Karonga

After 3 hours on the Tanzanian side, a border crossing full of touts and an 1 hour shared taxi drive to Karonga I needed some money. All the ATM refused my Maestro Card and I had forgotten my VISA code. I had some Tanzanian Shilling to exchange. But the banks don’t want them and the guy behind the foreign exchange office in the National Bank of Malawi advised me to try on the black market instead. So I did and had at least some cash. Karonga is a boring place with a lot of dust, no cheap lake side hotels and no attractions whatsoever. The next day I wanted to go to Livingstonia, which is located in the mountains west of Lake Malawi. At the turnoff I got out and quickly found out there is no public transport and that hitching is difficult and a taxi expensive. So I was sitting in the bus again. This time to Mzuzu. The buses are cheap and crowded – fish smell surrounds you mixed with sweat and the occasional drunk smell like a barrel of cheap rum.