Roadtrip

We're back safe and sound from a ridiculously long road trip to Karonga, right in the very north of Malawi, about an hour from the Tanzanian border. A had a meeting there so to make the 2.5 days driving for a 1.5hr meeting a bit less of a nonsense, I took the chance to see the north and keep him company.

What I take away is not so much memories of the empty beauty of that part of the country (wild natural forests, high mountain passes and a great road along the lake shore) but a terror of A's boss's car – that huge gas gazzling Nissan was a beast! The suspension was knackered, the fuel tank leaked, the speedometer didn't work, there was a big crack in the windscreen, the headlight lamp blew and every time you turned the engine off it backfired Del-Boy style with a tremendous 'CRACK'! We certainly made an impression arriving late in Mzuzu, the freezing cold northerly most proper city. Oh, and of course the doors didn't lock, the windows didn't open and the tape deck didn't work, such things 'come as standard' in Malawi.

It did the job though, we got four rice farmers, a business manager and the head of buying for the national co-operative all in it at one point. We're safe and we'll certainly never forget our three day whirl wind tour of Malawi.

Fx

PS – they speak a different language in the north, though all I was able to pick up was “Muli wuli?” instead of “Muli bwanje?” for 'how are you?' and 'yeaoo' (sp? Like yellow but without moving your tongue) for thank-you – helpful to know when being stopped by the police (again).