The Eastcott Family Blog: Malawi to Zambia

Malawi as a whole was a great country and definitely somewhere we would both love to go again. Immediately after crossing the border from Tanzania the whole atmosphere and attitude of the locals seemed to change. There were still touts and people wanting your business, but they take "no" as an answer, which is great.

After making it to Nkhata Bay we decided we would stay there for a few days. We had a private room right on the beach, we also had access to a kayak and a wooden dugout canoe (which was a disaster trying to use!) along with snorkeling gear for free. The hostel also had a bunch of hammocks, chairs, swings and other areas to just sit and relax. While we were there Dave went snorkeling and took some photos with our waterproof camera to test it out (works great), we also did some souvenir shopping for the first time since we got to Africa and we spent the rest of our time relaxing. Nkhata Bay itself was a small town built around some shops and restaurants. The locals would head out to fish early every morning and a lot of them also bathed in the lake which was amazingly clear and fresh water. Overall it was a relaxed place and we really enjoyed it.

Our next stop after leaving Nkhata Bay was Lilongwe which is the capital of Malawi. After getting there (previous post) it was so strange to be in a "city" again as we hadn't seen supermarkets and street lights for quite some time. Don't be fooled though, the city was still very poverty stricken in some areas and it was clear where the line was drawn between the two sides. While there we went into town and did some food shopping at Spar (a country of its own) and visited a Game store which neither of us had ever been into. It was nice just to go into a store with prices marked. We ended up buying some food to cook for ourselves (thinking the hostel had a guest kitchen ... which it did not). Luckily the owners were great and allowed us to use the hostel kitchen so we had some amazing steaks and pasta for dinner one night (yummy). The hostel also had a pool and some great people so we spent a lot of our time just hanging out there and chatting with other travelers.

Lilongwe also has a huge market that sells clothes, shoes, jackets, belts and anything else you could think of. We heard that there was a 'store' front in there that sold sweatshirts from universities back in the states so we decided to visit and see what we could find. We did find one Purdue sweatshirt and a bunch of shirts, sweatshirts and hats from a ton of other colleges/universities back in the states. It's crazy to think that the clothes Lilongwe gets (for free) get put in a stall for sale in the markets. The craziest thing we saw by far was a University of Texas March of Dimes team shirt from the 2010 March Of Dimes walk that Lisa actually participated in (she has the shirt at home). It took both of us by complete surprise and the guy kept asking if we wanted to buy it. After laughing and trying to explain to the guy that we already owned the shirt at home, and him being completely confused, we called it quits and left the markets happily empty handed.

We also spent a day walking around seeing the town, buying our bus tickets, trying to change money (which was a nightmare), visiting some local shops (which were ran by Italians) and attempting to eat dinner at a highly rated restaurant (which turned out to be closed on Mondays - guess we'll have to go next time). Changing money was by far the most difficult. US cash is gold here and everyone wants it, banks don't have any no one at the hostel wanted to give it up. However we needed some for the Zambia visa (countries only want US cash when you enter) so after going to 3 banks which were all out of US money we went over to the black market (with a cook from the hostel as our guide). The exchange rate was horrible and we decided to take our chances at the border hoping there would be an actually bank there with money. We spent the last night at the hostel hanging out as we had to catch the bus at 5am the next morning.

The bus station was about a 30 minute walk away, which wasn't too bad except it was 4:45am, pretty cold and pitch black. After getting to the street the bus left from we saw a huge crowding of people and a bunch of fires going. We walked through and quickly realized it was the local morning fish market taking place along with fires going to keep them warm. We got to the bus, bought some cokes and took our seats watching the local market and fires (fueled by wicker baskets) going on outside. There ended up being 7 other westerners (3 Germans, 1 Kiwi, 1 Scottish and 2 Dutch) on our bus which was a first and was also kind of nice to not be alone. Also for the first time ever (since getting to Africa) the bus actually left on time, well five minutes late, but that's still as on time as we've ever seen. Although even with the westerners and leaving on time, you still know you're in Africa when people load the bus with straw, hay, flour (50 lbs bags), parchment paper, pots (55 liter) and fish (yes fish for a 12 hour bus ride to another country).

An hour and a half later we were at the Malawi-Zambia border and were getting off the bus to walk across the border. We exited Malawi customs with no problems and walked across to the Zambian customs office. After getting in the office the lady handed us an "exit" customs card and told us they didn't have any "entry" cards so just make it work. By this time the other 7 westerners were with us so we passed out cards to all of them. The first lady walked away and a man walked over and told us what the visa fees were ($50 for single entry and $80 for double entry) and they only accepted US cash. Four of the nine had enough US money, however the other five (us included) didn't have enough. Two Kiwi and Scottish (Kate and Lucy) didn't have any US cash and needed $100 between the two of them. We were short $30 between the two of us and the other German guy was short $30, so between the 5 of us we needed $160 total US cash which normally wouldn't have been a big issue. However this is Africa and you never know what will happen. The Malawian bank was closed indefinitely and the Zambian bank was supposed to open at 8am (it was not 8:45am) and no one knew where the bank people were. After we told the customs worker we were short US cash and the banks were not operating, he told us to go to the "people on the road" who are the 'black market' guys. We waited a few minutes (to give the bank a chance to open) as they couldn't even find the visa stamp so money would have done no good (how you lose a visa stamp at a customs office none of us could figure out).

After a few more minutes the bank had still not opened so hesitantly, but with no other option, the five of us walked over and just started asking "US Cash? US Cash? US Cash?" until we found a guy who yelled out to his friend who came over and pulled out a wad of US money. He definitely had enough for the five of us so us and the German guy traded in Malawian Kwacha for US money (he was short about 850 MK so we lent him some money). Kate and Lucy had much more trouble than us as they literally no money (they didn't go to the bank before they left Malawi). They traded in all their MK and were able to get $17 US, we lent them the last $3 to make $20 total (now the three of us were wiped out and they were still $80 short). After scrounging through their bags Kate ended up finding 70 euros which she was able to trade for $80 US (horrible exchange rate but no choice) which gave them the $100 they needed. Proud of ourselves for being successful in changing our money we headed back to the customs office.

The German guy went first, paid his money and got his visa with no problems. Kate and Lucy went next but the customs worker wouldn't take their $1 and $5 bills (since smaller bills get worse exchange rates) so they had to walk back over to the black market guys and change a $10, a $5 and 5 $1's for a $20. In the meantime we were paid for our double entry visas and had gotten our passports stamped (they found the visa stamp while we were changing our money over). After the five of us finished we crossed the Zambia border and caught up with the other 4 to wait for the bus to pass through. Next thing we know one of the 'black market' guys walks over to Kate and Lucy and says that they owe them 10 more euros since the euro to US rate is 1 to 1, which it is not. We argued with them, laughed at them, tried to get more money out of them (trading MK for euros - which are worth more than US dollars and we would have actually made some mad money) and eventually he walked away. We got back on the bus, got weighed and were finally on our way to Lusaka (we were at the border for about 2 hours total).

The rest of the drive was actually not too bad, we went through some mountains, passed an overturned car, passed an accident between some cotton trucks (cotton was everywhere) and could definitely tell when we had made it to Lusaka. It was the first time since we left Cairo that we had seen a two lane road (what a luxury). There's shopping centers (two stories), parking lots, lots of cars driving, access to gas and tons of people here in Lusaka, it's quite a change. Our hostel even has a washing machine! Other than the shopping centers a few museums and a movie theater Lusaka doesn't have much. Since being here we've gone shopping, cooked huge meals for ourselves (we have a kitchen at the hostel as well) and hung out with Kate, Lucy and some other travelers. It's been good and tomorrow we are back on the road again (actually the air this time) to Livingston to see Victoria Falls.