Malawi, ending of our trip is dooming nearer...

Just this short one to show that I am still alive and kicking... or should I say traveling?
The trip is going exactly as planned and detailed in my previous posts, though transportation is slow and dusty :-(.

We spent two nights in Ilha do Mozambique, which was splendid.

Then, three days ago, we came all the way over to Malawi, where we are now. Lake Malawi is a large lake in South Eastern African marking the Eastern end of the Great Rift Valley. It is rated as one of the top 10 cleanest lakes in the world! There are many fish in the lake including lots of unique colorful tropical fish calls clichés. The lake, with its warm, crystal-clear waters, is a wonderful place for swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing and water skiing!
Malawi is small yet incredibly beautiful country with some of the happiest and most friendly people in the world. It is one of Africa's best kept secrets; a country blessed with an enormous 365 mile long freshwater lake, fringed with beautiful beaches and simple fishing villages. Southern Malawi has traditionally been the most visited area of Malawi but in recent years the stunning natural beauty of the landscape, beaches and people of the Northern Region, mostly Nkhata Bay, have begun to win visitors over. It is 855km long, with varying widths from 10km to 250km, covering a total area of 118484sq km, of which over 24000sq km is fresh water - Lake Malawi, minor lakes and rivers. Lake Malawi water surface area is 28760 sq km. The water is crystal clear and is one of the cleanest lakes in the world! Went to the big lake at Monkey Bay and spent a crazy Christmas party there at the Venise Beach Backpackers, dancing on the beach with half naked crazy locals, went into the lake to do some snorkeling...

Currently we're trying to get to Harare, Zimbabwe so that we can get on our flight home the 1st of January. Here in Blantyre, Malawi, we have finally managed to find an agent where we could pay for this ticket that we booked since October but had been unable to pay anywhere anyhow until now... Our credit cards are being processed as I type these words, so keep your digital fingers crossed for us!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to you all!!!!

Ilha do Moçambique

Another World Heritage site: the little island of Mocambique, former capital of the country, and now a warp in time: quiet cobbled street, beautiful colours and silent beaches...
A place to meditate...

With a sailing boat to a remote beach, with a natural swimming pool...

Our guide, a german couple and Thomas in rainbow action!

What are our futur plans?

We only have twelve days left before heading back to Belgium, so how are we going to spend these?

From past Saturday till tomorrow 18/12, Thomas and Tina are in South Africa, visiting the Northern part of Drakensberg, doing the safari in the Kruger Park, and then visiting Pretoria/Jo’burg. Tina’s flight back to Belgium is on Tuesday, and after dropping her off at the airport, Thomas will hurry back to me, here in Maputo.
The Thursday afternoon 20/12, we’ll probably hop on the plane to Nampula, 2344km to the north, which will serve as our gateway to Ilha do Mocambique, an island connected by bridge to the mainland and former capital of Mocambique. It is supposed to be very picturesque, with narrow streets and old buildings.
We'll spend a couple of days there, and then head towards Malawi for another stamp in the old passport and a couple of days by the lake, probably spending Christmas there as well.
From here to Harare (Zimbabwe) to leave with our flight on the 1st of January, to arrive in cold Belgium on the 2nd.

Our current numbers:
Thomas in South Africa: +27 849455105
We in Mozambique: +258 826749319

My personal list of how to get off the beaten track

To all you backpackers and restless travelers out there that want to get beyond the pages of your Lonely Planet, here are some ideas:

- Visit the local cemetery and if there are visitors, ask them to tell the life of one of the deceased. Good for history and traditions, as well as family relations.
- attend a wedding or funeral. One way of working your way in, is presenting your camera and suggesting that you will expertly photograph the ceremony and party in exchange of attending it: gives you the best views and opportunity to ask loads of questions… Easier (and maybe more fun) with a wedding then a funeral though
- go attend a lecture at the university. Just show up at the campus, grab hold of a student and explain that you want to attend an interesting class. Good faculties to try out I found are anthropology, or political sciences, or psychology.
- Pretend to be a student in anthropology and have a questionnaire to ask people with a lot of time (in depth interviews). Fun topics can be: what did you do yesterday? Or sexual habits…
- If you have a camera that can film, pose as a scout for Mister or Miss XXXX (insert country) and have them present themselves and what they think of their country in 3 minutes.
- Go to a hospital, or a retirement home, where people love to have someone to talk to, and again, ask questions.
- Go to the local library and make a little checklist of books. My sample of five books:

• 1984, by George Orwell
• The Koran
  
• It, by Stephen King
• Harry Potter-books, by J.K. Rowling
• Men are from Mars, women are from Venus

- And finally, why not start selling your body for sex and listen to the pillow talk ;-)

Hitch hiking

This post is about our main way of transport, and part of the philosophy of this trip as well: that continuously amazing but almost always wonderful tool to discovering the salt of the earth of a country: hitch hiking.

As a way to pass time, Thomas and I recently calculated that in this last month, we hitched 22 rides so far, vaguely estimating on the map, covering about 2.000km in total, 1.200km in South Africa and Swaziland, and currently a little under 8ookm in Mozambique. Of these 22 rides, about 6 invited us to stay at their place or arranged some form of accommodation for the three of us.

Though it hasn’t always been that easy to get rides, I think we usually waited maximum half an hour before somebody took pity on us, though on the South African highway N2, I must admit we gave up twice after over an hour’s wait. Contrary to what many people might think, you often get rides quicker on local, provincial roads, then on busy highways, where everybody thinks somebody else will take you. It also definitely helps to have a girl with you, that much is sure, maybe less for the aspect that they want to hit on her, but rather that you look less threatening then two boys by themselves.

One of the things that strikes me though, and that I sort of regret, is that almost everybody who took us so far has been white. This is not because black people wouldn’t take whites, but simply because there are a lot less blacks that have cars, and if they do have them, they are usually already very full with the children, cousins, furniture of chickens. Whites tended to have bigger cars, often pick-ups or bakkies as they are called here, and travel with one or two people. They also often expressed their surprise at seeing white people hitch hike in this day and age…

There is something very zen about hitch hiking, of following where the wind blows or what the person recommends to you. You depend on the kindness of strangers, and it is often better not to plan ahead but just go with the flow in order to have the best experiences....

It is also this letting it all depend to chance, that makes you meet contrasts : sometimes you wind up cramped in the back holding a dead goat on your lap to be picked up straight away in a BMW by one of the Princes of the royal family of Swaziland!

Some pictures of our trip with Tina

To show Tina some of Africa, the T.I.A.-experience, after a couple of days in Maputo, we (Thomas, Tina and me) went hitch hiking to experience some of the real Mozambique, outside of the capital! And that we did… The two following days actually offered a really interesting contrast, with first a South African family picking us up. They are setting up a house and a caravan park in Bilene, offering us a view of the touristy life on the Mozambican coast. The next night, we headed land inwards, and stayed with a Mozambican young man, Collen, in his rural village and small house.

in Maputo

Now in Maputo, capital of Mozambique.
Estelle left us, and has been replaced by Tina, here until the 18th of December.
All is well, though access to internet is only sporadic. Pictures and stories will follow, but also check out Thomas' blog....

Thomas dans tous ses etats

Des vacances, c'est l'occasion de prendre mille et une photos de son partenaire (certains avec l'oeil et le super appareil de Tina). Alors, autant vous faire profiter de quelques perles....
Voyager, ca change un homme... De coupe de cheveux, de teint de peau, de taille de poil de barbe... Il peut meme arreter de fumer...


Mais tant qu'il a l'air mieux, ca va, non?

Oke, peut etre pas a 4h du matin, en regardant par la porte pour voir ou on peut bien se trouver...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all, no?

Estelle part, Tina arrive

“You say goodbye, I say hello….” Today was the day that Estelle, who had spent the last month travelling from Cape Town to Maputo with us, was flying back to France, but three hours later, Tina, an ex-colleague of Thomas, arrived for 12 days! I was quite sad to see Estelle go, since we’d had so many memories from our trip together, even more then when we knew each other in Haiti actually. Tina

Maputo and Shirley

After the rafting, we got our passports stamped in the Swazi capital with visas for Mocambique (80Rand in Mbabane while 150R at the border), we got on the local bus from Manzini and sat the ride out to Maputo, the capital of Mocambique (50R/person). Arriving two hours later than expected, we got a ride through dark and rainy Maputo to Shirley’s apartment, which is right in the centre (on 24 de Julho).

The day after, still pouring, but since Estelle had only one day, we decided to face the elements and walked around town, arranging her plane ticket back and stuff like that. On our last night, we ventured in the Maputo night life, with a taxi that dropped us at one of the thousand bar where a live band is playing Afrojazz. It had been a while since we’d danced the night away (since Plett actually), so it felt good to shake it again…

From Swazi

Hi,

 

 

All is well, though our hectic travels and many kilometers have prevented us from posting something.

 

What happened since our last post?

-          we did the pony trekking for two days into Lesotho, going up the very impressive Sani Pass, dubbed the "Roof of Africa"

-          we went to the park of Hluhluwe, where we had the opportunity to do a game drive in the oldest game park of South Africa, with over 1.500 white rhino's. Almost got charged by an elephant.

-          Next was the white water rafting in Swazi, where we spent the last two days, invited by very friendly south African married to a half Scottish-half Norwegian wife. Very interesting debats about Africa… Loved the rafting, hitched a ride with a prince and did some Xmas shopping....

 

Now off to Maputo, and hope all goes well for getting the visa!!!

 

More later, with pictures and details, are on the run now,

 

 

Cheers

Swaziland and white water rafting

After the animal spotting, we headed to Swaziland, one of the only real absolute monarchies left in the world. It is a tiny country, with 1,1M people in 17,000 sq km (half the size of Belgium). The current king, Mswati III, has taken over 13 wives, some of which get choosen during an annual festival. One of these wives was only 17 when he gently removed her from high school. Swazi people enjoy life though. A misprinting in the law put the drunken driving limit at 0,8‰, while it should have been 0,08‰, so the limit is humanly impossible to achieve. For several years, Swaziland was very proud of its clean record: no case of drunken driving had ever been recorded. Recently though, through pressure from neighboring countries, the typo has been corrected, though attitude hasn’t yet followed suit apparently.

Our main activity in Swaziland was the white water rafting on the Great Usutu River. It was a full day activity, with the three of us in one boat, a South African father-son team, and two guides who seemed determined to get us wet. It was great fun, and the weather was as splendid as the sights. No original pictures though since I could hardly risk my brand new camera in these rapids…

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi camp reserve

After a long day of hitch hiking, we got stranded in Mtubatuba, we were saved by a ranger and brought to a secluded backpacker/lodge. After some negotiating with local management, we seized the opportunity to show Estelle some wildlife and went on a safari tour in the Hluhluwe park. This is the oldest park of South Africa, created at the end of the 19^th century, and before it was a former hunting domain for a Zulu King, so it had never been inhabited. Though a lot smaller than Kruger, it is still 96.000hectares, boasts most wildlife, including the (in my view overrated) Big Five. It isn’t savannah like Kruger, but hilly and bushy. Visibility wasn’t that great but we had the big thrill of having an irritated (or horny?) elephant bull charge us. Our guide managed to get away but when a roaring 6-ton animal comes within a meter of the car, let me assure you it is quite the thrill!

Lesotho, le royaume au ciel

Il était une fois, un royaume au ciel. Ce n’était pas un grand royaume, un empire ou une nation, comme existent ailleurs. C’était petit, et modeste. Le royaume était protégé des envahisseurs par un dragon, allongé à la frontière, haut et pointu. Les gens y vivaient simplement, la plupart dans les montagnes, et quelques petits en bas. Leurs maisons étaient rondes, pour que personne ne puisse les surprendre, ou bien pisser dans un coin. Ils les peignaient en couleur vive, pastel, ou vert, mais cela simplement parce qu’ils aimaient bien. Beaucoup d’animaux rôdaient autour des maisons, et on disait que la banque du pays était dans les prés. Il y faisait souvent froid, donc les gens étaient vêtus d’une grande couverture, maintenue par une énorme épingle de sureté.

Puis un jour, trois étrangers sont arrivés, trois qui avaient franchi le dragon en le serpentant vers le haut. Deux princes venaient d’un royaume de la même taille, et une princesse, douce aux cheveux longs, d’une grande nation. Ils faisaient partie d’une délégation internationale, avec trois autres membres, le Couple Courtois scandinave/slovène et une Délicieuse Danoise. Cette délégation était guidée par un jeune au cœur troublé du pays voisin.

Le groupe s’aventurait en poney dans les hauteurs, émerveillé par les magnifiques vues de jour comme de nuit. Remarquons que le poney d’un des princes, Tonkie, pétait la forme assez spectaculairement… A la tombée de la nuit, lors de leur arrivée au village, les villageois improvisaient un petit spectacle de chant et de danse afin d’accueillir les visiteurs. Bien que démarrant quelque peu forcé et laborieux, les visiteurs avaient également tenté d’improviser quelque chants et danses de leur pays. Heureusement, ces tentatives parfois moins réussies détendaient l’atmosphère et à la fin, une ambiance bon enfant d’amusement régnait au village. L’obscurité mettait fin au spectacle, et après un copieux repas, la fatigue de la journée se faisait sentir.

La nuit, les visiteurs dormaient dans la hutte ronde, appelé une « rondavel », et donc devaient s’éloigner au moins de deux mètres afin de pouvoir se soulager. Le Couple Courtois avait droit à un matelas, les autres dormaient par terre, mais tous au chaud sous des couvertures magnifiques.

Le jour venu, l’heure de départ sonnait, et les fesses adoucies rencontraient à nouveau les dos des poneys. Après un voyage plus court jusqu’au village de départ, le reste de cette journée était sous le signe de la montée vers les hauteurs…. Tout d’abord, nous avons commencer petit : une visite tout au fait au milieu du pays, à Thaba Tseka, d’une petite maison Touching Tiny Lives, où des petits enfants malades se faisaient soigner, nourrir et aimer. Ensuite, plus haut, une consultation du ciel. En échange d’un maigre 2Rand par personne, une sangoma s’envolait au ciel pour y consulter les ancêtres des membres de la délégation. Plus tard, la montée vers le top du continent, visant le point le plus haut au sud du Kilimandjaro.

Tous ces périples devaient bien être clôturés par une boisson chaude, ou froide. Et quel meilleur endroit que dans le pub le plus haut du continent…

Staying with the reverend's family in Kokstad

After Coffee Bay, we went on hitch hiking towards the Drakenberg and Lesotho, but first we had a stop in Kokstad. A reverend of the local baptist church, Rowan, picked us up by the side of the road and since the hour was growing late, he kindly invited us to spent the night at this house with his family. They first had an award ceremony for the end of the school year at their local school. We were kindly invited to assist and I tried to make myself useful by taking pictures, especially since I want to try out my new camera. Before the awards though, they had a little Xmas play, which was enchanting!
They had six children, three of themselves and three adopted, of which only one boy, but quite the handful.So lovely to meet them.


It once again confirmed my love for the hitch hiking way and how it is one of the best methods of meeting the salt of the earth!

Now, off to Drakensberg and the pony trekking trail in the Sani Pass that we're undertaking for the next three days!

On the Wild side of the Coast

Coffee Bay was very hippy... we spent a morning having several Kodak Moments on the cliffs,
getting sunburned at the beach and in the afternoon a guy invited us to go speak to a sangoma (a local witch doctor) and then the initiation of two 18 year old that become men through circumcision. It was all very fascinating, especially since we did it through a guy, Lihle that we met by chance in the bus. He just introduced us to these people from his little village, and though they had never before seen tourists, they managed to explain it all very well.

The sangoma, who was actually quite young, 34 y/o, had been called three years before by first becoming sick (headaches and hallucinations) that couldn't be cured by pills or shots. She then experienced dreams and visions, in which ancestors of her, dressed in white called her to become a sangoma. She went to consult another sangoma who confirmed the message and she spent a year in training (as a twaza), learning about medicines and consulting the elders. They have to be able to say what the problem is of the people that come to see them (which costs 60R) and then for the remedy (oils, roots, specific rituals to be performed) another 350R.

We next went on to see a little hut (rondavel) in which two young men were spending their one month initiation period.
As you can see on the pictures, their names are changed after the one month period and the new names are written above their sleeping place. They are painted with a kind of white ochre that is meant to have a link with the ancestors (white meaning the peaceful ones, who passed away in their sleep and whose bones are white now). During the one month, they are taught what responsibilities come with manhood, how to behave towards their wife, how to ritually kill a goat or cow, etc. This is also sometimes used as a punishment, for youngsters that are behaving badly. If they go through the entire initiation, their former crimes or sins are forgiven, since they are supposed to have been committed by others. No women visitors are allowed except for sisters(though they made an exception for Estelle). Funny to note thought that they were playing with a deck of cards with nude (white) women on them though.

First departure: rained out....

Leaving Plett prooved harder then expected... Not because of sentimental reasons (which were there of course as well) but because of massive rain. The entire area had already been flooded and quiet a number of houses had to be evacuated.

Check out the biggest hotel and see where the little bridge is leading to now;-)



And the morning we wanted to leave, the minute we stuck out our thumb, Mercurius started crying. After 45 minutes of acting pathetic like drowned kittens, we abandonned and retreated to the nearest gas station where we tried drying off. B-plan was to take the night bus so we spend a quiet day, which was actually quite nice, without worries and hassle, before heading off to East London. Off course our usual luck off buses prevailed and we again broke down two hours away from Plett. But eventually we arrived in East London and from there we hitch hiked to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast.

Future plans

Departure is eminent from our dear Plettonian life: this Monday 26th of November, Thomas, Estelle and me will be taking off towards:
- first stop : the Wild Coast (26 till 28/11) , where some of the less touristy and most beautiful and secluded beaches are supposed to be (around Port St John probably).
- second stop: Drakenberg and Lesotho (29/11 till 2/12): the high mountains and the little kingdom I once spent some time teaching and horse riding.
- then through Durban and Swaziland (3 and 4/12) into Mozambique: over to the capital, Maputo 5 till 9/12), from where Estelle is flying back home on the 8th of December and where Tina, a friend of Thomas is arriving till the 18th of December.

Once Tina will have abandoned us, Thomas and me might try and buy a motorbike and head along the Mozambican coastline to the north, spending time wherever it suits us. Around Xmas, we would either head towards Malawi or straight into Harare, Zimbabwe. Anyway, the flight we booked (but have still not paid since Ethiopian Airlines doesn't make it that easy ;-) back to Brussels, Belgium is on the 1st of January 2008!

The rest of the future is still uncertain, though chances are we might be spending the next three years working for Volens in Harare, Zimbabwe, with the projects we visited. Keep your fingers crossed!

Estelle in south africa

En première, Estelle se la pête en Afrique du Sud....

Sketch: l'Addition (Muriel Robin)

Un des sketches que j'ai vu il y a des années et qui m'est toujours resté à l'esprit, surtout quand on fait des soirées resto ;-)...

Thomas is trying to get everything finished...

But where does this extra money comes from in my bookkeeping?!

aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG GHHHH HHHHHHH!!!!

Parting...

"The meeting and parting of living things is as when clouds having come together drift apart again, or as when the leaves are parted from the trees. There is nothing we may call our own in a union that is but a dream."

William Blake