Sunday, October 18, 2009

An excursion to the outback

Reader be warned: this is a LONG entry

Sunday October 18, 2009

JRS staff was granted a four day holiday last week--Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Margaret, Jacqueline and I took that opportunity to visit Malawi's Nkhata Bay--Kande Beach, and Nkhotakota. This was made possible entirely from the generosity of Margaret's father who booked a last minute flight from South Africa to visit his daughter. And so, the weekend unfolded...

Thursday morning the three of us hitched a ride with a JRS staff member to the airport. Though the flight wasn't to come in until 12:15, we arrived there bright and early for 8:45am because had we taken local transit we would have been waiting in town all morning to arrange the transport. That didn't sound like a good option. Instead, we had a chance to drink a cup of coffee, have a sausage with bread and read to pass the time.

Her dad had rented an AVIS vehicle but we weren't aware of this until he arrived so, we chatted with one of the representatives who tried to rent out his own personal vehicle as he claimed it was the only one available. This wasn't true of course. After probing the man with questions, we discovered there were two other vehicles which were actually the company's cars. We thanked him but waited for her dad to arrive.

Turns out he had rented one before he flew from South Africa. After much discussing with the AVIS rep we landed ourselves a vehicle, a white Volkswagen though I'm not sure of the year. Little did we know this car would endure much hardship before arriving back to its parking space.

We loaded up the car, broke into the Toblerone chocolate and headed out towards Kande Beach. The ride was fantastic. Definitely a different change of pace from using minibuses and land cruisers. It was a car ride, one with the freedom to stop at any moment for any given reason. It was like driving thorough Quebec--the winding roads, hilly landscape, open bush and rocky patches here and there. In fact, sometimes I thought we were driving through the Canadian Shield and other times, Newfoundland. We stopped many times to take photographs and children who saw us demanded we take their pictures too (Chambola). Of course this can't be done without them demanding money but we only gave once or twice.

A memorable photo stop was amid a sugar cane plantation. The vast grasses and setting sun created the perfect setting for a photograph. Not to mention the naked boy swimming in a swallow reservoir of water. I withheld from taking photos but let me tell you, Margaret’s dad is a fantastic photographer and captured a brilliant photograph of this boy sitting in rushing water. He was given kwacha in thanks. I think his smile told us it was ok.

After much driving through twilight and into the darkness of night, we arrived at the Kande Beach resort along Lake Malawi. We arranged the rooms and met for dinner in the open chalet and then called it a short evening as we headed to bed around 9:30pm.

Awaking nearly at the crack of dawn (6:15), we quickly gathered a few things together and headed to the riding stables down the road. There we met three other girls who were taking the guided Horse Safari tour as well. We strapped on our chaps and black jockey helmets, signed a waiver for liability purposes and stood among the horses as each of us one by one was placed on a horse to best suit our skill level. I was put on Toots, a finicky horse, one that liked to run and would get spooked by dogs or anything moving in the bush.

Trailing behind the other, we departed up the mountain with the horses. This was a beautiful scene but one that could not be captured on my camera. Just as we'd arrived my camera battery died; picture taking was left up to Margaret's father. In any case, what I captured is that in memory and now in print. The small homes buried within the hills, the farm land tilled by locals living in clearings beyond the trees, and hidden schools, cows and goats were among the many things we passed on our two hour journey through the mountain tops.

We had agreed that four of us would canter together with the head leader starting us off. The first two times we did this it was fine, my horse liked to pick up speed and catch up with the others but together, Toots and I cantered well. It wasn’t until the last canter that we faltered with being sync. We were going at a fast trot and I started to think about what falling off a horse would be like. I thought about what I would say in a blog if I fell, what damage would be done and how I'd even be able to write with a broken arm...then we started to canter.

It wasn’t long before our group of four and all the others were brought to an immediate stop. I was the last of the four and had suggested we slow down and stop just as we were taking a gradual left turn. My left foot had quickly slipped out of the stirrup and I was leaning forward just a tad too much that I started leaning over Toots neck losing control and balance. Before I knew it, I was sliding off my horse landing on my right shoulder and side. I quickly looked at my horse’s hooves to assess whether I’d be trampled but she stood there calmly and I was up on my feet in seconds. My face, arms and clothes were covered in a grey soot but I was more or less fine. I had a few scrapes on my lower back and dirt/road burn on my forearm but other than that I was not seriously hurt. It had to happen, I suppose all the thinking before hand prepared me for this fall. Apparently I took it well.

We ended up walking the horses through a marshy area and then back to the lodge where we were staying. The horses were de-saddled and had a moment to rest. The best was yet to come. Stripped down to our swim suits we mounted our horses bare back and led them to the water. This was a beautiful scene. Holding the bridle, we led them into the water. Some laid down and splashed around, others walked in and out of the water testing the depth and moving among the others. The waves lapped against their bodies and they glistened in the morning sun. Before we knew it we were back on the beach and the horses were re-saddled and led back to the horse stables.

The rest of the day consisted of us resting in the shade and beach and reading and enjoying the quiet and calm sound of waves crashing against the shore. Just before dinner, we opened the bottle of wine Margaret’s dad surprised us with and drank to the sunset. Dinner was a tasty beef stew with rice and a chickpea curry with rice that Margaret and I shared together. A satisfying end to a perfect day on Lake Malawi.

Breakfast was at 7:00am and we were out of the lodge shortly after 8:00am. We headed to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. Up to this point the car was doing alright, it had endured a couple bumps along the way but nothing that it would endure down this road meant for a 4x4. I’m not sure how we made it along the choppy winding roads with the engine shutting down every few hundred feet but we did. We successfully made it to “Malawi's hidden treasure,” the wildlife reserve.

A man by the name of Andrew (a Malawian) led the four of us on foot, for a two hour hike into the wild. Armed with an M16 we trekked through sand and over rock to the shallow river bend which had mostly dried up throughout the dry season. We scanned the river bed and found, just a short distance away, crocodiles hovering their eyes above water. There were a few of them that emerged and swam slowly along the side of the bed furthest away from us and then disappeared into the water. After a short time we continued on our way uphill to find the waterfall that had almost dried completely as well. We were told that elephants can be seen here from time to time but not today. We’d passed the large footprints along the way indicating they’d been around days before but not this day.

Further still and into the hot of the forest in search of wildlife (i.e. lions, elephants, leopards, baboons) we were stabbed by thorns, slashed by sharp twigs and burned by the blistering sun. To save you the suspense-- though a letdown it may seem--we didn’t come across much in terms of harmful wildlife. What we did end up seeing however, were a number of baboons, and a bush buck, lots of incredible trees and hovering flies. By the time we trekked back to the car, it was the hottest time of the day and we were exhausted and out of water. The mission then was to head back to Nkhotakota to the Pottery Lodge and then back towards our sleeping accommodations at Sani Beach.

The car had a terrible time on the way out of the reserve. We’d offered our tour guide a lift to the town and he directed us down a faster road. This road however, was worse than the first. At one point we all had to abandon the car and have Margaret’s dad lead the way solo. Slowly moving across the broken, bumpy, and very rocky earth we made our way to the tarmac but the damage to the bottom of the car is without question. Good thing the car company doesn’t do an assessment of wear and tear beneath the vehicle. Or, I would argue, at least not Malawi.

We dropped Andrew in town, grabbed a couple cold beverages, and drove to Pottery Lodge to enjoy their store full of mixed pottery items and decompress on the cool of the beach. It wasn’t long before we left-- there were no room in the inn. We traveled backward toward Sani beach lodge and after a few wrong turns and pointless phone calls for directions we arrived to a dark, lonely lodge. No one was around and there was no food available for dinner. Two fish, that was it.

We left to find the next lodge along the strip of the lake. Each one we went to didn’t have food and/or no space for the four of us. We hadn’t eaten since the morning and it was dark at this point and getting on 8:00. We somehow managed to find the Safari Lodge with food but no space. We ate, and drank and left fairly soon after we got there to head backwards again to the Stone Terrace Lodge. There was no power, and they had to heat hot water for us for bathing. As nice as this place was, it was far too expensive for what it could offer but we stayed there anyway as we had no other choice. The best thing about that place was the bathtub...what a glorious feeling it was to pour a bucket of hot water into the tub and run the cold water until it was just right. I haven’t had a true bath experience since I left Winnipeg. Beautiful.

We took our morning breakfast back at the Safari Lodge. We had a magnificent view of the lake and all the food came served on beautifully decorated pottery dishes. In fact, I enjoyed the appearance of the mug I was drinking out so much that I asked the server if I could buy it off the restaurant. Haha, yes, the answer was yes. Haha, so, I bought it for about $4 CAD. This completed my morning and trip hands down!

The rest of the way home was smooth sailing (no major bumps this time around) but I’m fairly certain there is something wrong with this vehicle, I’m kind of thinking it’s abnormal for a car to lose power in the middle of driving...I don’t know, I could be wrong about that.

Regardless of damage done, the weekend was peaceful, the colours, sights and sounds brilliant and time spent with friends outweighed the bumps in the road. Seeing the fallen leaves in the forest was a pleasant reminder of what fall would look like if I was in Winnipeg now...then again, I've seen it before and I'll see it again, I likely wont ever see Malawi's hidden treasure ever again. ***

1 comment:

  1. Jamie, I could only imagine what it was like out there, beautiful comes to mind though.  I can only imagine what the car looked like and how it was running.  I'm so eager to see and hear more about this adventure and the mug you purchased.  These experiences you've described are so vivid.  I helps me to visualize everything....thank you.  Love Matthew

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