Lake Malawi
written by deodatus
on April 27th, 2008
, 2 comments
(5 votes)
Malawi is one of the least known places in Africa. It lies between Zambia, Mozambique and Kenia and was formerly attached to North Rodesia. The people there speak English, one of the poorest countries of the world, but everything there works with a smile. Their main economy- products are wood and fish. A lot of fish, because one third of the country is covered by water. That’s lake Malawi! One boat, the Ilala, goes weekly from north to south, filled with people, maïs, goats, fish… and very eventually some lost tourists.
In the north you have Nkata Bay, a nice town from where you can take the Ilala ferry to the two smallest islands I’ve ever been: Chisomulu and Likoma Island. The ferry stops at the beaches, where you have to fight to get a place on one of the small boats to get you to the shore. Wonderful little places to linger around. You can manage to go from one to the other island with a little fishing boat – just don’t get seasick when the lake is wild!
The south of the lake is even more breathtaking. We went to two little towns called Monkey Bay and Cape Mc Clear. In these places you would like to stay forever! Little fishing towns full of small monkeys on the hills. In a first stage there is almost nothing to do or see there, but once you talk with the locals, you just have a lot of fun! Grilled fish with rice on a small island, feeding some Tapioca to sea eagles, taking a tea under the sun, between two dives in the lake, drink some local booze (Katchasu) with men out from town, play with little children in the water. They seem to be born in the lake. In fact, it is theirs! In Monkey Bay, you can stay in the Venice Beach, in Cape Mc Clear we stayed in Emmanuels. Both local low budget guesthouses, where we had a great time. Places like that can give you the impression time actually stands still sometimes…
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