DAY 13 – LOVING LAKE MALAWI

Mattress puncture fail. Woke up on the floor again. Only slightly surprised.

Sitting on the beach writing this blog post. The sun is going down behind us and warming our backs. The sand is soft. Not too soft. Kinda like a good mixture between Camps Bay and the Transkei. It sparkles in the sun. The waves are gently lapping away and now and then you can hear a fish eagle call in the distance. Sounds super cheesy, but it is paradise. Today we took a little fishing boat out with Risk Africa and two other new friends to a nearby island
and spent the day fishing and swimming. Dani went adventuring with Risk Africa team member “Adventure Blake”
to climb the rocks on the island and snorkeled a bit, whilst Manda and Kitty relaxed in the sunshine, swam and fished.

Tonight is a Checkpoint Party and we’re all geared up with our lumo for a Full Moon Party on the Lake Malawi beach. It’s confusing when the lake looks so much like an ocean. 

DAY 12 - WENI WENI WA CHI MALAWI

Paid for our very pricy 6 hours in Chipata and headed over Zambian border into Malawi without a hitch. Kitty is finally starting to feel better and we’re glad to have her back.

The drive through Malawi to our campsite was very pretty and dotted with little villages teeming with life and chickens and goats and kids and people riding bikes and ladies selling tomatoes. 

Malawian people are friendly and their Kwatcha money is pretty. More and more we are seeing that China and Japan are taking over Africa and it is quite frightening.

Arrived at our campsite in record time (after covering so much ground the night before) and were happy to see the other teams and our friends again. We are calling the banks of Lake Malawi home for the next 2 days. It is beautiful here. There is a full moon reflecting on the water and we can literally watch the sun rising over the lake from our tent.

Kitty finally found the elusive mattress puncture and patched it up once and for all. We might have a mattress for the first time since day 2. Excitement.

Sat on the “beach” for a sundowner and decided to treat ourselves to some yummy Chomba fish for dinner, indigenous to the lake and a specialty. The fish is yum if you don’t mind all the bones. 

We are becoming more accustomed to being on the trip, travelling the roads and experiencing the countries we visit. We eat with our hands, we work on Africa Time, we use 1 ply toilet paper, camp now sets up in less than 5  minutes and we don’t mind a cold shower. 12 days has never flown by so fast. It really feels like a quick slideshow or preview of what these countries have to offer. Too quick. 

But we will be back. 

DAY 11 – THE ROAD GOES ON AND ON AND ON AND ON

The Kitty and Dani are losing their sense of humor with the elusive Inflatable Mattress Puncture as we patched it up for the second time and still woke up on the floor. Grump.

With Manda and Dani feeling slightly dazed from the previous nights activities but Kitty in high spirits we piled up camp and crossed over borders back into Zambia easy peasy. We’ve learnt that politeness and respect goes a long way in dealing with border crossings to the point that Mary Poppins herself couldn’t be prouder. The Carnet du Passage is also a green card into Africa. Border posts love that. Sorted.

Zambian roads are like soft fudge that has melted into tar Scale Electrics. They ripple and bulge and pucker and bloat and it’s almost near impossible to avoid a scrape or two. We’ve learnt to read the road and tyre skid marks are a good indicator that potholes follow shortly after. Tertius has been a trooper though. He now has a buncha bugs on his grill and has been sticker bombed by other Put Foot teams but still dashes like a silver bullet through Africa (Affrrriiccaaaaaaahh!!!!). He also boasts an “I Heart Zambia” sticker on his behind. Nice. 

We enjoyed a cheap lunch at a roadside restaurant; flame grilled chicken with nshima and chips. Kicked the hangover in the bum and we were off again. Little did we know how disastrous the next 12 hours would be.

We usually try to find campsites before the sun goes down so that we avoid travelling at night and also because it’s nice to set up camp in the daylight, but after four failed attempts at near non-existent campsites we were forced to drive through the 750km to Chipata. The road was tricky and used by plenty of trucks that like drive like drug cartels in getaway cars. Passed a couple villages and truck stops on the way that were drunk with lights and vibey music on their Saturday night.

Our drive / navigate / nap rotation system worked well. We arrived at 1am in the morning and crawled into Pine View Guest House after spotting a cat-raccoon-rat-squirrel-cat, a man juggler and quite possibly what might have been the Tokoloshe. Grumpy and tired we set up the tent and passed out.

DAY 10 - KARIBA KARIBA

After spending the night on the lake we woke up to the sunrise and were served a delicious greasy breakfast. We docked at 12:30 and headed up the hill to do a bit of sightseeing, buy touristy bracelets and play some soccer with the local kiddies. Put Foot issued each team with two soccer balls, which get to entertain kids with and then leave behind. 

We adopted another team member for the day. Marco from The Natives needed a ride and he was a very good
at spotting nothing in the bush. We like him.

We sat and enjoyed a drink overlooking the lake with The Silly Buggers, Pistons of Fury and the Slowvelders and then headed to Checkpoint 4 on the banks of the Kariba. Camping with hippos and crocs only a couple of meters away reminded us that we were in Africa (Affrriiccahhhhhhh!) and took precautions to stay very much away.

That night Kitty turned in early to try fix the evil bug and Mands and I drank too much tequila.

DAY 9 – ALL ABROAD

Woke up at 5am and made it to the Zim border before all the crowds. Witnessed a most spectacular sunrise over the Vic Falls as we crossed over the river. 

Driving through Zimbabwe to Kariba Lake was beautiful, and definitely one of our favourite drives of the trip so far. The road winds and turns around hills and villages and giant baobabs. We zoomed past as grumpy baboons slept in.

Excited to board the Kariba Ferry we were the first team on board. Tertius sat below in a tight squeeze with other team vehicles while we sat pretty on the deck sipping on G&Ts and basking in what felt like luxury. Being too late to dock, team Risk Africa now have a habit of making boats turn around for them.

The crew on the ferry were fantastic and we ate like kings. Shorts and t-shirts have become the norm and we are no longer freezing at night. Unfortunately Kitty had been fighting a bug for a day or two so the motion of the Ferry was not ideal, but the boat trip was a truly special experience. Fish eagles kept a watchful eye and we were all in good spirits as the sun went down, smiling to ourselves as we thought about what Joburg might be up to in its Friday afternoon in traffic. Sea Lion pushed through the night as we fell asleep to the humming of the engine.