Languages: English, Tonga
Population: 15000
Prices: Cheap! Except petrol
Attractions: Lake Malawi, Mayoka Village
Info: Popular 'backpacker-paradise' on the northeastern shore of Lake Malawi
SA Recommends:
Mayoka Village (Nice place to meet other travelers. Though better to stay clear, if you're looking for a quiet place)
8.12.12 17:30 GMT+1
If we thought the bus trip from Lilongwe to Monkey Bay was a pain in the ass, we knew nothing. I've never seen bus so overbooked. The seats were all full, some had more than one person sitting on them and the isle was packed as well, at least there were no chickens. We came to the bus a bit late, so we had to stand for the first four hours. After we finally arrived to our first stop Lilongwe, we were simply too exhausted to continue to Mzuzu and we decided to sleep one night in Lilongwe and go for the morning bus to Nkhata Bay instead. At this point our German friend unfortunately had to part ways with us as he left to Mozambique (Somehow we seem to attract Germans though, during our resting stop in Lilongwe we met a German couple who joined us for our trip to Nkhata Bay) so it was just the two of us Finns again.
After another uncomfortable 12 hours in a bus, we finally arrived to Nkhata Bay and just like in Cape Maclear it felt amazing to leave hectic Lilongwe behind and step out of the infernal Malawian national bus and relax at Lake Malawi. Again, we only traveled about 300km, but the local buses stop every fifteen minutes to buy vegetables from the street vendors and to drop people off and pick more up (which takes forever, since the buses are just ridiculously packed).
10.12.12 00:12 GMT+1
We thought that Nkhata Bay, Malawi would be one of the least well known and touristy targets along our route but we were wrong. Turns out Nkhata Bay is quite lively traveler commune with huge backpacker lodges right next to each other. We chose to stay in Mayoka Village, which was located right next to Lake Malawi. Sometimes I prefer to stay in more quiet and remote hostels, but every now and then it's nice to come to a place where you can swap stories with other travelers and maybe find some intel on your next destination. This was definitely one of those times and it was nice to meet a bunch of travelers with interesting stories from around the world. We even met three Finns (the last time I randomly encountered someone from Finland, was more than 3 months ago) who were doing quite respectable road trip from Nordkapp to Cape Town and had some quite interesting anecdotes from along the way. We also met couple of German guys, who were coming from Tanzania and gave us some tips about where to go in Zanzibar. Word of mouth is often the best source of information while traveling, since many of the African lodges/backpackers don't really have an internet presence and books aren't always helpful since things change around here a lot. After all we came to Mayoka village based on recommendations from other travelers we met in Zambia and Malawi.
We had a great time in Mayoka Village. But there isn't really a lot to write about. Much like in Cape Maclear, we spent our days doing absolutely minimum humanly possible (which, I reckon, is a really good way to have a great time). First day we spent mostly sleeping and recovering from yesterdays bus ride (as ridiculous as it may sound, sitting in a bus for a day really takes its toll on you) and since the climate in Nkhata Bay resembles Finnish sauna, we didn't have any energy for activities on our second day either (unless you count playing Bao, which at times can be quite exhausting for your brains).
Once again, would've been nice to stay longer, but our plan is to catch a train from Mbeya to Dar Es Salaam on Wednesday morning so we have to leave Mayoka Village the next morning. Number one thing I learned from this trip so far is to make a rough estimation of how much time you will need, and then double it. There's never enough time when traveling.
Next Destination: Mbeya, Tanzania
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