HEADING SOUTH

Malawi

Malawi is a beautiful country with much of it taken up by a huge Natural Lake. The lake, certainly in the northern and central portion, is crystal clear and backed by white sand and palm trees giving it a Caribbean feel. We had visited once before at the end of 2016 and spent Christmas in the south. Our first stop was at Chitimba camp, a really beautiful spot right on the white sandy beach. Here we rested and swam for a couple of days before moving south to Chintheche Inn, about halfway down the lake. We had spent a couple of nights here last December and again there is pure white sand with just a few strategically placed rocks to add focus to the pictures. The local fisherman supplied us with a huge fish that went down well on the braai that night (well OK Sarah and I enjoyed it).

Our Beautiful site at Chitimba Camp

Jan and Sarah up at first light by the Lake

Fishermen at Sunrise

A Hammerkopf at its nest

Some form of local celebration near Chintheche Inn

An enjoyable lunch

Our washing disappearing of to be cleaned

Dinner tonight

Very Tasty

This Mango tree on the beach will be ripe in about 2 months time

We then left the lake and headed towards the Capital, Lilongwe, and a quick trip back over the border to Zambia to get a car document renewed. To take a Zambian registered vehicle out of Zambia you need to get a Temporary Export Permit (TEP) from the police. These only last a maximum of 90 days and as we are going to be away from Zambia for around 120 days we asked what we could do. Sadly you have to return to the country so we worked out the nearest border would be Malawi-Zambia at Chipata as this was around 100Kms from Lilongwe. I left the car with Jan and Sarah on the Malawi side and ran across the border to find the Zambian Interpol office on the Zambian side. Knowing how long these things take I had all the car documents plus passports of mine and Jan’s and money. We fully expected it to take a couple of hours so it was a real surprise when 20 minutes later I was back in the car and driving back to Lilongwe for the night.

Mozambique

We had heard and read many things about getting to and through Mozambique and most were not good. Originally we had thought about driving directly from Tanzania, south through Moz to South Africa but had been warned it was not safe at that time. Two rival factions are having a bit of an argument from time to time in parts of Mozambique. Often they have to set up convoys so you can drive in reasonable safety through the problem areas so we decided to go the Malawi route and drive a safer route (but still with problems) from Malawi through what is called the Tete corridor to another problem country, Zimbabwe. We will say now that we found Mozambique to be a really wonderful and friendly place, The police were helpful and not the problem we had been told they would be. We stopped only one night in Mozambique at Tete where we camped on the banks of the Zambezi River. 

Bridge over the Zambezi in Tete at sunset

Bridge at night

Wood Delivery

Mountains in Mozambique

Mist and Haze in the mountains

A local village with flags flying

Tete was a modern city with shopping Malls and plenty of food in the shops. The next day we took a 350 Km drive to the Zimbabwe Border and we now regret not staying longer and seeing more of the country. The border was one of the most shambolic we had used so far. First there was a queue of over 6 kilometres of large lorries waiting to cross into Zimbabwe which we drove right by. Then you have the “Agents”, these are just locals wanting money and saying you must use them and want to charge you for parking and for getting any form. Inside were long queues of commercial drivers shouting and trying to clear customs as well as a few others like us trying to clear immigration, get visas and the clear the car through. This was one of the most annoying border crossings which took an hour and a half, but felt much longer.

Zimbabwe

We had all been to Zimbabwe last August so we knew what the officials, especially the police, could be in Zimbabwe so we had many things prepared. All the documents were correct, we had 2 fire extinguishers, 2 lots of reflective triangles and other things ready at hand if stopped, We also had plenty of one dollar bills ready to hand and my Zambian driving licence was attached to the sun visor.

The first part was into a town in the East called Mutare then up to the Eastern Highlands for an extra night as we were a day ahead of our approximate schedule. Our stop at a small farm called “Seldom Seen” was high in the hills. It really was a lovely location with breathtaking views that evening. We camped in the garden of a small cottage and we were even given the keys of this cottage so we could use the shower and electricity. Next morning it was thick fog or cloud as we were so high. We moved on that day to another village high up called “Chimanimani” and into the forests. Here it was even nicer with a wonderfully colourful panorama of the Msasa Trees. It looked very autumnal with the reds, yellows and brown colours predominating. In fact it was the opposite as it is late spring here and the colours are formed as the Msasa leaves burst as a reddy brown colour then change of the next few days through yellows to bright green. In the Chimanimani Forest we managed some walks with one to Bridal Veil Falls. If anyone does get to this area then we would highly recommend staying at “Frog and Fern Cottages”, situated above the village of Chimanimani. A really delightful place.

Moss, lichens and plants growing on the trees high up

Early morning mist

Walking to Bridal Veil Falls

Sitting at The Falls

The full falls

A school party we met wanted a team pic with us. (all this lot apart from us arrived in a 15 seater mini bus)

The view from above Chimanimani

Fantastic colours

The forest at Chimanimani

Photos of the "White peopl

 After a couple of days in the highlands we then headed of towards Masvingo driving over a bridge that is built to the same design as Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. A really odd sight in the barren and dusty area we were crossing. 

"Sydney Harbour Bridge" in Africa

Near Masvingo is the World Heritage Sight of Great Zimbabwe. This area of massive ruins was built between 1100s and the 1700s was an area that Jan and Sarah had been trying to get to for many years. There were many parts to the complex with the earliest up high on a hill that was shrouded in mist early on with the latest area build in the 1700s being the Great Enclosure, The largest stone structure south of the Sahara. It certainly was impressive but sadly little seen. One other group of 3 were visiting along with a film crew from Australia trying to do a documentary on it but suffering at the hands of the Zimbabwean Authorities. At the moment very few tourists seem to be going to Zimbabwe or at least anywhere away from the north around Victoria Falls. The places we stayed at were empty, the curio and gift shops are either closed or have nothing to sell. I do hope Zimbabwe can sort out the problems there as it has so much potential.

Great Zimbabwe Hilltop

Film crew in The Great Enclosure

A Door Prop

Extra Support

Part of the ruins

The only other tourists

Good job we have lost weight

The Great Enclosure from the Hilltop

Coloured lizard

Our camp at Masvingo

Our final day was a 300 kilometre drive down to the border with South Africa. This was the part of the journey were looking forward to the least. We knew there were many police roadblocks on this stretch. We then had the busiest border crossing in Africa to contend with at the end.

Well the end result was a miracle, yes we were stopped many times. They always asked for driving licence, Temporary Import Permit, our fire extinguisher and two reflective triangles. All except two stops said all is good and have a good journey ( to the next stop perhaps only 5 kilometres away), One stop suggested our roof rack was not safe as it should be covered with a tarpaulin. We said we would look at his advice. The only other one was on the look out for some money as he picked up immediately that our Fire Extinguisher is made by a manufacturer called “FireStop” AH! This is not an extinguisher it is a “Fire Stopper” It says so on the label. “No that is the brand” “No it does not say Extinguisher” I then looked at the instructions in many languages on the unit and many including English use the phrase (or something like it) “To Extinguish a fire aim at……..” After showing him this he seemed ok. We are sure that as we had said we were from Zambia and used my Zambian Licence he knew he could not intimidate us as we are used to it. Others may have been forced to pay. We were firm but polite. Yes we got across the border into South Africa without getting a fine, bribe or other payment in the whole of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. A modern day miracle but hopefully one that continues as both countries sorely need tourist to flock back.

We are now in Limpopo region of South Africa and tomorrow move on into Kruger National Park. Updates will follow.

Mike, Jan and Sarah