Lilongwe

Chapter Eleven

If traveling Malawi, the capital is a place you will undoubtedly have to go to. It is the central point for all transport going North or South. It is also a convenient way to get to Zambia. Despite a one night rest between travel days, there is really no other reason to stick around Lilongwe. That being said, I spent a month there and absolutely loved it. This has little to do with the city itself, and everything to do with finding an incredible Workaway.

I was volunteering at Mabuya Camp, a backpackers hostel and camping ground. There are expensive dorm rooms ($12), chalets, A-frames ($30) and private apartments you can rent long term. Had I been in Lilongwe for any reason other than volunteering, I would not have been able to afford this place. However, the place is hopping. Mabuya Camp seems to have a monopoly in Lilongwe. When you go to a backpackers you are paying for the Western facilities and company. This place has a swimming pool, a pool table, kitchen with an oven, a bar and a restaurant.

WiFi

Despite being such an upscale place, the wifi isn’t free. Free wifi doesn’t exist in Malawi. Places that advertise wifi in Malawi actually have wifi packages for purchase. I did find free wifi in Mombasa, Arusha, Dar Es Salaam, and Lusaka so this isn’t a standard Africa thing but it is the standard for Malawi. However, you can buy a SIM card from an Airtel street stand (they are just about everywhere) and then buy 3 GB of internet for around $15. I’d recommend just doing internet that way. However, if you have a laptop and don’t have a phone that can give off a personal hotspot, you may have to buy packages from hostels.

Volunteering at Mabuya

The owners of Mabuya Camp are two expats from the UK. They drove their van from Spain into Morocco and traveled Africa for years before settling in Lilongwe. They have two kids now, and have completely made Malawi their home. After months of staying in local guest houses and being the only caucasian person I would see for long period of time, I was almost in shock to suddenly be surrounded by European hosts and tons of backpackers.

The best part about this volunteering gig was that I had an entire apartment to myself. Nobody had rented it and my amazing hosts didn’t see the need for it to be empty. In my life before traveling I used to share an apartment. Having an entire apartment to myself was heavenly! I’d come home after my shift in the bar and stretch, smoke herb on the porch, paint pictures (it had been months since I had done art), even dance in the kitchen.

Two months earlier I had found out that a friend of mine had died and then I had all of those terrible Workaway experiences. I kept moving because I didn’t know what else to do but my life had been different shades of hell. Suddenly I had my own space, I was doing the things I loved, and my hosts actually liked and respected me. This was a month of healing.

One of my jobs was to look after three dogs that lived at Mabuya Camp. These dogs became my best friends. During the New Year’s Eve fireworks the dogs became so afraid that they would shake and pant. I let them into my apartment and they tried to hide under the bed. Helping these loving creatures through such a traumatic experience was extremely bonding for us.

Central Africa Backpacker Scene

I hadn’t noticed too much of a backpacking scene in East Africa. I saw some backpackers on the coast of Kenya but after that it was just me and the locals, occasionally I’d meet another volunteer. Then I arrived in Lilongwe and I realized that central and Southern Africa have a huge backpacking scene. I met so many travelers doing trips from South Africa, into Zimbabwe, Zambia and then Malawi. Next they were headed to Mozambique.

There were middle aged people that rented Jeeps that have a tent on the roof. They take these jeeps to do their own safaris and then they are safe from hippos and elephants as they camp on the top. As much as I appreciated the struggles of my first three months in Africa, suddenly being surrounded by like-minded travelers and adventurers was extremely refreshing. It was while staying here that I learned of a safari in Zambia that was affordable and made a plan to go there the following month.

Lilongwe Activities

What should you do in Lilongwe besides stay at Mabuya Camp? Well honestly there isn’t a lot to do. There are some parks and animal sanctuaries in Lilongwe but they all charge a fee so of course I didn’t do that. There is an open air market in the center of town that has a lot of affordable second hand clothes. Make sure you buy directly from the seller though. When I turned up, a guy asked me what I was looking for. I told him I wanted flowy pants and he instructed me to hold on and then disappeared. He went to all of the sellers and found flowy pants and then brought them to me. Sure he found me a nice selection but then I had to pay him his commision for finding the pants, which made the pants four times more expensive than they would have been.

Southern Malawi

Lilongwe is the stopping point if you are going from the North to the South or vise versa. I never experienced Malawi south of Lilongwe. I hear that Monkey Bay and Cape McClear are beautiful. However, if you swim in the lake down south you are at risk of parasites. You will need to get ​Bilharzia​ medicine at a pharmacy while you are still in Malawi. Take the pill six weeks after swimming in the lake. No harm will be done if you take the pill and didn’t have the parasite but it’s cheaper to buy the medicine while in Malawi. The North of Lake Malawi is free of this parasite so I never had to worry about it.

The South of Malawi also has Blantyre which is the area where mzungu are not encouraged to go. Malawi is a very superstitious country and many Malawians believe in witchcraft and things like that. Towards the end of 2017 Westerners died in Malawi because locals believed they were vampires and stoned them to death. It sounds crazy but I kid you not this was a real concern. Perhaps by the time you read this, everything will be fine there, but it is definitely worth looking into.

When going from the North to South you will want to take the Axa bus. It is the most reliable bus. It costs $13 but the bus will leave when it is supposed to. When I went from Mzuzu to Lilongwe I did not know about the Axa bus and I had the misfortune of getting into one of the buses that wait until they fill up to leave. It only cost $8 but I was sitting on the bus waiting for five hours before we finally started our five hour journey to Lilongwe. There went my entire day!

After an amazing month of personal space and recovery, I headed up the lake in order to get back to Tanzania to meet my sister in Zanzibar. However, along the way I made a few stops so I could explore Malawi furthur.