Dom in South Africa: Changing tyres is easy.

Bhamini relaxing above Lake Malawi at Mushroom Farm.

The dream is over; the trip has ended. Right now, I am huddling inside my rather large house at Holy Cross whilst the rain and wind beats down on my oversized sitting room window. Instead of beautiful vistas, it is just cloud and gloom. A pathetic fallacy some may say. However, despite a few first day blues, it is good to be back.

In case you were interested, let me try and scan over the last two weeks of our tour around east Africa in Mitch. As I left it, Bhamini and I had tended to a baboon stricken dog on top of a beautiful camp site looking over Lake Malawi in the north of the country. We didn’t really want to leave, but then it wouldn’t be a road trip – one must keep on moving. Malawi seemed to be full of medical students on their elective taking exceptionally long weekends away from their hospitals to explore the country. Not that I can blame them. In fact, I am pretty sure I did exactly the same thing. You’re only young once and all that.

Bhamini taking a photo of a pig on bike.

We were slightly anxious about entering Malawi as there were rumours of a fuel shortage, specifically diesel. Mitch drinks diesel like I drink tea (I love tea; I also wee a lot). Our nervous laughs and smiles were slightly amplified when the first two petrol stations we visited were e mpty. Good thing I brought jerry cans and a tow rope, I thought. However, it was a false alarm as every other filling pump in Malawi was more than happy to inject Mitch with his favourite juice. So, fuel not a worry, we were able to drive the length of Malawi.

At a small Italian run guest house we overheard a girl talking: “...so, these two doctors happened to have an entire medical kit in their car. They managed to stop the bleeding and patch the dog up. He would have died if they weren’t there.....,” or something like that. The dog incident was in the north of the country; we were 800km away in the south. For a second I thought we had become famous. However, it turned out that she was the girlfriend of the dog’s owner and happened to be passing through. It was the best thing our “medical kit” was used for over the two month trip. Right now I am slowly working my way through various medications from the box of treats to rid a few parasites that I probably picked up whilst swimming in the lush blue lakes of east Africa.

I say I can't remember what we did in Malawi - but, how
could I forget this campsite on an island in the lake that we had to
Kayak to. Domwe Island - check it out.

Other than eating nice cheese and some excellent gnocchi, tales of Malawi seem so far away. After that it was on to Zambia, where we failed to see any Leopards (they can be damn sneaky) and then commenced the long trip home. There I was, thinking that apart from two speeding tickets (the second in Malawi) and with three days left, we had managed to get through the entire trip without a hiccup. Cue: burst tyre.

It's all about the "High Vis."

Changing the wheel of a large car, or shall I say small truck, is rather difficult. Thank god we had our high visibility, a.k.a. we haven’t a clue, jackets on so that we could be spotted by some lovely guys from the local town. Without them we would probably still be there trying to undo the wheel bolts. With the new tyre safely on, we bombed it through Zambia and then drove the length of Zimbabwe in a day. And there it was, trip over. We met some friends in Johannesburg and waved an emotional goodbye to Bhamini: she flew back to the UK after

a year in South Africa.

I have hundreds of stories, but I need to save some for the dinner table. I have compiled a brief list of some nice places to stay, just in case you decide to do a similar trip. You may notice that most places I recommend involve good food: I like to eat. They are in order of the route we took, rather than preference.

1. Kapishya Hot Springs (ZAMBIA, in the northeast): Excellent food using vegetables from their garden, a very eccentric owner, off the beaten track (i.e. private transport is needed) and loads of friendly dogs of all shapes and sizes. Oh yeah, and there’s a really lush hot spring that you can soak your dirty body in until it goes white and leathery. Yum.

2. Katavi National Park (TANZANIA, in the west): If you like tsetse flies, you’ll love this. They try their best, but a few bites and the prospect of sleeping sickness cannot put one off the untouched feel of this park. The campsite is set above one of the largest pods of hippos I have ever seen – an exhilarating camping experience.

3. Paradis Malahide Hotel (RWANDA, Gisenyi): On the shore of Lake Kivu is a little gem where one can relax and do nothing but sleep, eat (really good fish, not surprisingly) and swim in the crystal clear waters for the tenth of the price of a gorilla permit.

4. @theriver (UGANDA, Ishasha): Just outside Uganda’s infamous park that is home to tree climbing lions is a very affordable campsite that does some excellent grub and has pretty cool open showers looking onto the river where others like to wash.

5. Bery’s Place (UGANDA, Ssese Islands): Not really a guesthouse, but as I described in a previous post, more of a refuge. However, Bery does take volunteers who can help with his foundation – the accommodation, food and company is really nice; the view of the lake isn’t bad either.

6. Ruaha National Park (TANZANIA, in the middle): Not a tsetse fly in sight and there is more game than Noah would know what to do with. Not as unspoilt as Katavi, but not as overridden as the Serengeti.

7. The Old Farm House, Kisolanza (TANZANIA, Iringa): the campsite looks like an English orchard – whether that’s what you want or not when in Africa is debatable. However, the three course dinner is scrummy and the restaurant has been converted from a derelict mud hut.

8. The Crazy Crocodile (TANZANIA, Matema): Run by a German dude called Thomas, this new joint on the unspoilt beaches (well, now slightly spoilt) around Matema is a great base for a few days. It’s all about the food, although the portions are occasionally a little small.

9. Mushroom Farm (MALAWI, Livingstonia): The place I mentioned in this and a previous post – campsite set on top of a cliff looking over Lake Malawi with some very enthusiastic dogs that like playing with baboons. The owner, Mickey, cooks a good steak.

10. Casa Rossa (MALAWI, Zomba): Run by a couple of really nice Italian’s. They make really good cheese and pasta – I love cheese and pasta. Enough said. The accommodation isn’t bad either.