Zomba

Arriving in Zomba I needed to get cash and also US dollars for Zimbabwe, but ran into a spot of bother when the ATM broke down as I was queuing, just after the branch had shut for the day at 3pm. The second ATM’s queue suddenly doubled as everyone except me realized what had happened, and so I gave up rather than wait a further 2 hours. Luckily the place I arranged to stay for the night was great and simply said I could pay for the room the next day (as I had assumed they would – Africans really do seem to be amazingly accommodating). Later that evening I discovered another ATM right next door to the original bank - I needn't have queued at all, ah well...

The next day, after a fair bit of shenanigans at the bank (they don’t issue US dollars to non-account holders, so a bit of pleading was required) we headed up onto the plateau (at the base of which lies the town of Zomba) for a bit of a forest hike and to check out a local waterfall and the stunning view. I also fancied lunch at another exclusive lodge place that I’d heard about (the Sunset Ku Chawe).

The hike was indeed gorgeous, although we were a little pushed for time, as I wanted to make it to Blantyre that evening before dark, and we’d arranged with our taxi driver a certain time for pickup to get back to Zomba town. So after a few hurried photos and a bit of a linger at the small but impressive waterfall it was back to the lodge to tell our driver that we’d be staying an hour longer to give us time to have lunch. The driver, as is usual, hums and haughs and tries to extract a bit more money for his added inconvenience. But I love the whole African mentality, and it was obvious (to me anyway, Sarah doesn’t seem to see it so easily) that he was really just chancing his arm – as soon as I simply said no, he just smiles and says OK. That sort of thing has happened repeatedly, but when you say no (with a smile and without any hint of aggression of course), the people have always smiled back and just said OK. Its important to know the value of things you negotiate over (which is pretty much everything), and so I knew I was already giving this driver a very fair price, and so I also knew his asking for more money was just a harmless ploy – but I still love the playfulness of it all, and so far it’s always ended in smiles.

So after our lovely fancy lunch at the lodge we pick up our rucksacks and head towards the bus station to try and get to Blantyre. But as we get close our driver flags down a passing minibus, chats to the driver and then tells us that they are going to Blantyre right now. He turns the taxi around, drives after the minibus and we bail in, and we’re off to Blantyre without having to wait any time at all. Although in Limbe (7kms from Blantyre) the minibus stops again and says he isn’t actually going any further (same thing as happened enroute to Monkey Bay). Again the guy apologies and agrees to give me back some money, and he points us to another minibus to take us the rest of the way (and which then left straight away too).

And so we arrived in Blantyre just as it’s getting dark and strolled the short distance to the nice backpackers place, Doogles, where we got a lovely room.