Adventure to Zambia Part 1: Lilongwe and the Border

Our trip to Zambia was both amazing and stressful at the same time.  We started our adventure at 6:00 am on Saturday August 18^th, departing from Mzuzu by coach bus – this is a trip that should take about 6 hours.  Now there is something that you must understand about Malawi.  If you have ever heard of Caribbean countries described as running on “island time,” everything in Malawi operates under the same or a similar sense of urgency, which is very little to none at all.  We have come to refer to this as ‘Malawi time.’  As a result of this understanding, you can imagine our surprise when the coach bus that we took from Mzuzu to the capital city of Lilongwe took 4 hours instead of 6. 

Old Town Lilongwe

We spent the weekend in Lilongwe with Amy, who is one of our team members who originally traveled with us to Malawi from Canada.  We spent Saturday and Sunday traveling around Lilongwe, and getting a better understanding of the city, now that we have adapted to the culture.  Our first impressions about traveling back to Lilongwe were shock and awe over real grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, and more civilization than what we are used to in Mzuzu.  Saturday night, a friend of Amy’s took us all out for dinner at an Italian restaurant (if I didn’t know better, we could have been back in Canada), this was one of the best meals that we had had since arriving in Malawi (if you are in Lilongwe and you are looking for a good meal, go to Mama Mias).  Sunday morning, Rachel, Amy and I traveled to an animal sanctuary in Lilongwe (we have renamed the sanctuary “the Sad Zoo”) – lots of monkeys, but you don’t really see much else, including the one eyed moth eaten lion that was rescued from a life of abuse.

Early Monday morning, we decided to continue our journey to Zambia, and departed for the border by mini bus.  While we were waiting in the mini bus, we noticed two other mazungus walking by the bus and trying to hitch their way towards the border.  A little while later, we passed them standing on the side of the road, after which they were picked up by another mini bus, which then began the slightly entertaining events of their mini bus passing us, and ours passing them until eventually we all ended up in the same mini bus.  When we reached the border, we determined that we had the same destination (Victoria Falls) and decided to combine resources and travel together.  This new couple turned out to be two American Peace Corps named Ryan and Michelle, who are living about two hours from Mzuzu in a place called Mzimba.  We ended up crossing the border with them and sharing a taxi, as well as tracking down a bus service to Lusaka instead of spending the day and night in Chipata (we were told as soon as we arrived at the bus station at 11 in the morning that there were no more buses for the day, and we had to wait until tomorrow – this was not true).  Getting on the bus felt like a battle, Ryan and I put the bags under the bus; while Rachel and Michelle got on to find seats.  However, what really happened was Ryan and I put the bags under the bus, and then fought our way through the crowd so that Rachel and Michelle didn’t get trampled, so that they could find seats.  The bus was probably the most luxurious form of transportation that we had seen in three months: drinks were served enroute, and it was actually rather relaxing, with the exception of the bus stopping at every village along the way where everyone gets off, then back on, and throughout the entire trip, no one really stays seated and everyone is always pulling your hair or hitting you in the head or arm – it is all a part of traveling in Africa, and I don’t think that I would have it any other way.