Journeying on the Ilala

Note: 

This post contains a lot of photos of incredible sunsets/rises that will make you want to go on holiday immediately, predominantly to Malawi (something I would highly recommend doing asap).

The Ilala. http://www.malawitourism.com/pages/news/index.asp?NewsID=316. 

The easiest and quickest way to get up the country via the lake shore. She has 4 classes of travel; economy, second, first and cabin. Economy is fine enough for short journeys, just a bunch of plastic seats on the bottom floor full of people and STUFF. Like fish and chickens and furniture and booze and just loads and loads of STUFF. Second class is less full of this stuff and more full of people having a nap on the equally as uncomfortable benches. First class you have access to the small (and quite expensive by Malawi standards) restaurant, bar and top deck, and cabin you have your own small cabin area. Cabin class is ridiculously expensive and just not worth it. First class is the way to go (which is what I did).

I travelled on the Ilala from Monkey Bay where it departs at 10am Saturday mornings, (or did 7 months ago, don't quote me on that), to Nkhata Bay, where it arrives around 11pm Sunday evening. 

Lets start with Monkey Bay; gem of a place. Gorgeous backpackers right on the water called Mufasa, a bit more expensive than the usual as there are no dorm rooms, but it really is just STUNNING. You have your own private beach area, can cook your own food and camp if you want, the decor is really funky and welcoming, and the small town of Monkey Bay is fine enough for supplies (NOT doctors. The doctors is a small hut, you do not want Malaria here!). If I had more time I would've stayed a while longer.

There are hammocks on the beach and seats so high off the ground hung on trees you have to jump in them and can kick off the trunk to swing. Easy-to-climb rocks right next to the beach, a small mountain behind the town to explore, tiny fishermen boats floating at night with their lanterns - ahhhhhh it's my kinda place. So, so beautiful.

Monkey Bay sunset over the mountains of Cape Maclear

So, on the Ilala I went Saturday morning with my Malaria infected pal Greg (hence the knowledge of Monkey Bay clinics... don't go there). First class tickets to Nkhata Bay bought, up to top deck we climbed, and we are rewarded with a departing view of ladies washing their clothes by the lakeshore, naked children playing in the water, and a bunch of brightly coloured boats bobbing up and down with the most obscure names! 'Road Hell 2", "Jesus is my lover" and "bitches be crazy for my boat" to name just a few. The Ilala is not a grand boat. In fact, in my diary I've referred to it as "a bit of a dive". It's not a boat specifically made for tourists, it's a commuter boat; an easier way of getting goods from one end of the lake to the other, specifically to Likoma Island.

The only beds on the Ilala are in the cabins, everyone else sleeps on seats, the floor, or anything they can find space on. A whole lotta locals slept on huge bags of tiny fish being transported to Nkhata Bay which stank. A lot. Luckily for me first class is 2 decks above these

Greg helping Graham erect his bed for the night

stinky beasts. First class held a bar and restaurant, which you have no choice but to eat in unless you bring enough snacks and food that do not need cooking and will last your entire trip. In saying that, it was still only about £2 for a dish and they were amazing. Good cheffing from the Ilala kitchen team. You are also okay to bring your own drink on board, but in first class there are some points during the day when it's unbearably hot, meaning the shaded areas are taken over by bodies, not bags, so your drinks will be a bit nasty by the time you get round to drinking them all.

My bed for the night. Sleeping on the crate didn't last
long, it's much for comfortable on the floor (which
has to be saying something!)

As you can see by this photo, my bed was my soon-to-be Kilimanjaro sleeping bag and liner with a kitenge** acting as a pillow. The floor was a lot comfier than the crate and I had a surprising good night, made all the better by the thousands of stars above me.

Getting off the Ilala, casual bucket being passed
over everyones heads

There are 2 main reasons to love a journey on the Ilala, the first being the destination stops. At each stop passengers are allowed to disembark and chill out on the mainland until the REALLY LOUD horn blows to signal the Ilala is ready to leave. You are transported from the boat to land via small wooden lifeboats. This is a slightly traumatic experience and yet incredibly fun. There is no such thing as queueing in Malawi so you have to push to get on the lifeboat. This is a tad precarious given they are already lowered into the water and you climb down a vertical ladder to get to them, so a shove could send you flying over the edge. The Ilala is not disabled friendly in the slightest. The 'lifeboats' are filled STUFF, before being filled with more STUFF and someones baby and a few chickens and a bag of fish. They can then, and only then, when they are overfilled to the point of insanity, move slowly towards the shore where a mass congregation of people are waiting to claim their fair share of the stuff. Of course there are no actual docks in Malawi (apart from at Monkey Bay which is pure luxury) and so you have to wade a fair bit upon getting off the lifeboat (which is actually wonderful given your so squashed a few seconds before). Wading is particularly hard with a large rucksack on and yet extremely fulfilling when you manage to get onto dry land without getting your main bag AND day sack wet. This was particularly hard at Nkhata Bay at 11pm at night.

I explored Likoma Island a little with another traveller; it is gorgeous. There's not altogether too much to do considering it's an island with one village, but it's perfect for the ultimate relaxing, honeymoon-esque beachy time.

Now, onto why I REALLY love the Ilala.

Sun setting over Likoma Island

A sun fully risen over Mozambique and sun setting in a storm

Sunrise. No picture edits. No filters, no nothing. This is actually how it is.

The sun in Africa is incredible. I have a real thing for sunsets and rises and was rewarded to the extreme during my time in Malawi particularly. They are so full and so amazingly beautiful! Obviously travelling on the Ilala during the dry season helps a lot with the 'capturing-the-gorgeous-sunset' stuff, but I'm pretty sure you'd get incredible photos whatever the time of year. Although sleeping in first class in the rain would suck...






Right, I'm pretty sure not everyone cares about my sunset addiction so enough twaddle about the sun; I'm now in Nkhata Bay. Time to let everyone know why this really is the best spot for backpackers on the lake.



** A kitenge is a brightly coloured wrap-around  African material ladies get tailored into skirts, tops, trousers, hats, bags, and anything you can possibly think of. Kitenges' are the main dress for women and look absolutely fabulous. There are so many different patterns to choose from and ways to wear it, it'd be a miracle to find someone wearing the same kitenge as you!

Volunteering with Tikondwe and Zomba Plateau

As with any new job, after a week or so everything starts to become normalised. This is exactly the same with volunteering. After my first week in Malawi the dusty roads, njinga taxis to and from

A group of lads fishing in the local stream I met whilst on a
village walk. They loved posing and were absolutely
hilarious!

places, constant carbs, cacti farms, tiny houses, children screaming 'muzungu' and pigeon roosts became pretty standard. I taught the younger kids from 8ish to 11:30 or 12ish and the elder children from 3 to 4:30/5. My lessons ranged from English to Math to Science to playtime with a different focus for each day. During break the volunteers ate lunch and enjoyed activities like playing with the local children, writing diaries, going for village walks, lunching at the elders homes, playing the local game Bawo, or cake baking (an activity, which has to be completed on a fire, is extremely difficult in my opinion).

Lessons were again like any job you'd have at home; some days were wonderful, others were downright boring or just crap. The younger kids were entirely aware that I was like a substitute teacher in comparison to Diana and so whenever she left the room the morning class would go wild. INSANE.

Satan in the girl on the far right. Don't be fooled by her cute face.

    A lesson which was to be held inside would suddenly be outside as 40 or so children would go running around everywhere making any learning environment impossible to control. Another example of this craziness is when the Parla arrives; the children suddenly stop anything they're doing and crowd around the poor njinga boy struggling with this large bucket of porridge. Some days it would drive me mad and I could not wait to get back to our little common room and have a nice rant about what evil brats some children were. There was actually one child I'd nicknamed Satin as she clambered all over me as soon as I arrived at Mapanje and then proceeded to hit, kick and bite any part of me she could find. She was only about 3 and thought this was hilarious. I didn't care how old she was, it drove me crazy!!

Excitable children in my afternoon class on my last day.

So happy for school to be over and get
some stickers (pody) and mangoes!

There were some lessons though that were an absolute joy to be a part of.
When the younger children listened you could have a LOT of fun with them and felt as though you were making their day that little bit brighter. The elder children were far better behaved and actually managed to learn a fair amount during lesson-time and retain the information for weeks after (as proved by tests at the end of each week). They were active during teaching hours and kept me on my toes constantly, either by finishing work extremely fast or asking relentless questions about the subject at hand, work I had set, and a lot of the time England in general. They were also extremely cute on my last day and sung me a leaving song (which will be put up as soon as my external hard-drive is fixed!).

They were(/are) wonderful kids. I even stayed after school most days to play netball with them. The most aggressive games of netball I have ever, and hopefully will ever, experience! Rules are loosely enforced as criterion's such as 'obstruction' and 'contact' were never applied. At one point I full on body slammed into my TINY partner who didn't even seem to notice! It wasn't just me taking part in sports with the locals; all the volunteer boys were cajoled into playing a game of 'Muzungu vs Malawian' football. It was hilarious! And such a brilliant way to really immerse yourself in the local life. We also won 4-2!

There are some experiences I will never forget, one of which is when Diana invited myself and another volunteer, Sherene, to dinner with her and her family. We bought a few sodas for the kids and proceeded to go inside her home (first time ever even though I visited nearly everyday after school). It was extremely quaint and she had popped a table in the middle of a room set for two. Well there were most definitely more than two of us given the sheer amount of children outside, but she insisted they all ate on the floor whereas we were guests and so should eat at the table. She had cooked rice and an egg, tomato curry; a real privilege in Malawi as rice and eggs are far more expensive than nsima and beans. It was really wonderful to spend the evening with her family and be treated to such a lovely dinner. I felt extremely honoured to have been invited.

A second experience I wont be forgetting is when a long term volunteers grandmother died back in the UK whilst she was in Malawi. It was horribly sad and she dealt with it very, VERY well. Papa had contacted a priest and asked him to come and say a few words in her memory that night. I am in no way religious, but I thought the gesture to be really touching. That evening I heard a group of people mourning and singing from inside Mama and Papas house. This demonstration of affection and appreciation for life shown by the people of Domasi has really stuck with me. I thought it was so beautiful that people who have never met the one who has passed away could mourn so earnestly.

Another is that everywhere you go in the Domasi region, you hold celebrity status.

A young girl running after the njingas to town

The villagers really seem to enjoy having muzungus living near them! It's almost a game for the children to spot a muzungu miles away and yell hello to them so the volunteer looks around wildly trying to find the source of the sound. How they actually see us from so far away still baffles me! Adults stop you in the roads, streets and dirt tracks to say hello and ask how you are. You're invited into homes and schools and asked to play games from dawn til dusk. Children run after your njinga or taxi just to say hello and get a wave; it's so adorable it's unreal!

I really do love Domasi and would go back there in a second if given the chance. The project is entirely worthwhile and the villages surrounding your home could not be more typically Malawian even if they tried.




The local town Zomba was nowhere near as beautiful or as cultural, but it does have the Zomba Plateau which is STUNNING. Myself and 3 other volunteer girls went here for the weekend and it was entirely worthwhile (if you love hiking. If you don't it becomes entirely pointless). We stayed at the basic 'Trout Farm' which advertises some non-existent fishing and is a bog standard place to

Klara queen waving whilst walking uphill.

sleep. The best part of staying here by far was the sheer amount of fruit we were offered upon arrival. Berries upon berries, yellow, black and red and so, soooooo yummy.

Our first walk was to the highest point of the Plateau. It wasn't a particularly difficult walk but the views were superb; even my beautiful camera couldn't do them justice. We had a guide called Bonface (fantastic name!) who spoke little to no English but was brilliant all the same! The walk back took us through rocky outcrop and fields of ferns before getting to Chingwes Hole. This hole is where locals used to throw those affected by leprosy to stop further infection. Now its a large hole with various species of tree growing out of it and a bunch of touts trying to sell local rock to you. There is however another beautiful view and the walk to come was to be the best of our trip. We trekked through dense jungle-like plants with no idea where to put our feet so as to not fall over! We passed through a forestry village, a gorge, numerous impressive large rocks, huge baboons and a hollow rock. That's right, a large rock that was entirely hollow and sounded like a drum when you knocked against it. I studied this rock intensely to try and find how it had been hollowed out but every face was solid or touching the ground. Years ago it must've been hollowed out by a river or something and the opening is facing the ground right now so it can't be seen. It really did baffle me! The last part of our 6hour walk took us through some beautiful waterfalls which (much to Bonfaces delight so he could wash) we stopped at to clamber over rocks and generally splash about.

Me in my geek outfit.

Our second day was a lot shorter than the first with only 3-4 hours of walking. Bonface eagerly turned up outside our door at 7am which was excruciating on a Sunday, but we obliged and got changed quickly to walk to Chagwa Dam. This walk was another 'where-do-I-put-my-feet?!' moments as we scrambled over streams, through dense jungle-like-forest and generally got quite wet. Chagwa Dam was unimpressive, but Queens View and Emperors View a few minutes walk past it were superb. A full 180 degree view of Zomba town in all its glory, mountain behind and all. Absolutely incredible in the early morning sun.

Locals live on the plateau walking roughly 10km every day to buy produce from Zomba town then the 10km back again to use or sell it. The plateau has a section of pine forest (which is slowly becoming more and more scarce) where locals cut down trees to carry down to the town to sell to other town locals. The way they carry this is nothing short of incredible! We passed a bunch of men and women walking down with an incredible load of tree trunks on their heads! Just check this out:

WOW!

 

I can't do it. Believe me, I tried.

There are also some mind-blowingly skilled people working in the carpentry industry up the Plateau. Really amazing artistry.

This is to be my last blog about my time in Domasi, Zomba and with Tikondwe. I was genuinely sad to be leaving after my month was up. It was extremely tempting to extend my stay, however the Ilala was calling me up Lake Malawi to Nkhata Bay.

Sunset in Domasi in the fields at what volunteers called 'the rock'.

Lake Malawis' heavenly Cape Maclear to the incredible local life of Domasi

 Welcome to Malawi, where your life becomes infinitely better just because of this beauty that's practically on your doorstep.

Lake Malawi

 

 As the Tikondwe schools are run by the charity they do not adhere to your normal Monday-Friday 8am to 3pm working hours. Friday is 'teachers meeting' day where the paid teachers meet with Emma and other Tikondwe employees to talk about their school, the curriculum, what to teach next week, how to do it, and bounce ideas back and force on how to generally improve things. This means volunteers get the whole weekend off to explore the GORGEOUS country of Malawi. The lake is obviously the number #1 destination considering it's almost 1/4 of the countries surface area and just absolutely incredible in every possible way. Cape Maclear especially.

I was lucky enough to come here twice whilst volunteering with Tikondwe. My first weekend and my last. The first there were many of us wanting to make the 4-6hour journey (all dependant on transport) and so we hired a minibus. Usually however you catch a minibus to Mangochi then another to Monkey Bay then clamber onto the back of any pick-up truck you can find (usually filled with wood and barrels of petrol or something) heading onto Cape Maclear. It's a hot, sweaty journey full of squeezing into small places and getting cramp all over your body BUT it's a whole lotta fun, and the green (Carlsberg; the ONLY beer that's sold in Malawi that is not home brew) at the end of it is the best. thing. ever.

Cape Maclear is a slice of paradise.

It's a peninsula situated at the southern end of Lake Malawi, a tiny village turned small tourist area, yet it still manages to retain its village-esque feel and is entirely untouristy many ways! There are various sleeping options ranging from very cheap to very expensive; we stayed at the cheapest and it was the most gorgeous guesthouse I was to stay in my whole time travelling. The village is the same as any other I'd seen in Malawi; a sleepy place with dirt roads, tiny eateries and tea houses, thatched roofs and mud walls. Dogs were in the streets and women did their washing in the lake whilst the kids splashed about around them. It was pure bliss and a real insight into local lake life, a life completely different from Domasi village.
--> Lake life = fishing, living off the lake, the water is your lifeline.
--> Village life = farming, living off the land, earning your keep working the fields is your way of life.

My time spent at the lake and living in the village were also significantly different for each other. The lake was the ultimate relax, a place to lie in the sun, where you could wear shorts that didn't cover your knees, a place where you could eat food that wasn't rice or nsima, stay out late and drink alcohol like you were a Fresher at University during Freshers week. My first weekend started a little like this with so many of us there was a definite party vibe, except this kind of party was never going to be the normal type you'd experience in England. It started, for example, with a band. The Brothers Band  consisted of 3 children playing drums made from old jerry cans and wooden sticks. They were actually fantastic and got us all up having a dance (as depicted by Sam here who accompanied them with a WONDEROUS on-the-spot rap!). We were then invited to a Malawian wedding party which involved the WHOLE VILLAGE coming out of their homes for an entire weekend of dancing in the streets! It was wonderful and I've never felt more welcome in my life. The next day we spent in a local eatery called Bana Paya where your beer takes an hour to materialise, food takes about 2 hours to find its way to your table and there's no electric whatsoever. Not that this matters at all considering you're too busy chatting to the local rasta population, playing drums with another group of musicians, and dancing around the large bonfire erected by the eateries owners; right on the beach.There is nothing closer to bliss than that. However if you do ever get bored of heavenly relaxation you can always pop to another local restaurant, Gheko Lounge, which turns from 'chilling-in-a-hammock-doing-nothing-sorta-place' during the day to 'getting-down-and-dirty-on-the-dance-floor-sorta-place' in the evening. It's also by far the most touristy area in Cape Maclear.

Zuzana and Klara BBQing it up on
the island with locals

Of course the lake is not just about grabbing some greens and wasting your weekend away with a book in the sun (although this is perfectly fine as it's got to be one of the best places in the world to do so); there are many activities on offer. I've been canoeing, snorkeling, motorbike riding and on a boat trip. There's also a National Park with a bunch of beautiful hiking, however as a lone traveller with no one else wanting to hike it is expensive (hence why I did not do so, unfortunately). There are a bunch of small islands of Cape Maclear, the most obvious being right in front of the beach (its name eludes me...) which looks very close... until you try to canoe to it. My first weekend a few of us rented out canoes which is a wonderful way to get out on the lake, see the fish, swim about without a local guide and just enjoy life! My second weekend at the lake a small group of us female volunteers rented a boat from my local friend Morris which was equally as fun (and a lot less effort!). We were taken to the island once again and were lucky enough to be introduced to many locals throwing a welcome home BBQ for their friend who had moved to England. We were shown the fish eagles diving into the water to feed, we were taught how to catch a fish with your hands, and we were taken to otter point (where there were a significant lack of otters but a delightful amount of cliff jumping opportunities). The snorkeling in Lake Malawi is fantastic, the fish are thousands of different colours and are so used to your presence they just swim around you! The water is magnificently clear and because there are so many spots to see them you can swim entirely alone with no other tourist around you. The motorbike were also extremely easy

to organise and very cheap for just a quick drive around the peninsula and clamber to the top of a group of rocks for some INCREDIBLE views.
Cape Maclear captured my heart instantly and will always be a highlight of my journey. It is just so beautiful, has all the western amenities you could want, as well as being so typically Malawian it tugs at the heartstrings! It was also my favourite part of the lake, which is a BIG thing to admit considering the rest of the lake is equally is stunning.

In stark contrast to Lake Malawi, the village is a place where you are a role model, you do not drink, you wear appropriate clothing that adheres to the local culture. You eat local food and drink water that's been chlorinated by water purifying tablets Your free time is spent with the children or local families, you never sit and do nothing. It's like a job, just an awesome one. The volunteering is always incredible (despite the younger childrens' continuing insanity and craziness) and your part played in village life is extremely fulfilling, be it just playing with the children to give their mothers a break, to helping fix a roof that's been blown off by stray winds, to taking part in a traditional dance lesson in aid of the local community. This last activity was INCREDIBLE! A group of muzungus being taught local dances by some of the lads from Hayo village using objects akin to dumbbells. We stood in a circle, sometimes standing clapping the dumbbells against each other or sitting smacking them on the floor; it was fantastic! And EXHAUSTING!

Outside Dianas house with some local children and Shireen
another volunteer

The breakdancing classes continued as well as Charlie sharing his skills in separate schools throughout his time volunteering. His lesson at Mapanje came on my second week at Tikondwe and the kids LOVED it! Unfortunately the younger ones could not keep up so it was my job to keep them involved by playing various games so they did not feel left out (or piss the elder kids off by invading their extremely limited-already-dancing-space). I spent more and more time at Dianas home, the real, paid teacher working at Mapanje school, with her family who are all wonderful and extremely accommodating. They keep pigeons as a sign of prosperity despite having almost next to nothing. This is very typical of families in Africa; they will often keep pigeons, have expensive phones, large herds of cows to show wealth even if they don't have any. This allowance into a locals home unconditionally was a wonderful thing

Two of my morning crazies

to experience and gave me a real insight into local life. I've never felt so welcome anywhere in my entire life than I did in Mapanje village and would urge anyone thinking of volunteering to go with Tikondwe.

If you're thinking my work with the charity sounds easy and holiday-like, you'd be entirely wrong! Yes i'm based in a beautiful country full of beautiful people but the actual work is difficult and a lot of the time you're on your hands and knees doing various building work, painting, gardening, roof repairing, and absolutely anything else the villagers spring on you. The lake is extremely far away for a quick weekend, but there are other places you can go and explore/relax closer to home....

Sunset over Lake Malawi at Cape Maclear with children playing in the water.

Three canoes made from dug-out trees glide past our camp.