August 27-28
Hello everyone!
Three weeks in Lilongwe, with only brief visits outside of
the city limits, can feel like quite a long time, especially when trying to
settle in a new country with all the issues that brings. Luckily, many
interesting and relaxing places are within an easy drive from the capital…
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| A Dedza sunset |
…if you have a car, of course. Getting one has proved to
be…how should I put it…problematic. Mainly because every car we have seen up to
this point has had major problems which would double the cost of the vehicle in
order to fix.
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| An example from a Facebook group of a car for sale |
Friends have cars, however, so we joined a family who live
on our compound and headed (direction) to the village of Dedza, mere kilometres
away from the border with Mozambique. Well, one of the borders: Mozambique
envelops much of Malawi.
Dedza is famous for its pottery. We camped at the pottery
lodge, where they have many lovely and carefully crafted pieces for sale. They
even take special requests; we’re converting the cup used in churches for the
sacrament into pottery wine glasses! They said that orders will be completed
within three weeks. This is Malawi, though – it will get done, but best not to
put a date on it.
We used the pottery lodge as our camping ground, staying in
a frankly ridiculously large tent on the Saturday night. Dedza is higher up
than Lilongwe: colder, particularly when the sun has gone.
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| Could easily sleep 12, that monster |
The lodge is situated within some bizarre natural features,
one of which looked like a whale soaring out of the water a la Free Willy.
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| Shamu decided to take his show global... |
We went on a lovely afternoon hike through some wildly
changing flora – the contrast between the dusty bottom and almost lush greenery
near the top was quite staggering. I’m sure it will be incredibly different
when the rains start to fall later in the year.
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| Walking through the dry countryside - I'm sure it will transform when the rain arrives |
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| A vista of the Dedza hills |
We didn’t quite make it to the top of the highest hill but
walked through some wonderful areas.
Upon our return, we spied a small, concrete building called
‘Stop-Over Bar’. Feeling thirsty and adventurous, we entered the small hole
which constituted a door and ordered a few beers. That was before I spotted
something I had read about but hadn’t seen anywhere in Malawi: Chipiku
Shake-Shake.
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| One of the smaller bars you'll see... |
Not your usual drink, this. It comes in a litre carton, for
one. It has to be shaken before consumption, hence the name. The carton gets
opened with a pair of (probably unsterilised) scissors and handed to the brave
person who has ordered it.
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| The innkeeper opening our...carton |
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| Looks more like a milkshake than a beer to me |
I managed three small sips before handing it to a local man
in the bar. He gulped down about half of the flimsy box before giving it to his
wife. Who poured the awful liquid down her throat whilst holding her baby.
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| A forced smile after suffering through a mouthful of Shake-Shake |
Whilst on our hike, we had passed close to a hamlet which
was colourful with noise. We encountered them again, close-up, at Stopover.
Throngs of children danced and leapt to the sound of drums as the crowd circled
us. We also witnessed a large football game across the road. Everyone seemed
very friendly and surprised to see a group of muzungu. This surprised me as the pottery lodge, about 200m down
the road, is a popular visiting spot for expats.
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| A variety of football kits were visible as we drove past |
The following morning, we took an eventful detour on our way
back to Lilongwe to find some rock art at Mpunzhi. After bumping along a dusty
track for what seemed an age, we eventually reached the end of the road at the
foot of a large hill.
No one was around when we arrived so we started following
what seemed to be a path. Three teenage boys quickly located us and tried to
send us in a completely different direction. Unlike most people we have met up
to this point in Malawi, they seemed standoff-ish but keen to assert their
route upon us. Their lack of English and our lack of Chichewa led to an
uncomfortable situation which eventually resulted in us returning to our
car…where we found the local tour guide.
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| Many paths, no idea of which one to follow... |
The guide, called Linton, took us to four of the eight
sites. It transpires that the young boys were trying to send us through a
shortcut up to the furthest, highest location of the rock art. The art on the
rock faces, red from the soil, is up to 10,000 years old.
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| Our guide, Linton, showed us different patterns they would draw |
Linton was very informative, highlighting different patterns
and a ladder which suggested how they created such tall creations, such as the
giraffe which is over five metres tall.
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| This might give you an idea of how tall the giraffe is |
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| A painting of a paw print, suggesting a time when lions roamed across the land |
We weren’t alone with our guide when being shown the
‘paintings’. A group of young boys and girls were enthusiastically following us
around, chatting, smiling and throwing a ball made out of plastic bags.
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| How to solve the world's plastic bag problem! |
The children were an absolute delight, in contrast to the
shady behaviour of the boys we had met before.
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| The dress was too big for this adorable little girl so she had to keep hitching it up |
I get the feeling that a weekend out of the modern sprawl of
Lilongwe will happen a lot during our time here. Dedza will definitely be one
of the options.
Love you all
Matt
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