East to the Indian Ocean – Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique

(Originally published December 2010)

I left Livingstone on Thursday 25th on the 2200 bus to Lusaka having said goodbye to the remaining intrepid travel buddies and crew – all friends after the blast we had for 3 weeks.

I hardly slept on the way so on arrival at 4.30am I stayed in the bus as long as I could and was finally turfed out at 6am. I made my way to a nearby mall that a couple of guys travelling on the bus had recommended for a breakfast spot. That was the extent of my stay in Lusaka. In the afternoon I flew to Mfuwe (international airport no less although international airstrip would be more appropriate) on a British Aerospace Jetstream 32 propeller plane. There were some great views of the Zambian bush from the air and some rather large rain clouds that we thankfully avoided! I was met by one of the guides from Flatdogs and driven to the camp.

Flatdogs Camp is right on the edge of South Luangwa National Park and on the banks of the Luangwa river. I had a large semi permanent tent with en-suite right on the river bank, a great vantage point to watch hippos waddling in the water. I stayed for 3 nights, 2 of which were on safari package which includes a morning and evening game drive. The middle of the day was spent escaping from the unbearable heat!

In all, i did 4 game drives – 2 in the morning (1 with a walk combination) and 2 in the afternoon / evening. I saw hundreds of hippos, impala, puku, elephants, zebras (with stripes going all round), mongoose, warthog, buffalo, hyena, lions, porcupine, python, and a leopard.
Some specific highlights were:
. One the first evening drive, we had a very close elephant encounter where they were nearly sniffing the truck…
. Later on that evening we were charged by an elephant when we surprised him!
. Leopard sighting minutes from the end of the last game drive
. Aborted chase on an impala by a lioness
. Sundowner overlooking hippos and crocs in the Luangwa river
. Hippos roaming around camp, hippo wandering round my tent and hippos groaning in the river all night… Hippo heaven!
. Walking safari… Despite bring pretty tame with little game save a few zebras, some elephants and impalas… The feeling of walking in the park with an armed scout was great.

Walking safari

After all the wildlife in the past days and weeks, I’d now a little overdosed on game viewing and happy to move onto Lake Malawi and then the Indian Ocean coast. I left South Luangwa on the Monday evening (after having watched El Clasico in a local bar – read shack!) and due to bus schedules (as much as they exist) travelled through the night to get to the Malawi border first thing in the morning and then onto Lake Malawi via Lilongwe the next day.

First thing I did when I got to Venice Beach at Monkey Bay was to have a local Kuche Kuche beer before cooling down in the lake. That evening there was a spectacular thunderstorm over the lake.

On Wednesday i took a matola to Cape Maclear and had lunch there before returning to Monkey Bay.

The next day i got a 6am minibus to Mongochi then a matola ride to Chiponde where i exited Malawi and took a bicycle taxi to Mandimba in Mozambique.

Malawi is the first country that I’ve been disappointed by. It’s picturesque enough and Lake Malawi is a nice place to relax but it suffers from a lack of wow factor (yes, I’m a hard customer!). Malawi is often described as Africa for beginners as it’s compact and offers a flavour of everything. This is true but at the same time it doesn’t offer anything truly exceptional. Every country around it boasts something special and therefore if you’ve come from there you’ll end up disappointed. The people are very nice and helpful but this is no different to anywhere else around here.

Mozambique is different to all the other countries so far (and with the exception of Ethiopia, on my entire root), in that it is the only one to not, at some point, had British colonial influence. Everyone speaks Portuguese but often little English. My pigeon Spanish helps but communication is markedly more difficult.

I was helped by a bunch of young guys at the market in Mandimba to get my transport to Cuamba. My ride was the back of a pick up with 20 other people and sitting on mounds of fish. My bag (but luckily not its contents) stank for a day or two as a result although it did serve as a comfortable seat for a local woman. I was offered mangos and there was a good atmosphere… We were all suffering together. We got caught in a rainstorm as we entered town so all sheltered under a sheet and could simply laugh about it. A man living in Cuamba and the pick up driver were a great help as they showed me where I buy my tickets at the station the next morning and drove me to the pensao as it was already dark. Dinner, a couple of beers and the first half of Liverpool vs Steua before bed.

It was another early start for the train from Cuamba – Nampula as I arrived at the station at 4am. I opted for the softy second class option… Good choice as third class was basically a cattle truck! I met Akura and Abdul from Nampula in my compartment who could speak some English so we chatted away at regular intervals. Travelling by train in Mozambique was nice, comfortable and relaxing! The train spends as much time stopped as moving which is probably why the journey takes 12 hours for 350km!!! At every stop, villagers rush out with mangoes, onions, tomatoes, boiled eggs, chicken, bread, pineapples, peppers, bananas, bamboo and others to either feed passengers or enable them to stock up cheaply on provisions.

View from the train journey

Scattered across the countryside of northern Mozambique are large rocky mountains that rise from the tropical plain, reminiscent of the karsts of northern Vietnam.

Abdul and Akura insisted on taking me to my hotel in their taxi as it was already night. I happily accepted. Everyone so far has helped me along the way and always with a smile! I have found that in Mozambique more so than anywhere else people want to offer advice, help me on my way or simply find out where I’m going and what I think about their country… No other agenda or anything to sell as is so often the case. It’s refreshing and heart warming!

On Saturday 4th December in the morning I took a mini bus for the final 120km to my destination on the Indian Ocean – Ilha de Mocambique.