Diary

March

Kande Beach, Malawi 2004-03-27 11:42

Hello!

At the time of writing we are sitting here in Kande Beach, Malawi grilling a small pig that we just bought. The pig, Sylvester, was so cute half an hour ago when he was running around and grunting, but after some blood and tears he’s now tightened on a spit which is slowly but safely being rotated over our beach fire. It’s rough, we know. But this is the way it goes if you want to cook by yourself in big parts of Africa, you just have to get used to it. This is however the first time we have taken part in killing a pig, earlier it’s mostly been chickens, and they are not as cute as Sylvester was…

We have spent most of this week experiencing the famous and beautiful Lake Malawi. It almost feels like if we’re in Thailand. The beaches are white, the water is crystal clear and the “beach boys” (guys who are making their living out of selling stuff to tourists) are driving us crazy. And there are heaps of activities here. Except from sunbathing, swimming, grilling pigs (oh yeah, he’s grilled now) and drinking a lot of beer we have been snorkelling, kayaking and windsurfing.
Malawi is one of the world’s ten poorest countries and the majority of the Malawians have a yearly income of less than 150 US dollars. But even if Malawi is a poor country it’s very rich in other things such us green and beautiful scenery, nice winding motorbike roads and smiling, friendly and helpful locals. We really like Malawi!

We ended up spending two days in the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe. We didn’t like Lilongwe that much, it felt a bit unsafe. Half of the tourists we spoke to in this city hade been mugged of their wallets and/or cameras. This kind of theft usually seems to happen in train and bus station though, places that we never visit. But we are definitely touching a lot of wood these days feeling very lucky to still have all our belongings.
From Lilongwe we went to Cape Maclear, the south part of Lake Malawi. After to many long and sweaty days on the bike we decided to have some vacation. And Cape Maclear was definitely the right place for that, we spent four extremely nice, sunny and relaxing days on this spot doing absolutely nothing.

From Cape Maclear we headed north to Kande Beach which is a very popular stop for overlanders. And after a whole lot of bragging about us not having one single flat tyre since we left Sweden in September we got a nail in the tyre. And as soon as we started to fix it started to rain. So typically. But it could have been worse. Andy and Anna, a friendly South African/English couple that we’d met in Cape Maclear, have a really well equipped Landrover and we knew that they and their air compressor were close behind us. Because that’s the hard part of fixing a flat motorbike tyre, to pump up the tyre up with a hand pump. And twenty minutes later they came. Not only with an air compressor but also with cigarettes (that we’d run out of), Coca Colas and a whole lot of patients. Thank you!!!

We’re sorry that this update is a bit late. The thing is that advanced electronic stuff like TV’s and Internet don’t work that well in Malawi. Because of this fact we’re also having problems to get the pictures out. We are however getting closer and closer to Tanzania and its capital Dar es Salam where we most likely will be able to fix this.

Stay tuned,

Helena and Daniel

Time to grill Sylvester	Our first flat tyre...	Helena is snorkeling in Lake Malawi

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Lilingwe, Malawi 2004-03-17 17:56

Howdie!

Last Tuesday we took a new personal record in long-distance driving. We started in Tsumeb at dusk and arrived in Katima Mulilo (at the border to Zambia) just as the sun was about to set. We had then been driving for thirteen hours and covered a distance of 900 kilometres, 250 kilometres longer than we had ever drove in one day before.
All the way from Tsumeb to Katima Mulilo is sealed and we thought that this day, besides the long distance, was going to be pretty relaxed. But no, after two hours we came across our first challenge, a 60 kilometre long road work and because of this we had to take an alternative road. As we mentioned last week we are now in the middle of a rainy season which means that this alternative "road" is more like a mud bath. We were happy that we were on a bike, though. The cars and let alone the trucks were really struggling and at least 30 of them were stuck really badly. The most ironic part of the day was when a desperate old man approached us, rattle with his chain and asked if WE could pull his 24 meter long truck out of the mud...
After 30 slippery, heavy and dirty kilometres in the mud we were really fed up. Our downloaded bike was not exactly dancing through the mud and the time was running by a bit too quickly. To save time a partly shaken Helena decided to hitchhike with a four-wheel driven pickup and with one passenger less on the bike Daniel played around through the rest of the mud in no time.
When we finally got back on the asphalt we got into a new problem, our first empty tank on the whole trip. This came as a big surprise since we hade only been driving 550 kilometres since we last filled up, usually we drive around 650-700. It must have been because of really bad petrol and a lot of mud driving. But no problem, we were thinking. We have half a litre of petrol in out multi fuel kitchen. After another ten kilometres we were however stranded again and no petrol stations in sight. After around ten minutes of desperate trying to get help a taxi stopped. The man in the cab explained that the next petrol station was within five kilometres and than gave us another half litre petrol to get us there. Of course this bloody BP-station wasn't five kilometres away, but fifteen. After three empty tanks within an hour we could however get to the station by foot.

We spent around one week in Zambia, an incredibly green, beautiful and very "African" country with mud huts, a lot of cows and goats along the roads, begging children, desperate sellers, chaotic traffic etc. And this seems to be the end of our anonymous life that we had in South Africa and Namibia, a lot of people are approaching us everywhere. "What kind of machine is that, how fast is it, can I have it", is the most common questions.
The highlight of Zambia was definitely when we visited one of the worlds seven natural wonders, the Victoria Falls. And what a wonder, what an amazing waterfall. Of course we were expecting something impressive, but this is beyond that, its super duper impressive. Soo big, so much water, I don't know if we have ever seen something that tremendous. And the weather, we were so lucky. After three weeks of constantly rain in the area around "the falls" we came with the sun, a sun that stayed just as long as we did, for four days. It was really cool to se the Victoria Falls when they are at their best, in the rainy season and when the sun is shining.

After two pretty boring but relaxing days in the capital of Zambia, Lusaka, we yesterday headed to yet another country, Malawi. And yesterday turned out to be another very long day on the bike filled with action. After around one hour on the bike we passed a dead man lying in the middle of the street. The poor man, that must have been hit by a car shortly before we came, had half of his head smashed and fucking hell what a sight, we've never seen anything like that. There were a lot of people who were standing beside him and looking but nobody did anything, they didn't cover his body, moved him from the middle of the street or even cared that there were children watching. We only saw this for a couple of seconds when we were passing by, but there was no car in sight so the person who did it probably just took off.

Before we went from Lusaka to Malawi we were informed that a bridge in-between had been swept away by the rain, but that it wouldn't be a problem, a temporary military bridge made the traffic flow. When we arrived at this bridge we were immediately informed that the cue was long and that we would have to wait for fourteen(!) hours before we could cross. The reason for all the waiting was that a lot of trucks were passing by and that every second of them got stuck in the mud leading to the military bridge. No way, we were saying to each other, we can't wait that long. Instead of waiting we asked around for the big boss and then explained to him that we couldn't wait for fourteen hours and that our bike could get through the mud and over the bridge really, really quick. After a bit of sucking up and after a packet of crackers split among the militaries we finally got thumbs up, we only had to wait until the three trucks being stuck right there and than was pulled out by the hard working bulldozer. Ten minutes later we were on the other side of the bridge facing around 30 other drivers waiting for their turn. It's really amazing how patient people are on this side of the world. We panic if we are in a traffic jam for 30 minutes. We talked to some of the truck drivers standing in the cue and they were so positive thinking that they would be able to pass before sunset.

The picture gallery is updated with pictures from Namibia!

Take care,

Helena and Daniel

The Vic falls!!!	Africa!!!	The military temporary bridge

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Tsumeb, Namibia 2004-03-08 16:51

Hi!

We are now in a small town called Tsumeb that is located in the north part of Namibia. We were supposed to head off to Zambia today but since it's literally raining cats and dogs (we are now in the middle of a rainy season) and since our tent and all are clothes are soaking wet we have decided to stay another night. And when we are already mentioning Zambia, which wasn't a part of our originally travel plans, we can take the opportunity and tell you about our new travel plans.
From Namibia we are crossing the border to Zambia (we have decided to skip Botswana because of expensive prices and because it isn't that much to se there). We are of course going to visit the Victoria Falls but from there we are going to "rush" to Malawi, that's supposed to be very nice, beautiful and cheap. After a couple of weeks in Malawi we are heading to Tanzania followed by Kenya (where we'll visit our sponsor child, Robe). From Kenya our plans are a bit vague. According to our original plans we were supposed to drive through Ethiopia and Sudan, but since there's still a civil war going on in south Sudan, we are a bit sceptic. Probably we'll either drive trough Ethiopia to Eritrea or the last African country on this trip will be Kenya. What we do know is that we'll ship/fly the bike to Jordan (which is supposed to be rally nice) and than travel home via Syria, Turkey and Eastern Europe. We expect to be back in Sweden in the end of June.

Last time we wrote we were in the costal city Swakopmund, Namibia's biggest tourist destination. We really liked this city, we felt at home kind of. Swakopmund has actually been described as more German than Germany itself, and yes it almost felt like being in Europe again. Us feeling right at home also may have had something to do with the fact that there were 87 Swedish people (Pink Caravan) staying in the same hostel as us.
As soon as you get out of Swakopmund you are however as far away from Germany and Europe as you can get. This city is surrounded by sand, sand and more sand. Daniel of course took the opportunity and went out driving on the sand dunes. And as he describes it the feeling of driving up on a 100-metre sand dune and than make a U-turn is incredibly good.

From Swakopmund we went north on the Skeleton Coast salt road. On the way we passed the seal reserve, Cape Cross. And talk about seals, there are thousands of them. It was really spectacular to see so many seals but the smell, bloody hell. The smell that come from all the dead baby seals lying around were the worst thing we have ever smelled, we almost threw up.
We were convinced that we could drive all the way to Opuwo on the Skeleton Coast salt road, but no. Halfway there we were stopped in kind of a control point where we were told that motorbikes are not allowed further up north on the coast. Why, who knows. The only choice that we had was to go back around 60 kilometres and take the first turn-off inland. And the road we ended up on, what a shity road, a lot of sand and rocks. We have to mention though that the landscape surrounding this road was really spectacular. Deserted (of course), rocky with mountains and very reddish. We actually thought that we where on Mars for a while. When the sun started to disappear behind the horizon we found a sign to a camping where we put our tent. And after a "bucket shower" and a visit on the "long drop-toilet" we realised we were getting closer to "Africa" again.

After another day on the dirt road we finally arrived in Opuwo. The reason why we wanted to visit this town was because of the Himba people. And the Himba is definitely the most fascinating people we have seen and met on this trip. The women, who are more distinguish than the men, have some kind of reddish lubricate all over their bodies (to keep it young and beautiful), their hair is formed with mud and clothewise they wear small leather skirts and lots of different kinds of assecories. And their breast are always showing, hanging and swinging. We don't understand how they do it but even the teenager girls have such hanging breasts that grandma would straighten up. But they are so cool and beautiful.

Important to mention is also that we have seen our first giraffe this week. We actually thought that we were passing a statue first and boy we were happy when we realised that is was a real giraffe. They are so cute, especially when they are running. That's what we call slow motion.

Se you in a week,

Helena and Daniel

Daniel is playing around in the sand, Swakopmund	Thousands of seals in Cape Cross	The Himba people

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Swakopmund, Namibia 2004-03-02 18:36

Howdie!

Namibia, what a country!!! We have only been here for about a week but can already establish the fact that we have a new favourite destination, Namibia. First of all the natural beauty of this country is truly spectacular including green bush, wild seascapes, rugged mountains and lonely desert. We didn't expect such big contrasts in Namibia, but there really are.
And Namibia is defenitely a motorcycle paradise, with the most incredible gravel roads (known for being the best in the world). It's possible to drive through the country on sealed roads but if you really want to explore Namibia you better stick to the dirt roads. And it's so deserted here, according to Lonely Planet there are approximately two people per sq km Namibia and because of this fact you don't run in to a lot of cars or people on the roads, the distances between the cities, and even the villages, are also very looong. When you are driving in Namibia it really feels like if you have the whole country to your self, a really nice feeling.
An entertaining side of Namibia is the wildlife. Everyday we se a lot of antelopes and ostriches along the roads but a couple of days ago we also where close to drive into a flock of zebras. Since we haven't been on a real safari here in Africa we haven't seen that much wild animals, and because of this the incident with the zebras was a real adrenalin kick that we'll never forget. Another funny incident that happened the other day was when we had a "race" with an ostrich. This ostrich run next to the bike, 70km/h, for about 3-4 minutes before our Honda showed everybody who hade the most "ostrich powers" and took off. God, we were laughing.

After a couple of hot, hot baths in Ai-Ais hot springs we steered north (we are on the way home now, you know). Our first stop was Fish River Canyon which is the second largest canyon in the world (only Grand Canyon, USA, is bigger). We though that it was going to be heaps of people at the canyon, but when we arrived we realised we were the only ones there. It's not every day you have a spectacular natural wonder all to your self.

Diamonds are Namibia's most important resource. To learn a little bit about the history behind these valuable stones we visited the old deserted German diamond-mining town, Kolmanskop which is situated in the middle of the desert. Our guide told us about when the diamonds where discovered in end of the 1800th century. Apparently there where diamonds all over this place then, you could pick them up with your bare hands. When the people finally realized the value of the stones a chaotic diamond mania started and went totally out of control. The diamonds became a currency and people where actually buying food and etc. with diamonds, a pretty funny story. However, when the German government finally got control over this chaos and closed the area (an area of around 100x250 km that's still prohibited) the diamond-mining town Kolmanskop was born. In the middle of the fifties the area however run out of diamonds and in the end the city was totally deserted. Nowadays Kolmanskop is what you can call a ghost town. The whole town is covered by sand and the houses, that obviously were really nice once, are falling apart. Spooky.

Around Kolmanskop the desert is beige, like in the Sahara, but a little bit further up north you'll find the famous and high red sand dunes. This area, close to Sesriem, is so amazing. We did the same as all the other tourists, that will say went out to the biggest dunes in dusk and watched the sunrise. It is around this time (and when the sun sets) you will get the brightest red colour of the dunes. This was definitely an unforgettable experience.

Now we are in the Namibia's most popular tourist destination, Swakopmund. Swakopmund is a really nice and cosy city situated by the sea and surrounded by sand dunes. We had really long days recently so we are kind of looking forward just to relax for a couple of days. A really funny thing is that four "Pink Caravans" just arrived to the place we're staying in. 87 Swedish people, we haven't even met one fourth as many on the whole trip. We're hearing a rumour about a big party tonight.

Hepp, hepp,

Daniel and Helena

Fish River Canyon	Kolmaskop - the ghost town	The most beautiful desert in the world

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