My cousin Hannah and her fiancee Martyn were due to get married in Malawi on 10th August 2022. Suma has family in central and southern Tanzania. It seemed that a road trip was in order, and we had 6 weeks in which to do it…
Dar Es Salaam
We hung out in Dar for a couple of days with Suma’s brother Jones, it was great to catch up with him again.
A priority was to get some new tyres fitted to Graces’s Hilux, so we headed to the embassy district to get some fitted. While up on the ramps we could inspect the car for some long-overdue repairs that needed doing. It was obvious that the truck had been roughly treated and badly maintained.
We drove up to Ndege (bird) beach near Sumas beach plot at Mbweni JKT, just north of Dar for the day, while Suma got some new mini dreadlocks fitted (sista-locks). The kids played on the beach while me and Jones caught up in the bar/restaurant. Ndege beach is developing a little, there is a new bar & restaurant being built. The beach needs tidying up a bit.
Morogoro
The Uluguru mountains overlook Morogoro, you can see them from many miles away on the approach to the sprawling town that is the regional capital.
They are part of the Eastern Arc mountains, a group of isolated mountains which rise from a large plateau. The ancient forest on them dates back to when all of East Africa was covered in dense rainforest. When the climate dried, the land turned to savannah. The mountains retained their rainforest to this day, and continue to catch rain. Even in the dry season, there are often clouds on the mountains. Surrounded by dry savannah, the mountains are isolated from each other like islands in an ocean, and so endemic species have evolved (found nowhere else in the world).
If you hike up to Morningside (the abandoned German mansion halfway up the mountain), you will walk past terraces growing strawberries. Further up you can walk towards the densely forested nature reserve. It is lush, beautiful and primal, a snippet of true African rainforest.
There are few animals left in that forest though. A few monkeys and thats about it. Further east the Udzungwa mountains cover a larger area and are better protected, being a National Park.
We spent a few days in Morogoro enjoying our time with Grace, visiting a plot of land near Mzumbe university, looking at a plot in Naninani, visiting Timothy’s grave. There is a section of the cemetary set aside for the victims of a recent fuel truck tragedy. A fuel tanker tipped over, and crowds of people were using buckets, bottles and whatever containers they could find to mop up the spilling fuel. Someone caused a spark while stealing the truck battery, and the resulting inferno incinerated over 100 people. The sad thing is, this has happened several times before in Tanzania.
Vehicle repairs: Oil change, some welding, brakes, new front stabilisers, new clutch.
Day trip to Mikumi. Last time we visited Morogoro I passed up the opportunity to visit Mikumi, and regretted it. So this time I made sure we went. We had a great day driving around this relatively small park. We just opted for a self drive tour of the various dirt roads that criss-cross the park. The A7 cuts right through the middle, so stick to the speed limits and make sure you dont hit any wildlife. There are large fines for injuring or killing animals.
We spent some evenings at Dragonaires bar, it is great place to hang out of an evening. Good, cheap food and drinks. We took a walk up the mountain, but it wasn’t too successful. The footpath started out easy enough to follow, but soon turned into a network of small tracks that were difficult to follow. They were just tracks used by charcoal burners, and we saw loads of charcoal pits.
Looking up at the mountain from Graces house, you can see columns of smoke from charcoal fires right up on the higher inaccessible parts of the mountain. I worry that at this rate the forest will disappear within the next few years. With no tree roots to bind the dense red soil together, the slopes are so steep that there is a real risk of devastating landslides during the intense rainy season. The settlements continue to expand up the hillside, with the poorest building mud-brick houses onto terraces cut into the hill.
Dodoma
Leaving Morogoro around 10 am we headed to Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania. Sumas niece Mira lives in Dodoma, so we wanted to go see her. Jones has a house there, and we could stay there overnight. After many uneventful hours of tar-road travel, we arrived in Dodoma. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon. Cousin David volunteered to go fetch Mira from her moms house. About 4 hours later he eventually arrived with her: Mira’s mother (estranged from Sumas brother Maka) had, rather spitefully, not told her we had come to see her, so no arrangements had been made. As a result we only got to spend 2 hours with Mira, a real shame.
Police blocked the roads to allow a Presidential motorcade to pass, leading to a crazy scrum after it passed. It is not uncommon for police or soldiers to stop traffic and force cars off to the side of the road. You will wait there for maybe half an hour or so. Then a fleet of black shiny Land Cruisers, Army troop carriers or both come thundering past. It could be a high-ranking politician or important army general.
Another uneventful tar-road drive to Iringa.
Ruaha
Tandala Lodge, notes about Iringa. Almost hit a Kudu, almost ran over a Cobra.
Pretty rough roads in places. The corrugations were so bad in some places that the truck went almost sideways at times, skipping and bouncing around due to no weight in the back. At Tandala they owners said that the road was usually worse than this.
Iringa
We left the smelly rustic chalets in Ruaha National Park by noon and began the drive back to Iringa along the dirt road. The steering began to feel a bit unstable, so we stopped at the next village,Tungamalenga. I looked under the vehicle and the stabiliser (which we had replaced in Morogoro) had come off. The mechanic hadn’t tightened the nut up properly, and it had worked loose and stripped the thread off. The loose stabiliser then damaged the drive shaft rubber boot, which came off, allowing dust to get in places it shouldn’t.
Within minutes of saying to a shopkeeper ‘naomba fundi’ (I need a mechanic), a guy appeared with a few basic battered tools and managed to do a quick fix to get us back on the road, while a local drunk unsuccessfully tried to beg some cash for more booze. We gave the mechanic our sincere thanks and a few shillings for his services then headed off.
Not much further along the road I was amazed to see an old Land Cruiser at the side of the road with its wheel missing. Not just the wheel, but the whole hub assembly had fallen off. A family from Iringa were having a bad day on their way back from a tour of Ruaha. The road was rough for sure. A woman with 3 kids were sat in the shade while the 2 men were busy trying to reattach the wheel. We stopped and asked if we could help in any way, and it was agreed that the best way we could help was to give the mother and children a lift back home to Iringa. There were 3 adults and 5 kids all snugly crammed into the cab for a couple of hours.
After taking the family home, we headed to the famous Sunset Hotel Iringa Hotel. Its not cheap but it is very nice. Normally for a family room in a basic & clean Tanzanian hotel we would expect to pay around 25-30 USD per night. The Sunset Iringa is superb, but more like 55 USD per night and with great evening meals and a fantastic breakfast. Some of Reece’s fondest memories of our Africa trip are the food he ate at the Sunset Iringa Hotel.
We needed the front stabiliser to be fixed properly as the village mechanic was only able to do a temporary fix. The threaded bolt was an integral part of the stabiliser, so the whole part needed to be replaced (again), and the rubber boot. The helpful hotel manager got his mechanic to come and collect the truck, he then brought it back to us with the repair done. He did a good job too, although the rubber boot did keep working loose until we could find a big enough jubilee clip.
Mbeya
After leaving Iringa we headed down to Mbeya to visit Sumas family. Around 20 miles outside Mbeya we had a puncture on the rear. Not able to pull over safely on the deadly main road, I drove for 200m and turned into a dirt road leading to a small settlement. Unfortunately the new spare we had fitted in Dar a few weeks earlier had not been set properly and the air had leaked out. So now we have 2 flat tyres. We get chatting to some friendly locals, one of whom phones his friend who has a motorbike. A guy on a motorbike soon appears, puts our wheel on his carry-rack and takes it to get it repaired. About an hour later we are back on the road, and i cannot thank our new friend Daniel enough for his help in getting us on our way. Genuiney nice people, happy to help out some strangers. A perfect example of the kindness of Swahili culture.
With all the vehicle issues we arrived quite late to Mbeya, and Sumas family directed us to a hotel not far from their house, where we checked in and went to tea with Sumas aunt.
The next day we needed some more vehicle repairs. The new clutch that we had fitted in Morogoro was slipping. A relative found someone reliable to adjust the cable and it fixed the problem. It was getting a bit annoying having to get jobs re-done that had been bodged by the Morogoro mechanics.
So after saying our goodbyes, we left Suma’s aunt, uncle and cousins the next day and headed south to Tukuyu to visit another uncle.
Tukuyu
The relatively short journey to Tukuyu was uneventful. The road winds up from the dry region surrounding Mbeya up around the lush foothills of Mount Rungwe and Kitulo National Park. Mount Rungwe dominates the scenery of the area, and there are excursions that you can do up to see a volcanic lake and waterfalls, plus visit the park.
Tukuyu is the main town on the road from Mbeya to the Malawi border, and is where Sumas mother grew up. Her family has land nearby, managed by uncle Fred. We visited uncle Fred, who treated us to some delicious food and tea, all locally-grown. We stayed at the main hotel in the centre of Tukuyu, it is very cheap and clean and serves as a good base to explore the surrounding area. Weekends sees the hotel hosting wedding parties, so expect loud music until midnight on a friday & saturday.
The next day Fred proudly showed us around his farm, which was a mix of banana, cassava and avocados all growing together and beautifully tended by himself. He is in his 70’s, but looks 20 years younger and is fitter than a butchers dog. Here the land is very fertile and the sun and rain are in abundance, creating perfect growing conditions for crops. You can almost see the weeds growing. The neatly raked soil on Freds farm indicates how much work he puts into keeping this lovely patch of terraced hillside manicured and in perfect condition.
Tukuyu to Mwakaleili
After saying farewell to Fred we headed off down a long dirt road towards Kandete Mwakaleli to see the local legend that is Mzee Isa, the man who raised Sumas father Timothy. Kandete is 2-3 hours drive out into the bush, and Timothy was from a very small village even further out into the bush.
He saw great potential in his nephew from the village: the intelligent young orphan Timothy. Mzee Isa took Timothy from the village and raised him as his own, putting him through education. Timothy eventually become a respected professor at Mzumbe University.
Despite the language barrier, you can see Mzee Isa is an extremely intelligent man. He is known, respected and loved by all in his community. Tanzania is a devoutly christian country. As with many Tanzaians, Mzee Isa is deeply religious. When Suma told him that I dont believe in god, rather than being amazed and puzzled, his response was thoughtful and pragmatic. “Well” he said, “He seems to be a good guy and is honest about his beliefs. I would rather someone be truthful than lie or tell people what they want to hear. There are people in this country who go to church every sunday and prey to god but do not live godly lives. They say one thing and do another. ”
Mzee Isa managed to get a message to Sumas favourite aunt Salome (from her fathers side), who lives in the remote village where her father Timothy was born. We had been struggling to contact her, and Suma really was desperate to see her. The next morning, on the day we were due to leave, we were woken early by a cockrel crowing really loudly right outside our bedroom window. I jokingly remarked to Suma my desire to kill and eat it for dinner.
After getting up, we realised that aunt Salome had arrived. The cockerel was hers, and she had carried it and a sack of bananas all the way in from the remote village, along with her daughter and newborn grandaughter. They had been walking since 5am to reach us, worried that they may have missed us.
Now aunt Salome is extremely poor. She lives a subsistence lifestyle, eating only what she can grow. For her to give us a cockerel when she struggles to feed her own family was not lost on us. It was gamey and delicious when we ate it for lunch, prepared for us by Salome and cousin Bless who was visiting from Kyela.
We were really keen to visit Salome’s village, so offered her and her daughter + baby a lift back home. After an hour trundling down a dirt road we arrived at a small village. It is surrounded on all 3 sides by the verdant steep-sided ridges of the Mt Rungwe foothills and The Livingstone Mountains.
We had to travel the rest of the way to her settlement on foot, crossing over a river using a fallen tree. Intense rains caused flash floods the previous year and had washed away the footbridge and changed the course of the river. It had also almost washed away some of the houses too.
The settlement was a collection of 4 mud-brick houses around a central courtyard, rendered and capped with corrugated tin roofs. There is no electricity or plumbing, although water is in plentiful supply from the nearby river. Each house was owned by one of the wives of the late village elder. One of those wives had recently passed away so the settlement was full of relatives who had come to pay their respects.
We were welcomed into one of the houses, inside the soot-blacked hut were 3 old ladies sitting around a central fireplace, more distant relatives of Sumas. When we were introduced to them they stood up and gave us all big warm hugs and big smiles.
Im so happy that the kids got to see where their grandfather was born and raised, and to meet some of their distant relatives. Life has changed very little here since Timothy was born. It is very remote, the people are very poor.
Mwakaleli to Matema
Truck blocking the dirt road by trying to reverse into a field. The very beautiful drive back to Tukuyu and Matema was interrupted by a speed trap.
Matema is a quiet picturesque fishing village on the northern tip of Lake Nyasa, more commonly known outside of Tanzania as Lake Malawi. It is part of the rift valley, and the pleasant drive down to the lake from Tukuyu is a journey through stunning ancient volcanic formations carpeted in rainforest with the lower slopes blanketed in banana & tea plantations.
Matema is bordered on 2 sides by the Livingstone mountains, rising up like a green wall from the lake shore.
We stayed in the Palazzo Garden Resort hotel in some newly-built bungalows with secure parking. We stayed in the bungalows because Suma liked the shiny bathrooms. The bungalows are very modern, clean and comfortable. The remind me of 4 star hotel rooms in the Mediterranean. The food is pretty basic. The staff are very welcoming, and the place appears well-managed. It is popular with Tanzanians who come down from Mbeya for the weekends.
There are some nice lodgings not far away at Matema Lake Shore Resort. They 2 storey chalets have plenty of character, facing directly onto the beach with wonderful views. The restaurant caters for international guests so the food is better than at the Palazzo.
Matema is a great place to kick back and relax for a few days if you’ve been on the road. We liked it so much we stayed for 5 days. Theres a nice slow pace to life here. It is definitely off the tourist trail, so there are no Maasai pestering you to buy bracelets like on Zanzibar. The water is clean and safe to swim in. We walked west down the beach towards where a river flows into the lake as we were told that there are crocodiles and hippos there. We saw neither, but there are definitely hippos there as you can see their footprints.
We also hiked up to Mwalolo falls. We paid a guide to show you us the route, and paid a small entrance fee which goes to the local community. There is no path. I was expecting something like Dovedale. It is more like a mixture of canyoning, bouldering and rock scrambling. Its a bit sketchy in places. Its very pretty though, and well worth the effort. You’ll feel like Dr Livingstone. Reece complained a lot, Josh took it all in his stride and Suma was panicking in some of the more sketchy places.
Matema to Songwe border post
Getting out of Tanzania was no problem, a simple formality of filling out forms and getting passports stamped. You then cross the bridge over the Songwe river and then deal with the Malawian immigration. We needed a letter from Suma’s mom stating that it was ok for us to use her vehicle in Malawi. We didnt have this, but a fixer soon managed to produce one, which just needed one of us to sign ‘on behalf of’ Grace. Job done. Now it came to the visas. Visa entry costs to Malawi for foreigners are $50 USD pp. It is clearly stated on the Malawi government website, and you have the option to buy your visa online in advance. The Malawian officials decided that today it was $75 USD pp, adding $100 USD to the cost of 4 of us. Our protests were met with an indifferent shrug and ‘You should have got your visa online, and if you dont like it, go back to Tanzania’. This is clearly a scam, and they are all in on it. There is nothing you can do. An overland coach trip was crossing at the same time as us. One of their party was from Brazil. He had to pay $150 for his visa. The reason for this was given as, ‘Well, Brazil is a dangerous country. Visa is more expensive’. Next time I cross into Malawi via a land border, ill be buying the visas in advance, assuming the website actually works. Our relatives who flew directly into Lilongwe paid $50 USD. Visa scams are easier to enforce at remote border crossings than at international airports!
Songwe to Nkhata Bay
After the hassle at the border it was nice to be back in the car and driving again. Already there was a noticeable difference. You could easily tell you were in a different country. Malawi is possibly the poorest country in Africa. All along the Tanzanian highways there are cars, motorbikes, taxis, trucks, and coaches everywhere. There are markets, shops, stalls, businesses and houses everywhere. The houses are mostly rendered and neatly painted, with corrugated metal roofs of various styles and colours. Theres just lots going on. The place is thriving.
Not so in Malawi. The first thing we noticed was the lack of vehicles on the road. Next are the houses: small, mostly mud-brick construction with thatch roofs. It looks like they have to keep rebuilding them – many seem to be returning to the earth from which they were made.
Time was ticking so we found a lodge on the lakeshore. I forget the name of it as we only stayed one night. It was basic, quiet but nice. This was when we had our first inklings of the Malawian electricity situation. Or lack of it. Power was off in the morning when we woke. Rather than have a cold shower in a dark room, I chose to go and wash in the lake like everybody else does in Malawi. Very refreshing, I can get used to this. It seems that power is only on during the evening, from around 8pm to 6am, and it varies. Sometimes the power is on during the day, sometimes not at all. If you have devices to charge up, then plug them in overnight. We carry a 4 gang extension lead so we just use one plug socket to charge up the phones and the laptop. Conveniently, despite the power grid being down, the phone masts still work so you still get phone reception.
Its impressive that the country functions at all with that little electricity. If the UK had the same power situation, we would be eating each other within a week. Maybe the lack of electricity is one thing holding Malawi back. Solar tech could definitely make a difference here.
So next day we pack up and head towards Nkhata bay, a small fishing village in a sheltered bay. After looking at a few options we decided to stay at Mayoka Village. I wasnt too overjoyed at paying $55 USD per night for a family chalet. But on reflection I was being excessively tight-arsed about it. The site comprises chalets and a restaurant nestled in a hillside littered with enormous boulders. Everything is built around or on these boulders, with a newtork of paths, steps and walkways linking them all together. Our stilted chalet was right on the lakeshore, with a large deck protruding over the lake. There was no beach, but access to the lake is via steps over boulders and swim platforms. The resort is popular with backpackers, and its easy to see why.
The food and drinks are fantastic & well priced. They have kayaks that you can use to explore the bay. Also there are a lot of excursions that can be booked directly from the restaurant area. You could easily spend a couple of weeks here. We only stayed for 2 nights though.
Nkhata bay to Nkhotakota NP
We continued south. I saw from our map that the next logical place to stop was Nhotakota, with the option to explore the nearby national park of the same name. This is pronounced hota-kota, with a barely audible ‘nk’ at the start.
We saw a sign for Fish Eagle Bay lodge, so decided to take a look. It looked nice so we decided to stay for the night. Nice food, cold beers and a friendly manager who I felt could have been a highly successful academic if he had the same opportunities we have in the west.
As with many beach lodges we came across in Malawi, your house/chalet is right on the beach.The food is simple but fine, the staff are friendly, the electricity is mostly switched off. A pattern was emerging! Coming from land-locked Birmingham dont think i can will ever get tired of walking out of my front door and stepping onto a stunning deserted beach. And the prices of these amazing lodges are really cheap too.
The first night at there a strong wind picked up on the lake, and our sleep was intermittent due to a howling gale whistling through the chalet. We thought about packing up and leaving in the morning, but the manager appeared and apologised profusely – there were shutters on the windows that they normally close during the evening, but he forgot and we didnt know that the shutters were there. Now we knew about the shutters, and because I was keen on exploring Nkhotakota National Park, we decided to stay another night.
The drive to Nkhotakota NP was about an hour and a half. While Suma paid the (very cheap) park entry fees i gave the car a quick look over. The rubber boot had come off the front drive shaft, so i got my hands caked in grease forcing it back on. I found that mixing sand with liquid soap makes a fantastic swarfiga and gets the grease off in no time. We were allowed to self drive, but had to take an armed guide with us. He had a slick-looking M-16 and sensibly wouldnt let me play with it.
The National Park has been around for many years, but has suffered poaching on an industrial scale. Until recently there were very few animals left in the park, so nobody bothered visiting it. African Parks have taken over the management and are trying to turn things around. Hides are being built, animals are being reintroduced from the Liwonde NP in the south of Malawi, there are education programmes, and there are armed anti-poaching patrols.
By killing the elephants and other herbivores the vegetation has grown quite thick so its difficult to see much of the wildlife. We did come across one herd of elephants. We were driving down a single track dirt road with very dense forest either side of us. We could see that there were elephants nearby – fresh poops and shredded trees branches everywhere are sure signs.
Now this is a potentially dangerous situation. In the dense bush, elephants cant see you, and you cant see them. Wherever you are, sneaking up and surprising an elephant is not a good idea. Even a modest-sized elephant could easily flip a car if it wanted to. Elephants here have been either hunted by humans or forcibly relocated from elsewhere, not exactly endearing them to humans.
The potential for things to turn ugly are very real, and an M-16 isnt going to stop an irate bull elephant!
We stopped and wound down the windows, listening. Up ahead, about 40m, several elephants came out from the bush on the left and crossed the road. They clocked us and the guide advised me to reverse, which i did. We found a spot where i could turn around, so i manage a very quick 7 point turn and we headed back the way we came.
Up ahead of us, another herd of elephants appeared out of the bush, so we stopped. We were sandwiched between 2 groups of unknown size and we didnt know where most of them were. The guide started to look worried, and this is when i started to get a bit concerned. It was the most worried I have been on any animal encounter.
The guide advised me to continue slowly, which i did until we were roughly level with one elephant still in the bush on our left. It gave out a loud trumpeting alarm, the guide shouted ‘go, go, go’ so I planted the foot down and we shot out of there.
We saw a few impala, and i accidentally ran over a puff adder (which i still feel pretty guilty about), but apart from that we didn’t see any other wildlife. It was an enjoyable drive through some lovely forest trails, and the elephant encounter was memorable.
They have a long way to go before it can rival the other parks in Africa, but at least they are moving in the right direction. If Malawi can offer a choice of superb safari experiences then it has the potential to be a world class tourist destination. They certainly have the most stunning beaches.
Nkhotakota to Cape Maclear
We were sad to leave our new friend at Fish Eagle Bay lodge, and headed off towards Cape Maclear. I was under the impression that Cape Maclear was the tourism capital of Malawi; it is on all the travel sites and everybody who comes to Malawi comes to Cape Maclear. So I was expecting a sort of Africanised Benidorm. I couldnt have been more wrong! It is in fact a quiet fishing village with a handful of lodges, restaurants, craft shops and small hotels scattered along the shore.
Each evening a fleet of small dugout canoes and small motorised boats head out from the beach to spend the night fishing out on the lake. In the morning the men and boys return with their catch. The women spread the fish out on drying mats and repair the nets. It is a life that has changed little in centuries.
Cape Maclear is in a gorgeous sheltered bay on a peninsula jutting out into the lake, and has the benefit of being west-facing. As most beaches in Malawi face east, this is the only one with lodges where you can see a sunset. And what a spectacular sunset it is! I took so many sunset photos. We spent 3 nights here, but could have easily stayed a lot longer.
Things to do in Cape Maclear:
Most activities are centred around the water. The Cape is in a nature reserve, both the land and the waters in bay are included in the reserve. The main attraction is the uninhabited offshore island which is protected, together with the water that surrounds it. Anybody who keeps tropical freshwater fish will know about the famous Ciclids found in Lake Malawi. They are almost as brightly coloured as fish youll see on a coral reef. Visiting the island and swimming with the Ciclids is a must.
We did a trip in a small motor boat, just 4 of us plus a guide. We spent the whole day there, snorkelling with the Ciclids, relaxing on the beach and paddling in the lake. Fish eagles perch in the trees above, noisily calling to each other.
Since they are protected from fishing, there are so many fish here. Drop some dried bread into the water and you are instantly surrounded by a shimmering mass of Ciclids, forming a wall of fish so thick you cannot see through it. Spectacular.
Before heading back to shore, the boat took a small detour where the guide threw a couple of pre-caught fish into the water. Fish Eagles then came swooping in to claim them.
Our boat trip was 100 USD for the day, which was quite expensive by Malawian standards. But then it was a private boat trip, and the guide made us a fantastic lunch: a large catfish cooked on a barbeque with rice and vegetables. It would be a lot cheaper to rent kayaks and paddle over – its a sheltered bay so is quite safe, and its not far to reach the island.
Nkhudzi Bay
Ddddd
Senga bay
Wedding
Heading back to Tz: border crossing, stay in Iringa, back to Morogoro in 3 days from Senga bay.
Visiting Nyerere NP, Last week in Kigamboni on the beach
