Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania

Since leaving Harare, the weather has become noticeably warmer.  Leaving the heights of Zimbabwe and moving further north to the equator the temperatures have become much more tropical.  This has made travelling on the truck (where the sides of the truck are rolled up and away) much more comfortable, as the ‘wind chill’ factor has instead become a ‘comforting breeze’.

The border crossing at Mozambique has been by far the slowest border crossing yet.  After filling in our immigration cards, handing across our passports and visa money we waited for about 4 hours before we finally got moving again.  Our time was occupied by making lunch in the parking area in between countries and dealing with locals (there aren’t really that many fences at the borders) who wanted to sell us cold coke or fanta.  

We spent less than 24 hours in Mozambique transiting towards Malawi.  Mozambique really did feel quite different.  Where the countries we had previously travelled through had many current or historic symbols of European influence (and affluence) and generally low population densities, Mozambique felt much more densely populated and the villages were large collections of mud huts and shacks.  But the people are always thrilled to see us - we are constantly being greeted like celebrities as children run alongside and then behind the truck cheering, waving and screaming after us.  

The following day we progressed into Malawi, a relatively small fairly mountainous country (albeit one of the most densely populated in Africa) centered around Lake Malawi where we would spend the next 5 nights.  It was great chill out and relax time.  The Lake was so vast it felt like the ocean, and on the second day when the wind picked up and created waves on the shore, it befuddled the mind that you could take in a mouthful of water and not find it salty.  Malawian people are extremely adept wood carvers, and there were many fantastic (and cheap) wood carvings or furniture items that could be picked up for about US$10-20.  Regrettably, as space and weight are always a consideration, we had to shy away from purchasing furniture, but did pick up some colourful art.  

After 5 nights on Lake Malawi (at two different campsites) we continued North to the Tanzanian border.  The next 2-3 days were largely spent in transit heading North East to the Indian Ocean and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania’s largest city?) a very middle-eastern influenced city, where we boarded the ferry to Zanzibar Island (more on that next blog).  

There is always something uniquely African to see from the truck as we are moving by.  From the African villages and their circular hut houses to donkey drawn carts, or a man chewing sugar cane (which we’ve heard is pretty bad for your teeth), a ute or flat bed truck so loaded with people you couldn’t possibly imagine how they will all arrive in one piece (up to 20 people on the back of a ute is not an uncommon site), to a truck that has overturned going down a hill spilling cargo everywhere (we’ve seen so many of these they are no longer surprising!).