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The evening after our 4 days of hiking, we found a good little local guest house called NdangoPuma, pleasant and dirt-cheap. Finally, we have come to a country where our money goes much further! A bed was only about $1.75 per person, and the guesthouse was filled with nice locals.
Since we were planted in the middle of tea fields, we thought it might be interesting to visit a tea factory. We had heard from Leason, that one called Esperanza, was actually owned by Prince Charles.
We hired ourselves a bike-taxi each, Michelle's was named Mr Fawlty, which I thought quite funny. Basil!!!! They cruised us up to the plantation, but it was too late to enter. That was fine though, because the journey through the plantations was really our destination. There were plenty of locals about and the setting sun was beautiful casting some great light over the beautiful green plantations.
Around the corner from our little Guest House was a restaurant/bar called Rob Wills, and we had a decent local dinner out.
The Malawian couple at the next table wanted to chat with us, and we invited them to join us. Well, Amon and Esnut were having a weekend away, and at this point, Amon was quite drunk. His wife Esnut, was the calming voice of reason, but he got increasingly more and more drunk. They were very generous, buying us drink after drink, even after we declined, hoping to get away from what might be a bad situation. But the drinks kept coming, and he got a lot more grabby which made us a little uncomfortable. Eventually, we got away, but I think their intentions were genuine and friendly. So much so, that we called them the next morning to accept their invitation of a ride back to Blantyre. I was taken aback, when Amon asked if I could drive, thinking he was still drunk, or too hungover to drive. Luckily, neither was the case and we enjoyed a free ride back to Blantyre, before continuing on to Zomba. An interesting meeting, but I think all intentions were sincere.
In Zomba, we were in town to try to head up the plateau behind it of the same name. Again, the fuel shortage reared it's ugly head, and the taxi drivers were trying to charge 3000-5000 Kwacha ($15-$25) for a ride 8km up to the plateau. We rejected all offers, and eventually found a surprise backpacker lodge (Pakachere) in town that had only been open 2 months. We decided to cut our losses, and spend the night in town. The manager Roos, was very helpful, and Michelle met a really nice German lady named Diana, and didn't stop talking with her for about 5 hours. More about Diana later.
Morning came, and we attacked the drive up to Zomba Plateau again. This time, our plan was to hitchhike, and offer some money for fuel. We set a final time of 10:15, to start looking for a taxi, and after 2 hours of waiting, we were just about to find a taxi, when an ambulance drove by. We had good luck with the ambulance in Mulanje, and once again in Zomba. This time though, it was a mechanic, testing his repair job, and with 300 Kwacha, he took us almost to the top. Lucky us again!! We walked the rest of the way to Trout Farm, and set up camp just before a torrential downpour. We were
scheduled to go on a walk to the viewpoints, and were lucky when the weather broke, hiring a happy old gentleman, named Stanley, to show us the way. It was relatively unspectacular, but the Emperor's View (named after Ethiopian king Hailie Selassie's visit) and Queen's View (named after Elizabeth 1st visit) gave us wide vistas over the lowlands, with pointy hills popping up all over the place. Also, in view was Malawi's second largest lake. I think the hike would have been more enjoyable had our legs not been soooooo tired from our Mulanje hiking. I think both of us just wanted to be back in the tent laying down, and that's what we did as soon as we got back! Not even enough energy to make dinner, and we crashed out early. The next morning, we packed up and went to visit the Ku Chawe Hotel. I was expecting a rustic place on top of the mountain, but it was very modern and far too fancy for us. It did provide us with some help though, because before we could even sit down for breakfast on the roadside, one of the hotel's guests drove by and answered our 'thumbs'. A kind Zimbabwean couple gave us a ride back to town, and we celebrated with a delicious COLD Coke, which has become somewhat of an addiction for us here!! It tastes SOOOOOO refreshing!!! All in all, I think Zomba is very nice, but I don't think we did it justice by doing the small hike that we did on the plateau. I think to really enjoy Zomba's full beauty, we would need to spend a few days hiking and exploring. Also, it's hard to compare it after just hiking Mulanje which was just so amazing. *Stub
The evening after our 4 days of hiking, we found a good little local guest house called NdangoPuma, pleasant and dirt-cheap. Finally, we have come to a country where our money goes much further! A bed was only about $1.75 per person, and the guesthouse was filled with nice locals.
Since we were planted in the middle of tea fields, we thought it might be interesting to visit a tea factory. We had heard from Leason, that one called Esperanza, was actually owned by Prince Charles.
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| Mr Fawlty, Bicycle Taxi in Mulanje Tea Plantations |
Around the corner from our little Guest House was a restaurant/bar called Rob Wills, and we had a decent local dinner out.
The Malawian couple at the next table wanted to chat with us, and we invited them to join us. Well, Amon and Esnut were having a weekend away, and at this point, Amon was quite drunk. His wife Esnut, was the calming voice of reason, but he got increasingly more and more drunk. They were very generous, buying us drink after drink, even after we declined, hoping to get away from what might be a bad situation. But the drinks kept coming, and he got a lot more grabby which made us a little uncomfortable. Eventually, we got away, but I think their intentions were genuine and friendly. So much so, that we called them the next morning to accept their invitation of a ride back to Blantyre. I was taken aback, when Amon asked if I could drive, thinking he was still drunk, or too hungover to drive. Luckily, neither was the case and we enjoyed a free ride back to Blantyre, before continuing on to Zomba. An interesting meeting, but I think all intentions were sincere.
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| Hitch-Hiking in the Ambulance |
Morning came, and we attacked the drive up to Zomba Plateau again. This time, our plan was to hitchhike, and offer some money for fuel. We set a final time of 10:15, to start looking for a taxi, and after 2 hours of waiting, we were just about to find a taxi, when an ambulance drove by. We had good luck with the ambulance in Mulanje, and once again in Zomba. This time though, it was a mechanic, testing his repair job, and with 300 Kwacha, he took us almost to the top. Lucky us again!! We walked the rest of the way to Trout Farm, and set up camp just before a torrential downpour. We were
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| With Our Guide Stanley, on Zomba Plateau |
1 comment:
great experience
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