Malawi

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15th October

At Kiboko Lodge in Lilongwe we met an English couple who had cycled down from Brighton, heading for Cape Town. They had planned their trip as a holiday, taking fourteen months to reach Malawi, and allowing themselves the odd lift or train ride but nevertheless carrying their own luggage on their bikes, which is quite a feat. They were extremely helpful in telling us about the route down from Cairo. One of the countries we have been most worried about has been Sudan, which is still suffering from guerrilla warfare in many areas. However, this was their favourite part of the trip so far and they had spent an amazing three months enjoying the Sudanese desert and hospitality. Less reassuringly, when we asked about Ethiopia their faces dropped, as did ours when they began a long list of stories about rock throwing and stick wielding. Malawians are certainly friendly, but we seem to get "Dollar me!", and "Give me money!" from children much more often than in Mozambique. Apparently in Ethiopia these demands, when not met, are followed up with a barrage of rocks and sticks…they had even heard a story of one man being set on fire. Although it is a long way off, we have already come up with a plan to cycle fast through villages and stay close to the LandRover!

Our time in Malawi has been considerably more relaxed than in Mozambique and we have been able to devote more time to our health and the documentary. South Africa was a time when we got fitter and gradually more ambitious with our cycling, and Swaziland and Mozambique proved very successful in terms of time. Malawi, so far, has felt like a recovery period rather than a proper leg of the trip, as we have all become over-tired and ill at times. Rob has pretty much recovered from his tonsillitis, and Becks looks increasingly healthier and is proving much more durable than her two pathetic male cycling partners! Yesterday, after feeling better then worse periodically for ten days, I was diagnosed with an "abemic" infection according to the local doctor’s tests. This sounded extremely rare and worrying until I realised that he meant "amoebic", and a few antibiotics would sort me out. Rob is always keen to prove that none of his ill health comes from cycling too much and he was unfortunately given some bizarre ammunition as we remembered our first day in Malawi. On our last day in Mozambique, we asked our missionary hosts in Villa Ulongwe about the red flags that flew in many villages. Apparently these are either government buildings or witch doctors, which are able to attribute any illness or unfortunate event to a specific individual, who could then be dealt with. As we crossed the border into Malawi we saw a group of witch doctors, one of whom waved his hand aggressively at Rob, so cursing him! We could only assume that his crime was making thousands of African cyclists feel bad about themselves and his punishment was a throat infection that meant he couldn’t shout "Helloooo" to them in a posh English accent as he whistled passed. Our next experience with witch doctors also involved Rob, whose wild mullet and tramp’s beard seems to worry them. The witch doctor came sprinting towards him, in full traditional dress, waving a huge knife, only to stop just before him and ask quite calmly: "Give money me." Fearless Rob just chuckled and shot off down the road. Jono has also been feeling a bit dodgy, but struggled on to do a bang up job on the LandRover in Lilongwe. The terrible roads on the last section of Mozambique hit the suspension hard, and we ended up driving on a tilt for a couple of days. Local garage 'Cranko’s' helped us out with a good price and we were soon back on the level. Jono has also come into recognised territory from his days as an overland driver and tour leader for Dragoman through East and Southern Africa. This experience gives us plenty of confidence as we travel from Lake Malawi to Nairobi. This time round might be a bit slower though. In Lilongwe, we also said good-bye to Joe, whose help with the documentary has been invaluable. Joe also insisted on the cyclists resting in the evening while he organised the cooking, which will be sorely missed by three of us and less so by the other two! Jonny has benefited hugely from Joe’s visit and on top of the exciting developments concerning investigations into modern slavery, Jonny has also become very technically proficient with the camera equipment.

Lake Malawi has been stunning, and we have moved on reluctantly from Senga Bay, Kkhotakota, Kande Beach and Nkhata Bay. These areas are very popular with travellers and each bay seems to provide even more luxurious and beautiful spots for budget prices. Cycling from place to place, however, means that we move far more slowly and consciously through Malawi’s terribly poor villages. Even during Rob’s time in India, Beck’s’ work in Tanzania and Jonny’s travels through the Middle East, none of the group have seen children as malnourished as rural Malawians. Our lunch stops and drinks breaks are always filled with hundreds of children, fascinated by our every move and often sitting patiently in rows as if we are a travelling theatre show. Becks is particularly good at finding the energy to entertain them and Malawi is no exception, but recently we have often found ourselves saddened rather than lifted by the children, whose swollen tummies and scarred skin tell their appalling poverty. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, suffers from one of the highest HIV+ rates in sub-Saharan Africa and most people here seem to think that a political crisis is on its way as the present government has started to find more corrupt ways of guaranteeing its return in next year’s election. All of this has made the problem of human trafficking more relevant to Malawi, as poverty forces more families to offer their children for labour and government weaknesses cannot provide the time or will to deal effectively with the problem. Domestically, truck loads of workers are transported from the south of the country to the northern tobacco estates, and it is common knowledge that some of these workers have had and will have no freedom or rights in their employment. Internationally, the problem seems to be more based upon sexual exploitation and, as we leave Nkhata Bay, Jonny heads back to Lilongwe to interview a teacher who was rescued from enslaved prostitution in Amsterdam, where she was branded by her brothel. (Jonny is currently writing an update for the ‘Documentary’ section, which will follow his thoughts on how the documentary is progressing and the information that the group has collected so far on slavery)