Malawian Karma

We eventually dragged ourselves away from our little piece of paradise on Lake Malawi feeling a strong pull to get to Lilongwe ready for our flights back to our family for Christmas. I kept checking the distance and travel time between us and the airport to ensure we didn’t leave it too late to enjoy the journey.

To save some time we decided to miss out the next campsite on our itinerary and head straight for the one after. As we drove, the roads started to get more potholed and the driving got slower.

Everyone we passed on the road was eating mangoes, it was definitely the season for them. I bought a bag full from a roadside stall and enjoyed being covered in sticky, yellow juice for the next few days

We noticed hundreds of kids everywhere as well as a new muslim influence that had been absent since we left Mauritania on the west coast over two years ago. Some women wore the hijab (although we didn´t see any burkas) and very occasionally we saw men dressed in the white thobe robes. There were also a few small mosques scattered around

We were stopped at a police checkpoint for our papers to be checked. The exchange initially took its usual course – the officer was friendly and professional, chatting to us about our travels and complimenting Henry. But when James took the steering wheel off to make his joke about the officer driving, rather than just laughing the officer was so excited he grabbed the steering wheel from James and ran away with it to show his friends. We looked at each other in a combination of amusement and horror but he returned after a few minutes, handing it back and looking pleased as punch with the game.

We pulled up at a pottery lodge that offered tours around the pottery, pottery lessons, a wonderful restaurant and lovely views right on the lake. It wasn´t in the same league of picturesque as the place we had just left and neither of us had any energy for tours or lessons. But we pitched up with a nice view over the beach

and treated ourselves to a surprisingly good dinner in beautiful surroundings

This place had one other attraction – it was full of cats! The manager was very chatty and when she came up to make sure we had enjoyed our food we asked her about them – were they pets or feral? Mostly feral she said, although the offspring of their two pet cats – one of whom had just had a new litter. My eyes lit up and before long I was crouched in the kitchens playing with two of the tiniest little kittens I´ve ever seen!

But something else had started to become very noticeable as we travelled further north and east. Insects and spiders. It had crept up on us slowly without really noticing. The further we travelled away from the deserts of Namibia, Angola and Botswana, and the closer we got towards the tropics of the equator, the greener and lusher the landscape became but with it came the armies of flies, mosquitoes, ants, beetles, spiders and all sorts of other weird and wonderful creatures. Only to be expected of course and we were ready for it. But here in Malawi they had gone into overdrive – particularly the spiders. They were everywhere, at night you could see their eyes reflecting in the hundreds in the grass, their webs spanned between every tree and bush – and Henry only needed to be parked up for a few minutes before he too was attached to the local flora by intricate webs spun quickly, seemingly holding him in place.

Even in this lovely restaurant, as we walked between tables to find our spot we had to wipe webs from our arms and faces, webs that had been woven between everything that stayed still for more than five minutes.

And the lights deliberately placed on the outside boundaries to lure the flying insects away from the tables showed just how many there were.

We spent the evening after our meal sitting inside Henry watching a movie to keep away from all the bugs.

The next morning I had a cuddle from one of the feral cats, I was saluted by the security guard as I trained and we chatted to the manager a little more about cats – and were even offered one of the kittens to take with us!

I watched the locals busy on the beach for a while – readying their boats or just doing some washing

From there it was a long, slow drive to Lilongwe, the scenery changing as we climbed relentlessly up the mountain roads. Henry was starting to overheat so we slowed down even more.

It was, as with everywhere in Malawi, absolutely beautiful. It was noticeable here how many houses were built with bricks – most of them in fact, whereas elsewhere around Africa we had seen very few

There was also a lot of road building going on. As we past one construction site the manager was very pleased to see us, waving us down to welcome us to his country with a big smile

And the rest of his team joined in as we greeted them out of the window

The roads were as beautiful as ever and we found driving through this country very serene – slowing our average speed down to 60-70km/hr so we could take our time and appreciate the scenery

Not everyone on the road was quite so relaxed though, the local people wherever you go in Africa are about as tough as it gets…

When we finally arrived in the capital city we found it a strange place – wide, dusty roads, few people and little traffic, more of a town than a city. We found a well stocked supermarket to fill up on supplies and there was even a car parts shop where we managed to get some brake and parts cleaner – something we go through in large quantities keeping Henry in good order.

We had booked into a campsite about 40 minutes north of the city centre and only 8km from the airport. The owners offered vehicle storage to overlanders and the reviews on IOverlander were good. When we arrived the whole place seemed lovely – a paradise garden with spotlessly clean ablutions

The manager welcomed us and was very friendly and helpful, we were initially pleased with our choice. But then we met the owners and everything changed! We had rarely met such abrasive people in the hospitality industry and their two large german shepherds and even larger short haired saint bernhard were aggressive and prone to biting. Multiple signs around the place made it clear that the dogs were more important than the guests and it was said in no uncertain terms that if you didn´t like the dogs you could leave!

We started to feel a little on edge

After we had settled in James tried to loosen off the back door lock that had again got full of sand and dirt and was becoming difficult to open. He squirted degreaser into the mechanism and tried to work it through. But the lock wasn´t playing ball and before we knew what was happening the whole thing had seized up and it wouldn´t work at all. To make matters worse the door was shut when it happened so there was no way to remove it and investigate.

For two hours James and I climbed in and out of Henry through the roof windows or by crawling over the fridge from the front to the back trying to work the lock mechanism loose. Hammers were enlisted amongst other things and eventually, after a great deal of frustration and exasperation, the lock clicked and it swung open.

Relieved beyond measure, James took the whole thing off the door and took it apart. Nothing was broken, it was just full of dirt and tiny stones – we assume the degreaser had dislodged some of it, trapping it in the way of the mechanism. Another hour later it was clean, reassembled and back on the door – and working perfectly!

We´d had enough for one day so cooked ourselves some chicken pasta for dinner and soaked up the wonderfully cool evening, light breeze – and no mosquitoes. The height of the city way up in the mountains meant temperatures had dropped to an unheard of 23 degrees and we were excited to have to put our fleeces on again – who would have thought that wearing a fleece would become such a treat?!

We had two days left before our flights and we spent it cleaning Henry to within an inch of his life, doing a few bits of routine maintenance and trying to use up as much of our food as we could. The staff even pitched in with the cleaning!

Two German overlanders turned up on the second day and we spent some time chatting to them and looking round the enormous, six wheeler lorry one of them travelled in, amused at the stark difference between that and Henry.

We had bought some treats for the journey ahead….

And James was very relieved to be taking a trip back to the UK so he could finally buy some new walking boots!

Eventually the day of our flights came and we woke up to find it was raining yet again. I jumped out and dragged our chairs, solar panels and other bits and bobs under cover but everything was still getting wet. An hour before we were due to depart the rain became torrential and everything got a little chaotic. Fortunately we had already dropped Henry´s roof but all his doors were open and we had not quite finished packing. His insides were getting perilously wet.

Finally we were ready to go. We closed Henry up, moved him to the storage space and spoke to the owners about the wet. They appeared to understand the problem – if he was left locked up damp for four weeks there was a good chance he would go mouldy inside. They took the keys from us and promised they would open his doors up when the rain stopped and let him dry out.

The taxi arrived and we threw our bags in and then ourselves, pleased to be finally out of the rain and on our way.

We showed our tickets to the people at the airport desk and they waved us through to the next stage where sniffer dogs checked out our baggage. It should have been exciting but for some reason I was on edge and a bit stressed, I didn’t know why but I was sure something was going to go wrong.

We sat and waited in the tiny airport for three hours with nothing to do and little options for food. There weren´t many other passengers…

I had my kindle with me but in the chaos of packing in the rain we had forgotten to pack any charging cables in our hand luggage so I had to ration myself. Anxiety was now settling into my brain.

As we were called to board I picked up everything I was carrying and joined the queue. A minute or so afterwards a man´s voice called out ´hello, hello, anyone??´. We all looked round and to my horror I saw him holding up my IPhone, left on the seat in my rush to get onto the flight. Where was my head at the moment?

On board the flight we made our way to our seats to find someone else sitting there. The man in my seat had a valid ticket for the same seat – the airline had double booked us. We called a member of the cabin crew over who asked us to stand by the toilets and wait. We waited, and waited, certain that we would be asked to disembark and wait until the next flight in a few days time. But after about 20 minutes of feeling completely defeated we were finally given new seats with extra leg room!

The wait at Addis Ababa airport was over four hours long and I had no charge left in my kindle to pass the time. This airport is the main regional hub and was absolute chaos. It was also the early hours of the morning and by now I was feeling a little sick with tiredness and worry. Why were my anxiety levels so high these days?

We finally landed at Heathrow but had to wait on the aircraft for a few minutes whilst the police boarded and escorted another passenger off under arrest. Our taxi was waiting but our luggage took over and hour to appear by which time my blood pressure was through the roof. The London traffic was at its peak and it took an hour and a half to finally arrive at my sister´s place in Balham.

But we had made it, we were in the UK in the warm arms of our family at last. We fell into bed at 10:30am and slept…..

Looking back on it I think we were simply exhausted. I was missing my family and, from past experiences going to visit the UK, had little confidence that things would go smoothly – and we had both had enough of problems for a while. We just needed to rest.

But resting was not entirely on the cards whilst we were there. A burst mains on Christmas morning meant no running water in my Mum´s village all through Christmas – we threw everything into the back of the car and relocated our entire Christmas to my sisters!

We had car problems, I came down with shingles and my Mum was ill – probably with a resurgence of the COVID she´d had a few weeks before. I then threw my back out and had to see a chiropractor three times, still hobbling by the end of the trip.

But none of it mattered, we spent a wonderful few weeks with everyone we love. We were looked after, cared for and well fed. And that´s exactly what we had both needed

We even managed a trip to London to meet up with two of the friends we travelled through West Africa with

And I got to the Tate Modern to see a fabulous African art exhibition which nearly brought tears to my eyes thinking about all our wonderful experiences over the last few years

Including a display from an artist that I first saw in Abidjan two years ago as we waited to get Henry on his boat to Cape Town

How long ago that all seems now!

People often ask what we miss about the UK and there is always only one answer to that – family and friends.

But by the time our return flights came round we were raring to go, looking forward to seeing the sun again and our itchy feet were burning a hole in our boots.

We arrived back in Malawi feeling as though it had been a lifetime ago since we left. And for poor Henry it may as well have been. The taxi dropped us off inside the gates right next to where he had been left and we excitedly opened him up ready to unpack and settle in back home.

But as soon as we opened the doors we realised all was not well. The owners of the storage place had done nothing to dry him out, they had just left him to sit for weeks ringing wet and the inevitable had happened

The seat covers, cushions, blankets and all our clothes were relatively easily cleaned in a washing machine. The fridge cover was scrubbed with vinegar and came out ok. But the bamboo floor, seats and worktops that we had cared for and looked after for three years were ruined.

The mould will never come off and the bamboo is now going to be black around the edges until we are able to sand it all down and revarnish it.

We were devastated and heartbroken. The owners couldn´t give two hoots, they just brushed it off saying it was the challenges of being in Africa and claimed they didn´t even remember it raining when we left.

We angrily spent the rest of the day cleaning him up as best we could – having had no sleep for 24 hours and little to eat. We weren´t able to even go to the supermarket so dinner that evening was just soup.

As usual, we had brought back a bulging bag of spare parts for Henry and had planned to spend a week at this campsite doing all the work to replace, upgrade and maintain everything that needed doing. But we were struggling to even be civil to our unpleasant hosts so we paid the bill early the next morning and left.

Our new campsite was nearly an hour away on the west of the city – annoyingly this place also offered vehicle storage and we had originally planned to leave Henry with them until we realised how far it was from the airport. We wished with all our hearts that we had kept to our original plan and never more so than when we arrived to find a lovely, friendly and professionally run place

James made a start on the work to Henry – starting with replacing the water pump that had blown its pressure switch back in Zimbabwe

The new one was smaller, lighter and quieter, it was a good job done.

But there was a lot more yet to do – changing the rear shock absorber, handbrake cable and shoes kept him busy most of the day

I started off trying to dry out some of our stuff that was still wet from being in storage

Then sat doing some work on the laptop. By around 3pm I started to feel a bit sick. I brushed it off assuming it was just the long journey back from the UK and the upset of finding Henry in such a state. We cooked dinner that evening but by the time it was served I wasn´t sure I could eat it. James encouraged me to try, certain I would feel better with a proper meal inside me. But sadly it was not to be – I spent the next 48 hours violently ill, the first time I have had such a bad episode since our travels began. Whether it was a virus caught on the flight, something I ate or the water at the previous awful campsite, who knows.

On our third day I was feeling much better and James had almost finished the work on Henry. But we had been stationary for so long that our powerful new lithium battery was empty and desperately needed charging. We had no power at all – the fridge had switched itself off overnight and was warming up rapidly and even the new water pump was dead. It seemed that we were doomed at the moment.

We started the engine and ran it for most of the morning to charge the battery. It took hours but finally everything sprang back into action to our great relief.

We chatted to the owner, Rudolph, who was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. We needed to find a garage that had a press where we could press the bushes out of our front radius arms to replace them. He suggested we go to the local technical college where a good mechanic had all the right equipment in their workshop. He rang the mechanic and told him to expect us.

The college was only a few minutes drive away and when we arrived the mechanic beamed at us in welcome. He spent three hours working with James to remove the front radium arms, press the old bushes out, press the new bushes in and replace the arms

He asked for the equivalent of £15! We gave him what he wanted along with a tip of almost the same again.

We then headed further into the city to find the Malawian Revenue Authority and buy our road tax. We had been told at the border that it wasn´t needed as we had a carnet but had since found out this was not the case. Rudolph had warned us it would take time as they are very slow but in the end they were helpful and efficient and we were in and out in half an hour.

Things were looking up, we felt as though our bad luck was starting to subside at last. On a wave of renewed energy we went to the nearby mall, found a Malawian converter plug to allow us to run our fridge off the campsite´s power whilst our battery recovered and stocked up on food.

That evening we were in the middle of cooking dinner when one of the campsite staff came over to tell us that someone was at reception asking for us. We were a little confused so I followed him up to find out who even knew we were there. When I arrived I found the mechanic from the college smiling at me. We had left one of our spanners in his workshop and he had driven all the way over to return it to us.

Things were definitely looking up, our karma had finally turned. Malawi awaited us and this time we were going to do it justice….