Lake Malawi

The Ilala is an old ferry that has been built during the British occupation of Malawi. It is the only ferry on the lake and many villages depend on it. Besides of passengers it is vital for the “sipa” trade. It has three decks and two different classes. The cheap one sucks and you are close to the engine and the cargo. The first class is on the upper deck which is perfect to enjoy the sun. A bar serves the thirsty and a restaurant the hungry. But even the first class fails to deliver beds to the passengers, so you end up sleeping on the wood of the deck. Rats and cockroaches are common. We were playing chess or cards, chatting, reading or bitching about the speed of the ferry. It is actually not too slow but it hardly ever turns on the engine. In each place you stop (there are about 8 places you stop in 4 days) the unloading and loading takes easy 8 hours. The reason it takes so long is that with the exception of Nkatha Bay and Monkey Bay there are no deep sea ports. So the Ilala has to lower the 2 small boats on the side and then they have to fill them up with cargo, go to the beach, unload, come back, etc. It takes very long and if the waves are to high work gets suspended till better times.

On the way you see some random sights like the islands in the middle of Lake Malawi, Mozambique, nothing but water in the middle of Africa or naked kids paddling out to the boat on a tree trunk.