patrick speaks 3 plus English; most are an off shoot of Bantu

-all of above likely systemic to most African countries

-therefore, not a pretty picture except an increasing largely uneducated population‎ continuing to procreate in large numbers (I noticed much more organized, well clothed children heading to/from schools in Zambia).

The following turns into a bit of a cluster you know what! We get to the village around 7 am to find out that our 72 year old man, Mr. Chipali has absconded with the precious soccer ball and everyone is up in arms; happens that one of his 49, yes 49 grandchildren was given the ball so he thinks it belongs to his family; to make matters worse, the ball is about to be sold.

Patrick intervenes, the tribal leader is summoned and a trade is negotiated with lots of heated discussion‎. Mr. Chipali gives up the ball in return for us taking him to his eye appointment. One of the neighbours does not think he deserves to get glasses to improve his sight. Neither do I at this point but we are already in deep water so no choice but to keep swimming.

On the ride in we find out that the man has had 12 children from two wives and in addition to the 49 there are 13 great grand children! Phillip and I speak quite severly to the guy, lament his selfishness ‎and extract a promise for him to look out better for his fellow villagers; not likely we think.

We get to the 8:30 appointment at Kamuzu Central Hospital (public) with nice  Mrs. Nyarenda‎ who speaks okay English; we find pretty rudimentary equipment but it will do for this guy. He has had a right eye cataract operation a year ago and at some point will need the left one done too; 

We see a myraid of people and offices in this shabby 1980's era smelly (read urine and othe bodily fluids) public hospital building; an important key here is to keep your advisor in plain sight, follow him everywhere and keep him on your case not someone elses because it's a busy place;  finally around 11 am get the facts from a Cape Town trained Dr. Eric Ndaule. Mr. Chipali needs his left eye done but there is currently no free government medications availble due to lack of funds- for $50 the operation can proceed which I am happy to pay; glasses will be an added consideration ‎for another $50 a month after the operation.

Eric will supervise everything and we exchange emails. I give Mr. Chipali 11450 Kwachas ($16) for approx. 3 round trip mini bus transport‎s starting on Monday. He overnights with the operation Tuesday and then home on Wednesday. Total cost including Patrick's fee of $85 is $201 US about what I expected.

Am back at the hotel at 11:45 for a cold beer. Case closed and glad to see the back end of Mr. Chipali!

Houston, we have a problem. The world is about to expand from 7 to 9 billion and 1 of the 2 ‎will be born in Africa increasing their population from 1.2 to 2.2 billion. How will we, the world cope with this? Maybe my advancing years makes me envious but there is so much fornication going on it isn't even funny. Girls start as young teenagers, no birth control, nothing else to do when it gets dark, families prize lots of kids as more available to look after the elderly. In my humble opinion I do not think it is the wests responsibility to admit untold millions of migrating Africans to Europe and elsewhere just because they are procreating in such ridiculous numbers. Most of them are male, uneducated and do not speak any but their tribal language, a problem looking for a place to happen (my understanding is that 70% of Europe's migration is not Middle Easterners but Africans). There are moral and ethical issues galore here and I will be looking for input from wherever I can find it in the ensuing weeks.

Dinner on our own so Steve and hire hire a cab in a raging rain storm (hotel has a porte cochere) ‎and we head out to a highly regarded Italian joint called Mama Mia's where we have an outstanding meal for $40 all in each; full of local whites, sprinkling of blacks on a busy Friday night, lots of fun.

Day 21, Sat, Feb 4th

Cross Road Hotel, Lilongwe to Makuzi Beach Lodge, Chintheche, 343 km

My job to do the room sweep; check and re-check; end of day discover that I have left my converter electrical charger‎ sitting in the plug outlet, what a dummy but can be replaced somewhere.

Another splendid day on the highways and byways of Africa; you can't take a bad picture here unless it is a blurry one. One of today's treats is that it is a relatively short riding day so we can take our time. Steve and I are quickly the last of the group and stopping all over to view the amazing sights and sounds of the countryside and it's people.

It is Saturday so maybe some excuse but on the inland section to Lake Malawi I notice large numbers of young black men lounging around in various group sizes basically doing nothing. Cannot be good- maybe 30% doing something somewhat productive. In addition few schools noticed and lots of kids running about, kind of reinforces my thoughts above.

At the hotel I met a 42 year old former school teacher who is now in the grain business. He verified Patrick's comments and added that the country is over populated and getting worse with a large percentage living on less than $1 a day. However, I see a pretty healthy population everywhere I go and guess that most people while poor are doing okay by their local simple standards.

At several places I stop for photo ops and give away balloons and Canadian lapel pins. Some think they are ear rings and I pin most of them on personally because they are unsure of what they are. I realize the dollar apiece they cost would be better served in real money but feel that it is a bit of a different keepsake that they might have for awhile. Canada is a foreign word they have never heard of, not surprising.

We pass village after muddy village ‎and Steve stops at one for our highlight of the day, wondering whether we should take a break. It looks pretty sketchy, there is loud music blaring and we are quickly surrounded by locals; as we soon discover they could not be more pleasant. 'Where is the tribal leader, we have something for him?' Takes awhile for him to show up; Steve sees a welder at work with no face mask so we get chatting with him; I have a broken key shaft so ask if he can weld a piece on the end to make it easier to use. Quick as a jiff there is a makeshift addtition, not very pretty but functional and I pay him a few kwatchas for his work.

The tribal leader shows up and I give a soccer ball and pump to Steve who pumps it up with the chief's help to large excitement for the gathered crowd.‎ We have made great friends and they love our modern contraptions. I am sure we look like a military detachment from Mars with our imposing machines and gear.

I have learned that the only way to make a fair donation of a ball is via a leader, teacher or someone in authority otherwise there is no telling where it will end up. These balls open up a lot of doors, bring non monetary joy to the recipients; the ballons and pins are pretty cool too because a lot of people have basically nothing besides the clothes on their back (how do you measure happiness but I would say they all look to be healthy and fine).

The scenery is lovely (countryside and colorfully dressed people)  and Steve‎ and I wind up going slower and slower hoping the day will not end. When we get closer to the lake we find more schools and quite a few Christian churches of various denominations; all are pretty basic.

Finally we get to the turning point to turn right down this sandy road, a few klics to the beach. I am well ahead at this point. Along comes Helge:

Hi, where's Steve? He's behind a ways. Okay, I'll follow you down to the lodge, Steve's a good rider.

‎What about me? You're a good rider too! Norwegian humour again followed by a huge laugh and smile!

For those interested, Steve is the best off road rider in our group. Tons of experience in sand up to his axles in the Baja etc. He is also pretty cautious and likes to go slow and soak up the experience as opposed to some who like to travel at 120 and likely miss lots of neat stuff; suits me fine to go slower too.

The road is a bit tricky and I fall in some deep stuff at slow speed before Helge shows up. Quick as a wink I get a villager to help me get the bike upright and I am off in a flash with no one the wiser! Four other bikes fell on the way in (not crashed I might add).

We get to this other wordly place called Makuzi Beach Lodge (G.I. Joe says it is in the top three of any resorts he has been to), like out of a movie. Conceived and built in 1993 by Lara's mother Jane a Zimbabwean (she died in ‎1997 in  a para gliding accident, aged only 45). She is married to a South African and they have two teenage boys at school there under the supervision of the Dad. The grounds and beach access is idyllic and the 3 squares we get all pre-ordered are delicious. We swim, kyak, take in the views and thank Helge for being granted a two nigh stay.

Our rooms are little cottages complete with mosquito netting which we don't need; only some flies around here at the moment. Speaking of flies, there are clouds and black clouds of them out in the lake; literally billions living out there; they are born, have sex and die out there‎, quite an amazing example of the complexity of nature.

Lake Malawi is 350 miles long, 40-50 miles wide and 1.4 km at it deepest point, about half the size of Lake Victoria which I understand is the largest fresh water lake in the world, bigger than Lake Superior. The lake is a large source of continental fresh, clean water at some point but is approx. one metre lower than its average height at the moment.

Malawi according to Lara is a sugar cane, tea and coffee growing country with lots of fishing to add to their food staple. Oil has been discovered under the lake so some consternation about what to do about that. There are some minerals too but mining them has been tied up in government red tape for years.

Some of Lara's other tid bits:

-born and brought up Malawian, loves it here

-about 300 whites live in surrounding area

- in addition to the 16.5 % sales tax she figures she pays an aggregate of 35% of revenue in tax

-men are lazy around here, women do all the work

-27 staff, all well trained

-the people are generally happy and contented with their lives and not disgruntled with their lot in life

-Malawi has never experienced a war and gained independence from Britain in the 60's

-she is concerned about poverty, corrupt governments and seemingly no way out excpet more population growth, all discouraging

-the education system sucks

-Chinese becoming very involved further north; too many in their prisons so they send them to Africa on work projects and after a year the deal is they get permanent citizenship

I have our trip so far broken down into fifths as follows: 20% the joy of riding and motorcycling in Africa; 20% the scenery we get to enjoy; 20% people watching enroute (pictures do not adequately capture either); 20% the great guys we are privileged to travel with; 20% our fearless leader Helge who keeps us laughing, entertained and on track with our daily responsibilities (mostly!).

Day 22, Sun, Feb 05

Makuzi Beach Lodge, 0 km

Super Bowl Sunday; no TV, no wifi, out in the boonies, who cares.

Thank goodness, a day where I don't have to be too long winded! We sleep in, lounge around, go kayaking, swim in the 85+ water to our hearts content‎ and generally enjoy a delightful day.

Here are a few of Lara's African proverbs:

Travelling, it leaves you speechless then turns you into a story teller

I am African not because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me

To get lost is to learn the way

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito

Words are sweet but they never take the place of food

What you can help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn

Somewhere between heaven and hell lies Africa

The Swiss invented the clock, Africa controls the time

Special, special afternoon, trip highlight for sure. Three bikes (not me) and Andy's chase vehicle head the short distance to a hearing impaired school for 93 kids aged 6-19, approx 50/50 boys and girls; they go from grade 1-8, there are 5 teachers and 8 classes; needless to say it is pretty basic and our visit was a huge success.

Helge has been here twice before and takes pics of all the kids, returning the next year to distribute the prints; every kid came up to all of us with a sweet handshake and a nice smile. We gave them all 'T' shirts, some got bike rides and the big‎ deal was the soccer balls.

We gave out 4, 2 each to the big girls and small girls, same for boys; in a flash they were over to their rudimentary fields with various competitions ensuing; they were in heaven and so were we watching the joy on their faces- some of the guys teared up with the emotion of it.  Strangely but not surprisingly all activities were in noticeable silence apart from a few grunts and noises.

The school's motto is "educating, exploring and utilizing talents in learners with hearing impairment". Sadly, government funding at we think $15 per month per child is sometimes n/a and they all struggle; we donated about $600 to their cause which should be good ‎fo a few months.

On the return, Steve had a spill in the soft sand to great mirth (going too fast around a corner); at dinner Helge asked that the more proficient riders keep an eye on the rest on the exit tomorrow morning. I piped up and asked whether I should be looking after Steve or vice versa to great laughter!

Day 23, Mon, Feb 06

Makuzi Beach Lodge, Chintheche to Mikoma Lodge, Karonga, 305 km

Short day so 8 am ‎departure and I leave first to get a head start on  the 3.5 km of sand. It had not rained for a few days so the sand had loosened up a lot making for a lot more difficult roadway.

With heart racing and village kids running behind to see the results I stand up the whole way in first gear and go for it. Sweating profusely in 27.5 heat I reach 2.2 klics and get a little loosey goosey. The back end slips out in a deep bit and down we go! Luckily a villager was near by and likety split I am on my way with no one the wiser.

We all gather at the main ‎road to celebrate and pump up our tires.

I was hoping this was going to be a ho hum day so that I could keep this shorter. Unfortunately nothing in Africa is ho hum but I will keep it short anyway. The road is like a lifeline and there is so much of interest happening; too much to explain but all of great interest to this westerner. In addition, some of the road is under construction and there are some good twisties up hill and down dale that make it fun.

Another stop to giveaway a soccer ball at a school for 300+ kids aged 6 to 14 can be best described‎ in a few pics; their spontaneous joy and happiness is difficult to capture in words:

We pass by lots of maize (corn) fields, rubber plantations, banana growing and tobacco fields at high altitude; again, lots of young men with not enough to do and I wonder is this by choice or what?

 If I was going to suggest a wonderful driving holiday for two couples it would go something like this:

-plan 2 weeks plus for excursions, maybe more

-fly to Windhoek, Namibia and rent a car

-take in Sossusvlei by flying down and back or driving

-follow our path, stay in the same hotels and drive east to Nairobi

-Stop at Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta‎, also Victoria Falls

-continue driving east taking in Zambia and Malawi and the wonderful drive that it is

-if you think that lots and lots of pedestrians, bicycles, farm animals, baboons and the like constitute traffic so be it; the roads are excellent, straight (all the better for looking around) and very little vehicular traffic

-the people are friendly as can be so drive slowly and stop often

- bring a map of the world, lapel pins and soccer balls with a hand pump

-the lodgings and food are superior ‎and I think it would be an inexpensive holiday in a most interesting part of the world and extremely safe

-most people speak good or at least rudimentary English and all signage is in English; it is impossible to get lost

-when you get to Nairobi, off load your vehicle to the next couple who will re-trace your trip and drop off the car

-the only fun thing you won't get that we get driving motorcycles is a sore arm from waving to all the friendly faces; seriously, while the scenery is spectacular, the people watching is even better

-this is a good time to go because nothing happening at home and it is fairly quiet here

-you will then be able to legitimately say that you drove right across Africa!

Looks like the Patriots beat the Falcons 34-28, too bad.

Day 24, Tue, Feb 7th

Mikoma Lodge, Karonga, Malawi to Hill View Hotel, Mbeya, Tanzania, 174 km

Another border day so a shorter ride while we navigate the 3.5 hour ‎hassles of security and paperwork. On exit to Mbeya 100 klics away we notice lots and lots of trucks, mini buses and motorbikes (125cc, good, not too big) so more prosperity happening although more traffic and stressful driving; geography vey hilly, pretty to look at and lots of agriculture especially banana growing. Mbeya pretty much just a stop over and a bit of a dump so time to push the 'send' button!

Best, NG