I wanted to take a shower, but they didn't have any towels to borrow, since "the guests tended to 'forget' to hand them back when finished". So I couldn't shower. And the toilets had no more toilet paper, so I had nothing to dry myself with. I didn't smell, so I guessed I was OK. They had, btw, very interesting doors into the showers and toilets. They were divided in the middle, with a lock. But when locked, there was a 1 cm slit where you could see what-/whoever was inside. No place for the shy.
I ordered an English breakfast and was told to go down to the restaurant. I walked down, and found it almost deserted, save from Zoe. A girl from Australia. She was here to do some volunteer work on a school for a few months. The breakfast was big, and filling. And I was more than satisfied when I went back to the reception to check out. The receptionist gave me the bill. I looked at it with some degree of bewilderedness.
Me : "Excuse me? 11 000 kwacha? How did you arrive at that number?"
Receptionist : "The room is 3500, then you had breakfast today and lunch and dinner yesterday!"
Me : "Eeerrr. I wasn't here yesterday. How could I have had lunch and dinner?"
She brought out a sheet and found my name. I was listed with lunch and dinner.
Me : "I do not know where you got this from, but I had lunch with a friend and didn't come back here until after dinner."
She looked at me, thought for a while, and reduced the bill to 7000. Which was correct. I still have no idea how those numbers came on my tab. Anywho. I walked out into the sun and waited for Sigrid.
She arrived and I hopped into her car. After a few short stops to fuel and get some samosas and water for the trip, we headed for Nkhotakota, on the shores of Lake Malawi. We had looked at the map of Malawi the previous day, and decided to go to the Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge. The road took us through small villages, a number of police checkpoints, and beautiful landscapes. 3 hours later we had arrived at the sign for the lodge. The road down towards the lodge was terrible at best. We were glad Sigrid had an SUV available. I suspect a sedan would either fall apart or be stuck at some point. After about 10 minutes of jumping, buffeting and jolting, we finally arrived at the lodge, where a guard asked Sigrid to sign in before we were allowed into the compound.
The place is built around (surprise, surprise..) a pottery. So the reception is also a shop where you can buy pottery made at the spot. We checked in and now Sigrid was ready for her longed-for cup of coffee. The restaurant was beautifully set on the beach, where we had a great view of Lake Malawi. We decided to take a walk on the beach. The sand was not as fine as that on the beaches in Mozambique, but it was possible to walk barefoot all the same. So we walked up "our beach" to the next and then one more. Watching cows walking past, men tending their boats, women walking with firewood on their head. And just generally enjoyed the view and the walk. On the last beach, Sigrid made some new friends when a lot of children came after her, and took her hands. "Give me bottle!" they all chanted. Sigrid tried to explain she didn't have any bottle, but they persisted. She asked one of the girls her name in the local tongue. But she seemed to shy to want to answer. I took a picture of them. Sigrid said goodbuy to them and we walked back to the lodge.
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| Coffee! Finally! |
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| Cattle on the beach |
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| The young man and the sea |
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| Sigrid and the beach |
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| Permanently stranded boat |
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| Elaborate sand-fortress |
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| Dug-out canoes |
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| "What's you name?" Sigrid making new friends |
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| Big bugs on the beach |
After a short rest, we were ready for dinner. We both opted for chicken curry. "It will be an hour!" the waitress said. "Maybe we should get a starter?" Sigrid suggested. I ordered a toast with humus. After a while, the waitress came back, apologised and said the had no humus. So instead of trying to find out what they did have, I ordered the same mushroom soup as Sigrid. Which was delicious! The chicken curry was also excellent! Well worth the wait. We sat there talking until we were both tired. We walked outside, and I noticed the skies were clear, so I invited Sigrid to come with me down to the beach to see the Milkyway. It was truly a stunning night. Almost no turbulence and no clouds. The Milkyway glowed in the sky. We stood there amazed and talked about the magnificense and the vastness of the universe. I suggested that we shoudl try to take a photo of the MIlkyway using Sigrid's camera. I had done it on the beaches of Mozambique with my own Lumix. The results were impressive given the camera, but I suspected an SLR would be better. It took some time before we figured out the controls, but in the end we managed to take 10 20-second exposures. I processed them the usual way and the result was surprisingly good. And better than what I had accomplished with my camera. After this, we both went to bed.
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| The centre of the Milkyway. 200 second exposue. 17mm/f.3.2. |
After breakfast the following day, we discussed how to drive back to Lilongwe, and decided on driving through the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. And on the way there, stop at the Livingstone Tree Mission. Dr. Livingstone was there in 1861. So we expected a museum and such. When we arrived at Nkhotakota, we saw no sign. So we drove on for a bit. But saw no sign. We decided to ask someone, and a guy directed us down towards the lake. We asked someone at every junction and in the end, we stopped outside what seemed like a hospital. I pointed to a rusty old sign so deteriorated you could barely make out "Livingstone tree". This was it. We drove inside the compound, and found that the "sight" was a tree. That was supposedly the tree under which Dr. Livingstone sat with the local chiefs when he signed a treaty to stop slave trade. A bit less than we thought. I thought it was a bit funny. There was a church service nearby, so I walked over to film some of the beautiful song. Some very old ladies smiled at me when I entered the church. I smiled back, and filmed a procession towards the altar, and the singers singing. Loved it. Would have loved to stay, but we had to leave if we where to get back to Lilongwe not too late.
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| The Livingston tree... |
We drove towards the wildlife reserve, and stopped at a checkpoint when entering. Sigrid had to sign in, and we were allowed to enter. No fee, but we had to register. We didn't expect to see any excotic wildlife, and we didn't. The roads went from potholed tarmac overgrown with grass, to dirtroads, to bad dirtroads. But the landscape was beautiful. And we did get to see some monkeys and some strange and beautiful birds.
It took an hour to drive through. At the other side, Sigrid had to sign out. Then we found we had two options, driving the dirt road via Ntchisi. That was shorter, and we initially decided to go there. But when we saw the actual road, we had second thoughts. It was narrow and in a bad shape. So we turned around and took the long way home, through Kasungu. I loved the drive. Especially since I wasn't the one driving, so I could enjoy watching the scenery, the people and everything that was going on on the road.
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| Small village by the road |
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| Mountain rising up from the plains |
We arrived back in Lilongwe in due time for some dinner. So we stopped at Sigrid's favourite pizza place. She tried to call a local friend, but he was unavailable.
After a short stop at her place, I took a taxi to my new place in Lilongwe. Korea Gardens Logde. Sligthly more expensive, but I guess I will have a better sleep here...
Tomorrwo, I am going south again. And from there work my way back to Lilongwe to fly out of Africa on Friday.
Thanks, Sigrid, for an enjoyable weekend!
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| Local resident up to some monkey business at the Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge |
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