Monkey Bay & Makuzi Beach - Malawi

We were knackered after our journey so we slept in till 9am and had a late breakfast on the deck at 10am. Although we were back in paradise there was little time to sit and enjoy it, after six months sitting idle in Taffy's car park Rupert had collected a whole assortment of creepy crawlies and vegetation.

When we left in January we had tried to pack everything that could be affected by the rain into the cab and back box but even so the heavy rainy season had left stuff musty. To top it all the driving battery had also packed up and would not hold its charge, we have two batteries, a heavy duty Landrover one supplied by Foleys for driving and a Deep Cycle one we bought in Cape Town to run the fridges. Both were fine when we left but clearly the long lay up had taken it's toll on the cells.

For now providing the fridge battery was fully charged we could start Rupert using that. The problem was we couldn't risk going too long on just one battery and finding one which would fit into the confined space under Sue's seat before reaching Nairobi in a week or two's time would be hard if not impossible to do.

Putting this to one side we spent the next two days cleaning and repacking Rupert for how we needed to have him when on the road. Items like the camera gear and key things like chargers and leads needed to be at hand, as do the reference books, maps and bino's etc.

Mind you it wasn't all work and no play, we went out with Taffy,  for sundowner cruises and nights on the beach. Lake Malawi is nicknamed the lake of stars as there is so little artificial light around the shoreline you get some spectacular night skies.

On our penultimate day I planned to change Rupert's oils and fit new filters. Luckily Taffy has an inspection pit which makes the job a lot easier although Rupert takes up virtually the whole length so it is a tight squeeze to get down into it and once in you can't be seen.

As I was down there working some kids from the village sneaked in to check out the rubbish pit for anything they could use or play with. The staff who clean the rooms normally take first pick of anything the guests throw out so usually there is not much left but the kids here have so little they will find fun in anything like the discarded cardboard tube from an old loo roll to play with. Sad when you think how spoilt most Western kids are nowadays, having said that the kids here seem much happier and certainly more grounded!

Unlike the UK where no one can say boo to a goose, in Africa if someone sees kids misbehaving then they are at liberty to discipline them, just like it used to be before the baby boomers  hijacked the political correctness reins of government in the UK! 

Once on our previous visit when the kids kept hanging around badgering us for sweets and what not Nelson had chased them away and when I asked what he was shouting he said he was telling someone to catch the cheeky boys and beat them and no one is cheekier than Sladge, Kasonda's youngest lad!

While the others will run off when you shoo them, Sladge will slowly creep back bit by bit, like a sheep dog herding sheep, so each time you look up he has moved a few feet closer then he sits still with a big grin on his face until you look away then he creeps a bit closer again, all the while signalling to his young mates to join him.  A real little character we can't help but laugh and wave the white flag when he's about and hand out the goodies, the lad will go far.

Like the tooth fairy we left a couple of hats, a baseball cap and some pens & pencils in the rubbish pit for the kids to find and sat back and waited to see what would happen. As each item was discovered there was much excitement and holding the find aloft  like a trophy, some of the younger kids simply ran off with their finds clutched to their chests to make sure it wasn't taken from them!

We would like to leave more but we are always fighting for space in Rupert and we keep stuff to hand out to other kids we pass on our journeys. Originally we had brought out a load of inflatable globes, ala Michael Palin but these had all gone as had the inflatable footballs, the problem in Africa is you can't ever have enough!

It was our last day at Taffy's before heading North to Tanzania, Rupert was re-packed, oils changed, nipples greased and Rup cleaned inside and out, we had even re-waterproofed both the tents, all that remained was to drive to Monkey Bay to fill up with fuel before heading off early next morning.

Monkey Bay is about 20 minutes drive to the North of Taffy's, it's a nice little town, well village really, with a petrol station, a small supermarket (or superette as they are called here) and an varied assortment of stalls and shops selling everything under the sun (literally). Compared with your average UK town it's really what the South African's would call a one horse Dorp but it suffices for most basic needs, the only pain is there is no bank so we always have to make sure we get enough cash in Lilongwe before we head out to the Lake.

The nearest bank and the only other place of any note to shop is Mangochi a larger town about one - two hours drive South of Taffy's but as this is such a hike we never bother going there. 

It was late afternoon as we finally headed off to Monkey Bay, on the way we passed Taffy driving back to Norman Carr with Vaughan in the passenger seat. Taffy wound his window down to ask if we were joining them on the boat for sundowners and we said yes we were only getting fuel and would be back ASAP.

The petrol station was unusually busy so we had to wait a wee bit before getting alongside the only pump. Telling the old boy to fill us up I checked how much cash we had in case we wanted to fill up the two Jerry's on the roof as well. Suddenly I looked round and saw fuel spewing out the back of the vehicle with the old boy totally oblivious deep in conversation with some mate of his.

I shouted for him to stop pumping but he just looked at me puzzled as he didn't understand English, by now there must have been a couple of litres swilling about on the floor then a young guy shouted at him in Chichewa and he suddenly realised what was going on.

I looked and could see fuel was leaking out of a pipe feeding the main fuel tank from the reserve header tank underneath the rear wing fitted in Cape Town by Just Done It. This reserve is a little bund which holds about 50 litres and fills once the main tank becomes full acting as an overflow. 

In January we had left Rupert with about half a tank of fuel so the bund tank would have been empty and only now as we filled up did we expose the leak in the pipe. On inspection I could could see the pipe had simply perished due to the months when no fuel flowed through it.

Luckily we had caught the situation before the old man could fill up the tank too much but even so we were now left in an awkward situation which was just about to get worse!

A Backie had pulled up behind us to use the pump so we needed to move, only now Rupert decides this is a good time not to start, although we had driven from Taff's the fridge battery still didn't have enough oomph to turn the engine over!

This was all we needed especially on our last night, we knew by now Taffy would be champing at the bit to go out on the boat and foolishly we had even left our phone back at his place so we couldn't call him. The old boy signalled he would get some small boys nearby to help push start but I knew Rupert was far too heavy for that, we needed a small army!

I went over to the guy in the Backie to ask if he could give us a jump start, at first he didn't understand then he caught on. Great I went back to Rupert to get our jump leads out the back but when I turned around I found the guy had removed his battery from the Backie and was carrying it over!

Doh, it would have been better left connected but what the hell, he was here now so we thought lets give it a shot. His battery was small and looked knackered so I didn't have high hopes it would do the job and sure enough with it connected still not a peep out of Rup. We tried re-connecting the guys battery and started the Backie but still not enough oomph!

By now an army of curious onlookers of all ages and sizes had gathered round to watch the strange Mzungu's in trouble, maybe now we had enough muscle power to push Rup? With the crowd pushing at every bit they could lay a hand on with a cheer we finally got Rup started then the crowd wanted paying! Problem was we had no Kwacha change, then I remembered the old boy still hadn't given us the few hundred Kwacha he owed us from filling up.

At first he was nowhere to be seen then I spied him skulking in the background obviously hoping we had forgotten the change. Shouting to the crowd to share the change (~ £2) they immediately turned on him for their tip, the last thing we saw was him surrounded by all and sundry trying to doll out small amounts of Kwacha!

Back at Norman Carr Taff had gone out on the boat, Nelson said he had waited as long as he could but he had to take the guests out, which was fair enough. Chatting later that night we decide to stay one more night to allow us to fix the leaking fuel pipe. Our next stop was Makuzi Beach which is a good six hour drive away so we couldn't risk the repair taking too long and us leaving NC too late, best to make an early start the day after.

Next day rooting around in Taffy's workshop we found a suitable piece of old pipe from a boat fuel line. Being in the middle of nowhere Taffy is a bit of a magpie holding onto anything that might be remotely useful which in this case proved the case. It didn't take lon to replace the damaged section but it was a bit of a messy job so I was grateful we had the rest of the day to clean up.

Next morning we were up at 7am for our last breakfast on the deck, although Taffy hadn't asked for any payment we knew we must give him something so after a bit of persuasion he agreed to take £200 for our stay of six days with all meals, drinks and laundry, not to mention replacement fuel pipe. It had certainly been our good fortune the day we stopped here on a whim just over a year ago.

Finally the time came to leave, we drove out onto the main road ready for the long journey but we had gone less than a mile when we hit a police roadblock, not a usual occurrence here. Usually they just ask where you are going and wave you on, at the most they may want to see your licence but this morning the young copper asked to see our insurance, shit we had completely forgotten that our COMESA was way out of date so effectively we had no third party insurance!

We insure Rupert at great expense in the UK for Africa travel, this covers everything under accident, fire and theft but not third party insurance, for that you have to buy it locally in each country or buy a COMESA to cover you in multiple countries (see under documentation).

We had bought the COMESA at one of the borders to save the hassle and expense of buying local insurance but it was now hopelessly out of date and we simply hadn't had the chance to get another. Stalling desperately I made out I couldn't find the document hoping the cop would give up and wave us on but he was the worse kind, young and zealous and wasn't about to give up.

Quite unexpectedly just then Taffy drove up behind us on an errand to Monkey Bay, luckily all the cops at Monkey Bay know him so he shouted that we were friends and sure enough the young cop waved us on with a parting admonishment about keeping all our documents to hand!     

After that Sue did a great job of doctoring the date on the old COMESA to give us more time. Third party insurance is a money making nonsense anyway as no one has ever heard of anyone making a successful claim on the multitude of dodgy companies that sell the policies out here, but it's necessary to have something to show at the road blocks.

Thankfully the rest of the day was uneventful, stopping only at Salima to get some Kwacha cash we arrived at Makuzi Beach at 4.30pm to be greeted by Brett the owner. Last time we had stopped here we had had the run in with the Germans of Livingstone 4x4 DE so we were glad to hear they were not around and we could get our old camp spot which allowed us to plug the fridges into the mains power in Rondavel one, happy days!   

A lovely night next to the lake under the stars listening to the waves lapping on the shore, our only company Scooby Doo, Brett & Lara's cross Boer Bull/Great Dane dog. He had been just a small pup when we last saw him but now was huge with the height of the Dane and the bulk of the Boer Bull (like a mastiff only bigger).

Up again at 6.30am after a good nights sleep in the roof tent, our first for six months, we phoned Francis at Utengule in Mbeya to say we were on our way, Cottage five, our favourite, was available so it looked like we were on a roll, next stop Tanzania for a new year of Safari's.