The Zulunkhuni river

Ruarwe is 60km north of Nkhata Bay and can only be reached by boat (or the treacherous road journey from Mzuzu to Usisya followed by a 15km walk!).  It was a  spur of the moment decision on Saturday that took us there.

We didn't have long.  I needed to be back for a meeting of the Temwa Malawi Board on Tuesday morning so we were working to a tight timetable...but the timing was good.  The Ilala, which has plied its trade motoring up and down Lake Malawi since 1951, was due to be passing through Nkhata Bay going north at 7am on Sunday morning, getting to Ruarwe early afternoon, and coming back through Ruarwe early the following morning. So a stay in Nkhata Bay followed by a further night at Ruarwe beckoned.

We spent the night at Njaya Lodge (our regular in Nkhata Bay) and had just sat down for our 6am breakfast when I got a phone call from the Zulunkhuni River Lodge (our destination in Ruarwe) that the Ilala was about to leave Nkhata Bay...so much for the schedules!   The gang plank was down when we got there but we managed to scramble on just before the boat sailed - others were not so lucky.

The Ilala was built on the Clyde and has been in service since 1951

The bar on the upper deck of the Ilala



The lower deck of the Ilala

The Ilala is an interesting antidote to British health and safety culture.  It wasn't clear how many people, chicken, cows, bags of maize, cartons of 'shake-shake' ('international beer' according to its label), steel roofing sheets, or other packages had been loaded on the Ilala.  There is no obvious checking of the number of people who get into the boats used to ferry people to and from the shore...I counted 42 in one of them.  Young children get handed from one person to another as they are lifted from the boats.  Fishing boats sidle up to the Ilala to sell their catches to willing passengers... with people hanging over the side to hand over their 1,000 kwacha notes.

People waiting to be transported to the Ilala at Usisya, the stop before Ruarwe

I counted 42 people on one of these boats 

 For those of you who know Jane Campion's film, the Piano, our arrival at Ruarwe would be a familiar scene (sans piano).  We clambered down a rickety ladder on the side of the Ilala into a boat filled with people, goods and chattels; at the shore we had to climb out of the boat, luggage and all, into waist high water; we then walked a couple of kilometres along narrow, rocky lakeside paths until we entered the Zulunkhuni River Lodge. We were pleased to see a piano in the corner of the Lodge dining area - clearly we had walked into a scene from the Piano!

You have to wade waist deep to get on and off the boats

The path from the beach to the Zulunkhuni River Lodge

The eating area - with piano - at the Lodge

The toilet/shower block at the Lodge

The Lodge is at the mouth of the Zulunkhuni River which runs down from the Rift Valley uplands into Lake Malawi.   At this time of year, when the rains have come, the water gushes down the folds of the valley into the outlet next to the Lodge and our afternoon entertainment was a walk to the top of the waterfall above the Lodge.  The rains had cleared the air so we saw the Tanzanian side of Lake Malawi for the first time.  The walk itself took us through lush forests which were full of birdlife, strange insects and beetles, and lots of jungle noise. The highlight of the walk up were the baboons that were swinging in the trees but then ran down to the river, jumping over the rocks and finding a quiet place to have a picnic of fresh mango.

View across to Tanzania from the hills above  Zulunkhuni River Lodge.

Baboons having a picnic on the rocks below the path we were climbing

On the way up, Kayola, our guide, had been muttering something about jumping down the water-fall. I had been playing along, partly not understanding and partly wanting to appear to be up for anything. We got to what we thought was the end of the walk - there was nowhere left to go - when Kayola asked us to take off our socks and shoes.  He then started to wade across the gushing river. He stumbled as he crossed but then signalled to us to follow.  I went first, with no certainty about what I was stepping on and with the water swirling around my knees.   I then encouraged Liz, who was looking non-plussed, to come across, and she managed with a helping hand at the end from Kayola. We thought that was it but then Kayola started to cross the river again, this time just above the head of the water-fall.  Again he was almost taken away by the flow of the river but made it across and turned to encourage us to cross. This time I was looking non-plussed but I started to cross.  It was flat rocks at the bottom and, with my bare feet, I just started to slip. After a couple of attempts I called it a day - I think Liz had wanted to call it a day some time before - but by this stage Kayola was looking distinctly non-plussed. What was our problem?  The only way back was by crossing the river again where we had crossed it up-stream - a scary enough prospect but at least we felt it was the better of two evils.

Liz gets a helping hand from Kayola

The staff at Zulunkhuni River Lodge were amongst the friendliest we have met - which is saying something in Malawi.  Levy, tending the bar and proudly telling us the story of how he and other villagers had been involved in the building and running of a library, community centre and other facilities (collectively known as Nyumba ya Masambiro, NYM), Fishani singing local songs whilst cooking our food in the kitchen, with Leah smiling and laughing alongside her; Kayola being long suffering as we climbed up to the waterfall and then showing off his own derring-do by diving off a 15 metre platform into a rocky bit of the lake; Duwe carrying our bag back to the boat and introducing his wife, who was amongst the village people on the beach.    

Levy and Fishani with a fish freshly caught in the Lake

Ruarwe itself has a lovely feel to it. Kayola showed us round the village whilst we were waiting for the boat. The beach area was the main hub of activity.  But we walked past houses at the back and up to a community campus - a 105 year old church, a primary school, the NYM buildings, a clinic. There were one or two dilapidated houses which looked as if they had been built half a century or more ago and were totally out of place - but they only added to the charm.

Children playing in Ruarwe

Not your normal village house!

 One thing that increasingly strikes me about Malawi is that GDP per head is a very poor measure of quality of life (you'll recall that Malawi's GDP per head is now the lowest in the world) .  Northern Malawi is less populated than the south, has different land ownership structures, and is more fertile - which may mean we're getting a distorted view.   But people are happy here and on the whole have a good life.  They have no money but, certainly in this area, most appear to be able to access food.  There is a real sense of village community with people in the village taking responsibility for each other. The children clearly enjoy the freedom to run around and play. And people are industrious.  We didn't see any bricks being fired here but we saw plenty of other industry: growing fruit and vegetables, rearing livestock, fishing and other activities, all aimed at ensuring that people could ensure a reasonably sustainable livelihood.

A woman preparing cassava to make nsima, the local staple

One of the many animals being reared locally

Fishing at Ruarwe

On our way back on the Ilala we could see what appeared to be smoke rising above the water in virtually every direction. In my typically 'observant-unobservant' way, I could see these smoke clouds, wondered briefly whether they were oil wells on fire and shifted my thoughts on to something else.  Some time later, Liz drew my attention to them again - and this time I took in what I was seeing.  Apparently they are swarms of flies that hatch in the depths of the Lake and rise up above it, much to the delight of waiting fish and birds.  Occasionally the swarms drift over land to the delight of local villagers. They are caught by the children, squeezed into balls and fried  - a real delicacy that brings to mind the Eccles cakes of my youth.

Just how many flies?

Those who read this blog may be wondering (in fact, I would, if I was reading it!) what this volunteering thing is about.  Is it just one long holiday?  Well it does feel like that sometimes - we do seem to have been around in northern Malawi.    In my defence, m'lord...well enough of that.  Suffice it to say that I am working very hard!!!

Having said that, after the Malawi Board meeting this morning and finishing off some work this afternoon, we are off on our next adventures - Mushroom Farm at Livingstonia for Christmas and Mango Drift on Likoma for New Year.  I can feel a blog coming on...