Norman Carr, Monkey Bay - Malawi

We had one week to go before our flight back to the UK, however, even though we were in an idyllic spot we couldn't just kick back and relax, we had just too much to do. Apart from getting our stuff together for the UK we had to completely unpack Rupert, clean and dry everything and then re-pack it in a way which would reduce the risk of damage during the rains while we were away.

We would also wash Rupert, top up all the oils & fluids, grease all the nipples and increase the tyre pressures so he could sit in Taffy & Jens car park for the next six months, hopefully with no problems. Taffy had promised to run the engine from time to time but other than that Rupert would not be moving once we left.   

It was great having the use of the house as we could get on with things without disturbing the guests in the lodge. First thing was to put up both the roof tent and the ground tent to air them out and in the case of the roof tent remove and wash the bedding.

Nelson and Kasonda helped out wherever they could and luckily the weather was hot and sunny for the whole week so we had a clear run. Mind you it wasn't all work and no play, we went out on the boat with Taffy and some guests for sundowners and to visit another new lodge being built by a friend of Taffy's further up the lake but mainly we were busy getting ready to leave.

Amongst the items coming back to the UK with us was the wooden version of Rupert which George and his team from 'Toys R US'  had made back in September. We had left this with George for him bring to Senga Bay once it was finished but he never showed

Now anyone who has read the journal for Sept & October will know the tortuous tale of George and the Landy so we won't repeat it here but suffice to say the morning after we got back to Taff's George re-appeared with the wooden Rupert and to tout for more work.

You would think it would be a case of once bitten twice shy but we like George for the lovable rogue he is and we are always conscious just how hard it is for the ordinary folk out here to make any sort of a living to feed their families so whilst we are not the 'bang your own drum born again do gooders' that we see out in Africa or know from some friends back in the UK, we quietly help whenever we can, whether that be through gifts or by employing someone to do something for us.

It is of course impossible to help everyone you come across and if you plan to do a similar trip to ours but have hardly, if ever been out of the first world then you need to steel yourself for some of the sights you will see virtually everyday in Africa.

Southern Africa (RSA, Botswana, Namibia etc) are affluent by comparison with the standards North of the Zambezi so for example if you think the people in the townships of RSA are in a bad way then come see the people in Central & East Africa to see what real poverty is, especially in the rural areas.

Anyway back to George, we decided it might be nice to get him to make a replica of our niece Helen's car back in the UK and surprise her with it when we saw her. We got photo's sent out and I showed them to George who instantly said they could do it no problem, we should have known then it would not be that simple!

Now the carvers out here are great at doing straight lines and angles, where they tend to struggle is on curves or shapes with flowing lines. Landy's are no problem as they are basically a box with bits on but Helen had one of those sporty little Ford two seater coupe's whose name escapes me at the moment but basically it was like a VW Beetle with a slightly longer bonnet.

Georges first attempt looked more like a bubble car but the second one was not too bad so the time came to settle up which is where it always gets interesting. 

I always enjoy haggling but with George it's a real experience, we had already given him some cash back in Sept for Rupert so now we were haggling over the balance. Apart from cash Africans like to see what other stuff you may have to trade as well. Shoes, watches, shirts, jeans, torches etc are always of interest but who would think Sherry Glasses would be?

George turned up with two of his guys, George did all the negotiating so I suspect they were there just to make sure they got their fair share of the action.  After the usual 10 minutes of batting back and forth various permutations of what we had to offer plus some cash I left George to confer with his colleagues.

After 20 minutes they were still conferring so I gave them more time as we packed up our stuff. Eventually George came over and said could we talk in private, his guys were looking on suspiciously but I went along with it. We went and sat under a tree a little way off and George went through his routine that he needed enough money to pay his guys but he also liked a lot of our stuff (as did his guys) so after more haggling we made a deal on a lower amount of cash plus a lot of our stuff.

However, the best bit was at the end when he suddenly asked if I could do him a favour. It turned out he liked our sherry glasses so much he didn't want to share them with the others so could I act as if they would not be part of the deal then once we shook hands give them to him as a gift to which he would act surprised.

His guys were watching us very closely so I had to suppress my natural instinct to laugh out loud. We walked back to join the other guys and I said loudly 'ok George we have a deal then you take this stuff plus x amount of Kwacha and I take back these other items amongst which was the sherry glasses.

I could see the other two were quickly trying to work out what items were in the deal and what were out and they looked surprised the glasses weren't in. As I was about to walk away I suddenly turned to George and said as we were friends I would like to give him a parting gift presenting him with glasses.

The other guys looked aghast but even I was totally unprepared when George very theatrically answered with arms outstretched " For Me? What a surprise"  It was all I could do to not burst out laughing!

One phenomena of Lake Malawi are the lake flies which mysteriously appear out in the middle of the lake then swarm ashore. You pray you don't cross their path as there are literally billions of them and in seconds you are totally enveloped with them in your eyes, mouth, nose, ears, everywhere.

Fortunately this has happened to us just once when we were at Senga Bay and it wasn't nice so as we were packing this last week and saw swarms out on the lake we were thankful they passed us by this time. Mind you the locals like them as they  gather them up in their thousands and make burgers out of them, think we will stick to Big Macs though!

Finally the day came for us to leave for Lilongwe to catch our flights to London. It was a lovely sunny morning as we had our last breakfast with Taff & Jen on the sun deck overlooking the lake.  The water sparkled as the local fisherman paddled out in their dug out canoes for a days fishing and the women came down to wash their clothes and pots & pans, it was hard to believe that in less than 48 hrs we would be in the cold grey light of the UK.

Rupert had been totally re-packed, cleaned and serviced and  was now parked in a quiet corner of Taffy's car park awaiting our return. After all we had been through over the last year or so it felt like we were abandoning him but we knew he would be in good hands. 

The journey to Lilongwe took about four hours, the first hour over rough roads. Taffy was driving and accompanying us was Timothy, one of Taffy's new young cooks who was going to Lilongwe to see a Doctor. Timothy had been ill for a while and was now very thin with a haunted expression, although no one was mentioning the A word, Malawi, like most countries in Africa, is being devastated by what the locals call the Disease so we feared the worst.

Throughout the journey Timothy just gazed out of the window, eating just a few sweets he refused anything else. A journey to Lilongwe is a rare and daunting occurrence for the guys out on the lake anyway but this trip seemed doubly poignant. Sadly just a month or so later Timothy died of Aids, he was in his mid twenties and left a wife and three kids, tragically within a year his wife would also die of the same disease.   

We spent the night in Lilongwe with Taffy at Kumbali a Lodge owned by his friends Guy & Maureen. Madonna had just stayed there on her first visit to Malawi to adopt a child and some of her entourage were still in attendance. The lodge is lovely but unfortunately we didn't get to stay in her old room. 

Next day Taff took us to the Airport to catch our flight to Nairobi, once there we had a seven hour wait until our onward flight to Heathrow, in total we would be travelling for nearly 24 hours.

As our plane taxied for take off we reflected on the fact that it was over a year and a half since we had left our house in Sussex to embark on our dream trip to Africa and what had since become an amazing, life changing experience.

With the sudden death of Sue's parents just before we left for Africa and Pete's Mum now in a care home sadly it would also be the first time in 30 years of travelling that we would be returning to the UK after a long period abroad and would not be staying with our parents in Liverpool so we landed back in the UK with a strange mix of gladness and sorrow.

Thankfully, Fee & Jeff our good friends from Sussex were there to greet us and take us back to their place. We would stay with them until our tenants moved out in just over a weeks time and in the meantime we would visit friends on our way up North to see our brothers and sisters in Liverpool, even after 18 months of travelling our itinerant days were not quite over just yet!