Tofu (Mozambique) to Nkata bay (Malawi)
9th October
After the few attempts we had made to leave Tofu we finally were able to convince everybody we were set for the off when they saw us in our bike gear…….either that it was going to be a very elaborate hoax !
However, even then leaving wasn’t that easy. To start with, our restaurant bill had not yet been made up despite us requesting it the previous evening
. When we finally did get this it was already about 10:30.….already an hour later than we planned on leaving. However we promised Volker & Manualer that we would pop in and say good bye to them.(Volker having had Malaria for about 3 or 4 days.) so we did, and hour or so later we managed to get on the road. Don’t get us wrong, we were pleased to make the time to say good bye to our new friends 
, it’s just that we anticipated leaving earlier as we expected the day to be quite a big ride. The distance to Vilan Coulos varied depending on who we spoke to and varied between 250 & 400 miles. In the final event it was about 220 and we managed it by around dusk.
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One small village we saw en-route.
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A bridge blown up during Mosambiques civil war between the 70's & 90's.
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John gets a puncture about 3 hours after leaving Tofu from a nail .
After a scoot around town we decided to stay at the Zombie Cucumber backpackers. (Yes that is it’s real name!) It was one of the nicest backpackers we’ve stayed at to date. The following morning we asked if it was possible to get some sandwiches made for our journey-it was, and they were very nice. (The Zombie Backpackers is owned by a British couple.) 
The drive today was largely uneventful, the scenery was pleasant but not that inspiring. We’d decided to stay at Chimoio today and spent a considerable period of time trying to find the Hostels listed in the Lonely Planet. Finally we found one but it looked more like a very run down set of council flats. In the midst of all this there were a number of small local children jumping up and down chanting “Pink Papaya”
and after looking at the “council flats” again decided to see where there chants would take us. So off we went. The fastest of the pack ran very quickly and within a few mins we were at the gates of the Pink Papaya and being greeted by Helen & Puddles, her dog. Helen was very friendly and was soon offering us teas and beers, and finally to take us out to a local restaurant she knew, which we accepted. It was a very nice evening but all too soon over.
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John & Helen at the Pink Papaya.
We were trying to carry lunch with us each day now as cafes and service stations selling food were becoming few and far between and so one of our tasks this morning was to get some rolls and fillings. Helen offered us her executive & exceptional 5 star one-off service, reserved only for around-the-world motorcyclists from England in their 40‘s, and actually went shopping for us and prepared our rolls too. Finally we had to kit up and leave.
Our target today was Tete, about 300 or so miles away. It was pretty hot again and Tete itself was described something along the lines as “as hot as Hell” in the Lonely Planet guide. We arrived in good time and it was very very hot. Fortunatley we checked into a Hotel with air conditioned rooms which is rare in Africa. Unfortunatley my back was killing me-I think as a result of having set my suspension up too stiffly. After some basic exercises John knew to help my back we set off for an hour Kilamanjaro preparation walk…..and even though dark, was still very hot. Tete is quite a fair size and mainly inhabited by locals so our white faces stood out quite a bit. It sounds strange but I really had got to a point where I just saw people and to think of myself as different because of my colour became strange, never-the-less, we stood out to the locals but nobody was unpleasant so our walk was fine.
The following day we were set for crossing into Malawi & then to Lilongwe, Malawis capital. The border crossing was the easiest yet. The whole process from leaving Mozambique and entering Malawi took no longer than 90 mins, including arranging some riding insurance. We stopped for lunch as soon as we’d crossed and spent some time chatting to a very friendly Malawian Policemen in our restaurant. He assured us that Malawians were all very friendly people and the reports we’d heard about crime in Lilongwe were not true. He was very taken with his fellow-countryman Malawians. I didn’t have the heart to ask him why they needed a Police-force !! (It could have been for tourists I suppose !) The ride was pleasant with quite a few good roads and nice bends to keep us entertained for the day.
As we pulled into Lilongwe we were trying to find our Lonely Planet suggested Hotel when a car pulled up in front of us and a guy runs up to us to say hi. It’s Dave, our American friend from Buenos Aires & Cape Town. He and another English guy, Andy, lead us to our desired Hotel….which was fully booked…so we followed Andy to his Backpackers which has rooms and camping space free, set up in a cabin and join Dave and Andy for dinner at Dave’s Hotel. Over dinner we discover that Dave is set for the same direction as us through Malawi and so we agree to team up for a few days.
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John's Summer glove dissintegrates........
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510513.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
................and the wonder of Gaffa tape !!
John and I had already decided to complete our advanced PADI course at Nkata Bay with a night dive in Lake Malawi and Dave was more than happy to join us for the week-end. The ride up was interesting as one of the major roads on our map turned out to be a dried mud track and Dave had been told that it was paved all the way to Nkata bay, however I had the GPS and tracked our route for about 10 miles to confirm that the route we were taking was the one where the main road was supposed to be.
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Some new friends we met along the way....all young boys we met seemed intent on displaying their Kung-Fu type skills.....and took themselves very seriously.
The other slight shock was that Nkata bay turned out to be much further than we’d expected, about another 75 miles, which would have been fine had we discovered that at lunch-time, unfortunately it was about 5 o’clock, which subsequently committed us to about 2 hours of night driving, something Dave had avoided at all costs. He however stayed with us and we arrived at Nyaja Lodge at about 7:45.
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Dave looks on a bit concerned at the gas station, perhaps contemplating the soon-to-be darkness.
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Me at a gas station around the time we discovered that we still had another 75 miles or so to go.
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...and not much later !!
The lodge was very peaceful but expensive so John and I finally resolved to camp there, a decision assisted by the many flights of steps that we would have had to take to get to our room ! We enjoyed a nice dinner and a few beers before retiring.
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A view of Lake Malawi from the Lodge.
The following morning I awoke to the heat generated in my tent by the sun and my body-It was unbearable and so I got up at about 06:45, only to question my eyes as outside Johns tent by his bike was a large Turkey….yes a Turkey. It almost looked like a model as its plumage seemed shiny. It seemed to either like John or be guarding his bike. It really made me laugh. Apparently it’s a pet…..(hmm….yes, that’s what they all say until they get a bit hungry one day.)
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John's Guard turkey !!
We’d arranged to meet Dave for breakfast and then find somewhere suitable for some long overdue haircuts. Breakfast dealt with and we set off to find a decent barbers…well, the best we were recommended was in a very small wooden shack. They had photos of black & white stars with all different haircuts on their walls so I was slightly optimistic. I later thought that they used the photos to demonstrate that they could remove all different hairstyles as all they basically were able to do is give you a number 2 or 3 razor so you came out looking ready for the U.S army !! John and Dave were first and yes, they removed most of the hair. I tried to explain what I’d like and they removed most of mine too barring a natty bit at the front which resembled the haircuts worn by “A flock of seagulls” back in the 1980’s . So I finally had to ask to remove most of that too. It was quite a lot of fun in the end.
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John and Dave brave the first cuts whilst I drink my Ice cold Fanta !!
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My face reflects the images I've seen of John and Dave's haircuts !
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Flock of seagulls, eat your hearts out !
After that we ventured over to arrange our night dive which was soon arranged for tomorrow evening as they needed some time to charge the dive torches up properly. Back to Njaya, another decent dinner and back to our now moved tents(to a shaded and hopefully cooler position)
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Both of our tents in the better shaded and cooler position.
I awoke later this morning and again found John's guard Turkey by his bike.(It just doesn't scan does it !? Guard Turkey !!)
After a leisurely start at breakfast we completed our knowledge review for the night dive and spent the day just relaxing at the back packers. Dave went down to the beach. After lunch John felt a little tired so he kicked back for an afternoon snooze whilst Dave and I chatted.
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The local beach.
The dive time was soon up on us and we had a half hour walk to dive site. Once there we set up the gear before going through our knowledge review with the instructor. The dive was explained to us and by the time we had finished it was dark! We soon had our gear on, and were sweating profusely as we headed out on the lake. The environment was so different from the sea, and especially Tofo, where there had been strong waves to get through. The boat just phut-phutted slowly out onto the dive site. Once at the site we finished kitting up and John was off over the side first. I soon followed but managed a full back summersault and hit my head on the hull of the boat on the way back up!
I wasn’t hurt but was a little shook up. We had a few minutes for me to recover and we were off down the dive line.
In the dark we only had a visibility of 5 metres with our torches but it was not as creepy as we first thought. The fish were all around us and could be clearly seen. One of the exercises we had to do was kneel on the bottom with our torches off for about 30 seconds which was actually quite funny. Torches back on we found that shining lights on smaller fish helped the bigger fish see them and we saw some of the smaller fish eaten in from of our eyes! The dive lasted 39 minutes which is a fairly long dive and rated as one of my favourites. John spent quite a bit of the dive trying to get his buoyancy sorted out which left him a bit frustrated in the end as he was either on the bottom or floating back up to the surface. 
He still managed to enjoy it though and we were soon ashore and the paper work complete to certify us as Advanced PADI divers!
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Dixon, second from left, ran a cookery school for the underprivaleged with his brother, next from the left. After confirming the authenticity of the school, John, Dave & I all chipped in a little to help them get a bit more equipment.
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Honest, I never touched it !! A scene found not long after leaving Nkata Bay. No serious injuries as far as we could see.
Mike.
9th October
After the few attempts we had made to leave Tofu we finally were able to convince everybody we were set for the off when they saw us in our bike gear…….either that it was going to be a very elaborate hoax !
However, even then leaving wasn’t that easy. To start with, our restaurant bill had not yet been made up despite us requesting it the previous evening
. When we finally did get this it was already about 10:30.….already an hour later than we planned on leaving. However we promised Volker & Manualer that we would pop in and say good bye to them.(Volker having had Malaria for about 3 or 4 days.) so we did, and hour or so later we managed to get on the road. Don’t get us wrong, we were pleased to make the time to say good bye to our new friends , it’s just that we anticipated leaving earlier as we expected the day to be quite a big ride. The distance to Vilan Coulos varied depending on who we spoke to and varied between 250 & 400 miles. In the final event it was about 220 and we managed it by around dusk. <IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201504944.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
One small village we saw en-route.
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A bridge blown up during Mosambiques civil war between the 70's & 90's.
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John gets a puncture about 3 hours after leaving Tofu from a nail
. After a scoot around town we decided to stay at the Zombie Cucumber backpackers. (Yes that is it’s real name!) It was one of the nicest backpackers we’ve stayed at to date. The following morning we asked if it was possible to get some sandwiches made for our journey-it was, and they were very nice. (The Zombie Backpackers is owned by a British couple.)
The drive today was largely uneventful, the scenery was pleasant but not that inspiring. We’d decided to stay at Chimoio today and spent a considerable period of time trying to find the Hostels listed in the Lonely Planet. Finally we found one but it looked more like a very run down set of council flats. In the midst of all this there were a number of small local children jumping up and down chanting “Pink Papaya”
and after looking at the “council flats” again decided to see where there chants would take us. So off we went. The fastest of the pack ran very quickly and within a few mins we were at the gates of the Pink Papaya and being greeted by Helen & Puddles, her dog. Helen was very friendly and was soon offering us teas and beers, and finally to take us out to a local restaurant she knew, which we accepted. It was a very nice evening but all too soon over. <IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301291/221805233.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
John & Helen at the Pink Papaya.
We were trying to carry lunch with us each day now as cafes and service stations selling food were becoming few and far between and so one of our tasks this morning was to get some rolls and fillings. Helen offered us her executive & exceptional 5 star one-off service, reserved only for around-the-world motorcyclists from England in their 40‘s, and actually went shopping for us and prepared our rolls too.
Finally we had to kit up and leave.Our target today was Tete, about 300 or so miles away. It was pretty hot again and Tete itself was described something along the lines as “as hot as Hell” in the Lonely Planet guide. We arrived in good time and it was very very hot. Fortunatley we checked into a Hotel with air conditioned rooms which is rare in Africa. Unfortunatley my back was killing me-I think as a result of having set my suspension up too stiffly. After some basic exercises John knew to help my back we set off for an hour Kilamanjaro preparation walk…..and even though dark, was still very hot. Tete is quite a fair size and mainly inhabited by locals so our white faces stood out quite a bit. It sounds strange but I really had got to a point where I just saw people and to think of myself as different because of my colour became strange, never-the-less, we stood out to the locals but nobody was unpleasant so our walk was fine.
The following day we were set for crossing into Malawi & then to Lilongwe, Malawis capital. The border crossing was the easiest yet.
The whole process from leaving Mozambique and entering Malawi took no longer than 90 mins, including arranging some riding insurance. We stopped for lunch as soon as we’d crossed and spent some time chatting to a very friendly Malawian Policemen in our restaurant. He assured us that Malawians were all very friendly people and the reports we’d heard about crime in Lilongwe were not true. He was very taken with his fellow-countryman Malawians. I didn’t have the heart to ask him why they needed a Police-force !! (It could have been for tourists I suppose !) The ride was pleasant with quite a few good roads and nice bends to keep us entertained for the day. As we pulled into Lilongwe we were trying to find our Lonely Planet suggested Hotel when a car pulled up in front of us and a guy runs up to us to say hi. It’s Dave, our American friend from Buenos Aires & Cape Town. He and another English guy, Andy, lead us to our desired Hotel….which was fully booked…so we followed Andy to his Backpackers which has rooms and camping space free, set up in a cabin and join Dave and Andy for dinner at Dave’s Hotel. Over dinner we discover that Dave is set for the same direction as us through Malawi and so we agree to team up for a few days.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510542.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
John's Summer glove dissintegrates........
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510513.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
................and the wonder of Gaffa tape !!
John and I had already decided to complete our advanced PADI course at Nkata Bay with a night dive in Lake Malawi and Dave was more than happy to join us for the week-end. The ride up was interesting as one of the major roads on our map turned out to be a dried mud track and Dave had been told that it was paved all the way to Nkata bay, however I had the GPS and tracked our route for about 10 miles to confirm that the route we were taking was the one where the main road was supposed to be.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510463.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Some new friends we met along the way....all young boys we met seemed intent on displaying their Kung-Fu type skills.....and took themselves very seriously.
The other slight shock was that Nkata bay turned out to be much further than we’d expected, about another 75 miles, which would have been fine had we discovered that at lunch-time, unfortunately it was about 5 o’clock, which subsequently committed us to about 2 hours of night driving, something Dave had avoided at all costs. He however stayed with us and we arrived at Nyaja Lodge at about 7:45.
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Dave looks on a bit concerned at the gas station, perhaps contemplating the soon-to-be darkness.
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Me at a gas station around the time we discovered that we still had another 75 miles or so to go.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510689.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
...and not much later !!
The lodge was very peaceful but expensive so John and I finally resolved to camp there, a decision assisted by the many flights of steps that we would have had to take to get to our room ! We enjoyed a nice dinner and a few beers before retiring.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510194.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
A view of Lake Malawi from the Lodge.
The following morning I awoke to the heat generated in my tent by the sun and my body-It was unbearable and so I got up at about 06:45, only to question my eyes as outside Johns tent by his bike was a large Turkey….yes a Turkey. It almost looked like a model as its plumage seemed shiny. It seemed to either like John or be guarding his bike. It really made me laugh. Apparently it’s a pet…..(hmm….yes, that’s what they all say until they get a bit hungry one day.)
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510348.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
John's Guard turkey !!
We’d arranged to meet Dave for breakfast and then find somewhere suitable for some long overdue haircuts. Breakfast dealt with and we set off to find a decent barbers…well, the best we were recommended was in a very small wooden shack. They had photos of black & white stars with all different haircuts on their walls so I was slightly optimistic. I later thought that they used the photos to demonstrate that they could remove all different hairstyles
as all they basically were able to do is give you a number 2 or 3 razor so you came out looking ready for the U.S army !! John and Dave were first and yes, they removed most of the hair. I tried to explain what I’d like and they removed most of mine too barring a natty bit at the front which resembled the haircuts worn by “A flock of seagulls” back in the 1980’s . So I finally had to ask to remove most of that too. It was quite a lot of fun in the end. <IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510681.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
John and Dave brave the first cuts whilst I drink my Ice cold Fanta !!
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My face reflects the images I've seen of John and Dave's haircuts !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510649.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Flock of seagulls, eat your hearts out !
After that we ventured over to arrange our night dive which was soon arranged for tomorrow evening as they needed some time to charge the dive torches up properly. Back to Njaya, another decent dinner and back to our now moved tents(to a shaded and hopefully cooler position)
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510257.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Both of our tents in the better shaded and cooler position.
I awoke later this morning and again found John's guard Turkey by his bike.(It just doesn't scan does it !? Guard Turkey !!)
After a leisurely start at breakfast we completed our knowledge review for the night dive and spent the day just relaxing at the back packers. Dave went down to the beach. After lunch John felt a little tired so he kicked back for an afternoon snooze whilst Dave and I chatted.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510632.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The local beach.
The dive time was soon up on us and we had a half hour walk to dive site. Once there we set up the gear before going through our knowledge review with the instructor. The dive was explained to us and by the time we had finished it was dark! We soon had our gear on, and were sweating profusely as we headed out on the lake. The environment was so different from the sea, and especially Tofo, where there had been strong waves to get through. The boat just phut-phutted slowly out onto the dive site. Once at the site we finished kitting up and John was off over the side first. I soon followed but managed a full back summersault and hit my head on the hull of the boat on the way back up!
I wasn’t hurt but was a little shook up. We had a few minutes for me to recover and we were off down the dive line. In the dark we only had a visibility of 5 metres with our torches but it was not as creepy as we first thought. The fish were all around us and could be clearly seen. One of the exercises we had to do was kneel on the bottom with our torches off for about 30 seconds which was actually quite funny. Torches back on we found that shining lights on smaller fish helped the bigger fish see them and we saw some of the smaller fish eaten in from of our eyes!
The dive lasted 39 minutes which is a fairly long dive and rated as one of my favourites. John spent quite a bit of the dive trying to get his buoyancy sorted out which left him a bit frustrated in the end as he was either on the bottom or floating back up to the surface. He still managed to enjoy it though and we were soon ashore and the paper work complete to certify us as Advanced PADI divers!<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510579.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Dixon, second from left, ran a cookery school for the underprivaleged with his brother, next from the left. After confirming the authenticity of the school, John, Dave & I all chipped in a little to help them get a bit more equipment.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/13301299/201510550.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Honest, I never touched it !! A scene found not long after leaving Nkata Bay. No serious injuries as far as we could see.
Mike.
