Butterflies and Mushrooms

Lake Malawi – Nkhata Bay

After hiking up a mountain, the only thing you want to do is take a break. And what better place to do that than by a lake? After police impounding our driver’s bike, a blown tire in the taxi, and another eight additional hours of travel later, I’m finally getting into Nkhata Bay for a stay at Butterfly Eco-Lodge. Situated right on the lake, you can wake up and go to sleep to the sound of the waves as they crash onto the rocks. And I do mean waves. This lake is huge! It’s the third largest and the second deepest lake in Africa, and the ninth largest in the world! But it’s beautiful. Stretching farther than the eye can see, and I’ve heard, if you get lucky, on a clear day, you can see all the way to the Tanzanian side and see the mountains.

Not only the surroundings above, but also those below, are equally captivating. I had the opportunity to see it while I was getting certified to scuba dive at Aqua Africa with Jason during my stay. In Lake Malawi, there are over 700 species of cichlids; yellow, blue, black, orange, and many other colored fish dart back and forth in every direction that you look. Seeing the fish flit around, swimming across your face, close enough to touch, adds a new dimension and appreciation to seeing them outside a tank or aquarium and to getting immersed in nature.

Any time not spent in the water, I’m at One Love Restaurant talking with chef Kelvin at his restaurant that overlooks the bay, walking around town, or hanging out at the bar, trying the local foods, and walking through the markets to get ingredients for cooking or chatting it up with the volunteers and staff at the lodge. With such a laid-back and friendly atmosphere and hammocks all around, it’s a perfect place to nap while the water sends you off to sleep.

Scuba Certified!!

Three days later and more e-learning than I had anticipated I’m ready to go.

Livingstonia

A couple of relaxing and restful days later, and I’m back on the road, for twenty minutes at least. I don’t know what it is about me and travel days, but I always seem to have at least one bad one a week. The day starts well enough. I’m doing some last-minute errands (getting ice cream at the café in town) and only getting moderately overcharged, and I find a bookbag for the one I ripped and had to replace. To start, the taxi that was supposed to leave at 1 p.m. didn't leave until well after 6 p.m., but that was because of protests over the election in Tanzania, which caused a massive fuel shortage in the countries Tanzania exports to. A few minutes into the ride, we blow (another) (a) tire, we drive around looking for a place that can do a quick repair to get us on the road, and after a short delay, we’re back on the way. The rest of the ride goes smoothly until we reach the mountain. Just for reference, taxis here in Africa make sure to optimize space. Eight people in a car that is supposed to seat six is more common than not. But sometimes overloading like that does put a strain on the car, and after having driven for two hours just to reach the base of the mountain, you can almost feel that the car is getting exhausted.

They had a more creative fix than I had in mind, but it got the job done and we made it to the top.

By now, the sun has long set, and the only lights penetrating the darkness are the phone flashlights of locals returning home and our one car’s headlights. Partway up the mountain, the car starts to shudder as it struggles to move. I’m thinking to myself, did the driver not get to fill up enough at the fuel station? What’s going on here? But he turns the car off, turns it back on, and we continue going up. Every five or ten minutes, we’re pulling over to let the engine rest, and I’m just trying to carve out a position in the car that will let me get comfortable enough to disassociate until we reach wherever we’re going to stop for the night. But somehow, we make it near 9 or 10 p.m. And right when I think that the night is finally allowing me to get away from this car, the taxi driver decides to argue and raise the price we had previously agreed on because the destination was “just too far.” With petrol only available on the black market and prices skyrocketing by over 1200%, I guess he felt the previous price wasn’t fair. Maybe that’s a new business model: put your customer in an uncomfortably intimate car with three extra passengers, delay the trip by overworking the engine, scramble their brains as you drive on the rockiest road ever, and then ask for just a little bit extra while they’re still recovering and coming back to reality. But finally, I’m walking across the bridge to Mushroom Farm Eco-lodge, run by Katlynn and Paul, two former Malawian Peace Corps Volunteers. It’s situated on a mountain and overlooking Livingstonia and Lake Malawi, or so I’m told, because it’s nighttime and I can’t see anything. I head to the campsite, get set up, and prepare to start a new day tomorrow.

It’s an early start as both the monkeys and sun conspire to wake me up, but the sunrise is worth it once I’m aware enough to take it in. It’s a beautiful campground with a scenic view of Livingstonia and, behind it, Lake Malawi. Mushroom farm is a popular destination, and I can hear the guests as they gather for breakfast and head out to start their plans for the day. After enjoying the good food, chatting more with a volunteer group who came from the States, and just enjoying the weather and lack of responsibilities (especially the lack of responsibilities, I know, I know an update is overdue), before I know it, I’m on the move again, headed to Tanzania. I’d been delaying the trip for a few days to let things calm down that side, but after talking with a few people I felt it was pretty safe to cross over. The transport this time was much easier and only took a few hours to reach the Tanzania border. Thankfully, I ended my time in Malawi with a good day of transport and some beautiful views.

Book that’s currently distracting me from writing my next blog post: Paradise X Abdulrazak Gurnah

Song that is probably getting played way too many times: Mystical Magical x Benson Boone