Camping, days 3-7: Nanchengwa Lodge, Lake Malawi

Day 3 – Monday 20 May

Travel from Chipata, Zambia to Nanchengwa Lodge, Lake Malawi

On Monday morning we woke up early (no alarms necessary when you have two very small children who wake up unfailingly at sunrise!) and started packing up our camp.  We had porridge for breakfast and I got the dishes washed up and made bolony and cheese sandwiches for the road.   

We ended up leaving camp around 9am, which was later than we had hoped. Sangwani was waiting for us in town by the supermarket. Sangwani is our student from Malawi, and the one whose church and family we would be visiting the next weekend.  Since we had 1 extra seat in our truck and we knew that he would need to travel home to Malawi the same time that we would be headed in that direction, it worked out nicely for us to offer him a lift for most of the way, to save him having to take the bus the whole way home.  It gave David some confidence, as well, knowing that he had someone familiar with Malawian roads since this would be our first time crossing the border and spending time in Malawi.  We were thankful for Sangwani's company!

While in town we quickly topped our fuel tank back up so that we would have an absolutely full tank for our trip, and then David and Sangwani went to one of the Indian shops to exchange money and get Malawian kwacha.  We would need some when crossing the border (it costs 5,000 Malawian Kwacha to enter Malawi).  You can change money at the border, but you run the risk of being cheated by the quick-fingered opportunistic money changers hanging out in droves at the border posts.  It's much easier and safer to just have your Malawian money ahead of time!  

Once we got the money, we then had to stop at the insurance office to insure our vehicle for the time in Malawi.  We could have done this at the border, but it was recommended by experienced expats that we get it done ahead of time.  It is a lot cheaper to insure the vehicle in Chipata than at the border, and you don't have any hassle.

Then at last we were on the road headed towards the border!  From Chipata it’s only about 20 kilometers to the border post.  First we had to park on the Zambian side and the kids and I waited in the car while David and Sangwani went into the office to deal with the paperwork.  It took them about 30 minutes.  Then we had to park on the Malawian side and deal with even more paperwork – this took about 45 minutes.  But it all went quite smoothly and everything was very straight forward.  It was really nice having Sangwani along just for the reassurance that we were doing everything properly.  He doesn’t have his own vehicle and would only normally cross the border by bus, so he couldn’t help us with the vehicle paperwork, but he could guide us through the general requirements.

And then we were in Malawi – with all our papers in order!  From the border to Lilongwe is slightly more than 1 hour’s drive.  Lilongwe is the capital city.  We didn’t really stop in Lilongwe – only long enough to withdraw more Malawian kwacha from the ATM (you get a better exchange rate this way, through the bank, than on the street).  

 From there we headed south towards Dedza.  The countryside was very scenic and we really enjoyed the drive.   

We must have reached Dedza somewhere around 3:30pm.  That was where we dropped off Sangwani, who would find a bus going further south to his home in Zomba.  

 

a hillside village we passed

 From Dedza we headed due east, over the Dedza Pass, towards the shore of Lake Malawi.  The Dedza Pass was absolutely stunning.  The road twisted sharply up and then down over a mountain, and the views were spectacular! The road was challenging to drive because of all of the sharp winding corners and steep drops (no guard rails!).

Along the side of the road were little shelters where people were selling handcrafted wooden toys, like trucks, and airplanes.  We were feeling short on time so didn’t stop, but the toys looked really lovely.  I wish I had gotten a photo.

The sun was getting lower and lower as we descended the Dedza Pass, and we still had a sizable distance ahead of us before we reached our destination, so we were getting slightly nervous.  And then we took a wrong turn.  We were following the directions printed out from Google Maps, and apparently a road had not been updated on the map.  We turned where it directed, and immediately were on a dirt road bouncing through villages. It was obviously NOT a main thoroughfare, and after a kilometer or two, it wasn’t even a road anymore – it wasn’t passable!  So we turned around, asked directions from an ambulance, and headed back to the main road.  It turned out that the main road we were looking for was very well signposted 200 meters up from where we had taken the wrong turn. :) So it was easily solved, and thankfully we didn’t go wrong again after that.

From there it was a  straight shot, a bit more than an hour on the road, and we found the place easily. We were camping at Nanchengwa Lodge, a small family-run place on the southern shore of Lake Malawi, about halfway between Monkey Bay and Mangochi.  They were a couple of kilometers off the main road, right next to a village (but privacy and security provided by a fence).  You could camp under the trees on the grass, or closer to the beach but still on the grass.  We chose to be closer to the beach.  We camped on a ledge just behind the beach houses and next to the toilet facilities.  We chose the spot quickly when we arrived, because it was after 5:30pm and the sun was literally going down, so we only had a few minutes of daylight to start setting up camp.  It had been a long day and the kids were tired and hungry, so I went down to the beach-side bar with Henry, the staff member who welcomed us, to order dinner while David started setting up the tent. 

our camp at Nanchengwa

 

another view of our camp

 It was such a relaxing environment – quiet, with the sound of the waves lapping against the shore so close to our tent!  We managed to get camp set up quite quickly, and the beds inflated, and then Henry came to tell us that our dinner was ready.  We ate in the inside dining area up at the lodge - the kids had chicken schnitzel and chips, I had T-bone steak and chips, and David had vegetable curry and rice.   

Henry told us that we were free to use the inside bathroom connected to the dorm rooms, if we wanted a bathtub to bathe the children (easier than using the camp showers).  We felt heartily welcomed in this low-key, family-friendly atmosphere! After a very long day of driving, we all went to sleep early that night!

Days 4, 5, 6, 7 – Tuesday 21 May to Friday 24 May

Nanchengwa Lodge

 

This was a real holiday for us!  Unlike previous holidays when we've ended up being out and about just about every day to see or do something, this was a genuine effort to relax.  We spent the whole time at Nanchengwa relaxing on the beach.  :) 

 

the private beach at Nanchengwa (we were camped under the trees between the two beach chalets you can see) - the village property starts where the trees end

Thanks to our 'early birds,' we were up every morning in time to see the sunrise.  :)

sunrise over the lake

Four full days of sand, sunshine, and the relaxing sound of waves lapping against the shore.

Three out of the four days that we were there, the surf was so low that the kids were comfortable and adventurous enough to plunge in and play in the lake!

 

 It was nice to sit and read (there was a small collection of books in the guesthouse for visitors to browse through) on the beach, watching the kids having a great time playing.

building sand castles with daddy

David and Elijah climbed onto the big rock at the end of the beach.

Some nights after the children were in bed (which was normally by 6:30pm), David and I were able to walk on the beach in the moonlight.  :)  Funny story about that - one night, quite a while after the children had gone to bed, we had strolled a short ways down the beach, as far as the pier, and were standing there chatting when I suddenly saw a small shadowy figure wandering up on the guesthouse patio.  'David, I think that's Elijah!'  We quickly went up to investigate and found that it WAS Elijah.  He had woken up and come looking for us, and had the sense to realize where we would probably be.  We were thankful that he wasn't screaming in panic!  The funniest thing was that we realized he was tall enough to zip the tent open - we had actually left the tent zipped up where we thought he couldn't reach it, but he was clever and taller than we thought.

the view down the beach towards the public village beach

the beach was the center of village life -- all day long there were villagers bathing, washing dishes or clothes, fishing, swimming, and lots of construction going on at the site of a new hotel (background)

We only ventured into the village once, on Friday afternoon, to buy bread for sandwiches for our trip the next day.  As soon as we walked out of the lodge gate, we were swarmed by a large crowd of children (at least thirty of them!) who attached themselves to our party and escorted us through the village. My Chichewa is at least good enough to ask where the shop is to buy bread...  It must have seemed to the villagers that the traveling circus was in town!  This whole funny family of azungus walking through their village!

we frequently saw the villagers' fishing boats going out on the lake

Our camp was frequently visited by monkeys, of which there was a whole troop living in the trees surrounding the lodge.  They were very bold and would steal food right off the picnic table in our campsite, so we had to be very careful not to leave anything unattended.  Even so, we still lost a few onions, and a couple of fritters which were my breakfast!

 During the 5 nights we camped there, we were the only guests!  There were two families which stopped by for lunch, but no other lodge guests.  This meant that we had the whole place to ourselves!  It was peaceful and totally refreshing.  The campground facilities were nice -- we had a good grassy spot to pitch our tent, the toilet facilities were above average, there were warm showers, and plenty of filtered drinking water available in the guesthouse.  We were free to cook food for ourselves (which we did, using up food we had purchased in Chipata) or order from the kitchen - which we also did.  The food was good and inexpensive!

We were up with the sunrise every morning, played with the kids all day, and went to bed VERY early every night.  I am not kidding.  We were in bed by 8pm!

It was a lovely, lovely time.

After 5 restful nights, on Saturday morning the 25th of May, we packed up camp to head 4 hours south to the town of Zomba, to spend a weekend with Sangwani and his family!