So it begins

More bugs

Published Date : January 12, 2005

Last night was a repeat of the night before.  After finally winding down after my encounter with the spider, I was hit with a sudden fever, chills and nausea.  It wasn’t as bad as before and didn’t last as long, which is a positive sign I guess??  I also felt quite lightheaded this time which is new.  It also makes me think that I’m having a reaction to Lariam, the antimalarial that I’m taking.  If the same happens again tonight, I’ll have to see about going to a doctor.  I hope it doesn’t come to that though.

Before leaving Kande this morning, I stopped by to see Derrick.  I had promised to buy a Bao board and a painting from him before we left.  While I was there he also surprised me with a set of wooden coasters that he had made depicting daily life in Malawi.  What a wonderful gift!

We arrived in the capital, Blantyre, after a long day on the truck.  We were supposed to be camping, but we were upgraded to dorms at the local hostel because of a massive fire ant infestation.  Highly aggressive with a painful bite, fire ants are not an insect you want to mess around with.  I was bitten on the leg by one while we were discussing the move.  OUCH!!  To make matters worse, those pesky little things do NOT let go once they have a hold of you.  Check that off the list of things never to experience again!

Dumping my gear in the dorm, I discovered that both of my roommates (backpackers from England and Hungary) are sick – one with food poisoning, another with a suspected case of malaria.  Still feeling a bit off myself, I fit right in.

One more spider

Published Date : January 13, 2005

Good news – I had no fever or chills last night!

Most of the group went into town to post souvenirs and catch up on emails.  I stayed at the hostel and did my laundry instead. In a real machine for once, instead of by hand!  At some point in the afternoon, my two roommates left to go to the hospital.  With thunderstorms rolling through off and on all day, I spent my time reading and chatting with some of the other travelers.

As if I hadn’t had enough pest problems in the last two days, I had another spider encounter tonight.  When I’m not being chased by them, I’m normally okay with 8-legged critters.  However, not knowing which species are dangerous here I didn’t want to tackle this one by myself.  Heading back out to the common area, I grabbed Steve, a Zambian backpacker I had been chatting with earlier.  He started for my room confident in his spider-handling abilities.  Taking one look at this particular arachnid, he ran into the same dilemma.  He didn’t know what this spider was either.

Heading back out to the common area again, we grabbed Arthur, one of the security guards.  The three of us headed back to my room, Arthur finding it amusing that the two tourists were scared of a little spider.  Like Steve before him, he took one look at it and stopped in his tracks.  Disappearing down the hall with instructions for us to watch it, he came back with a broom and cautiously swept it out the door.

He couldn’t tell us what type it was; he just said that it was poisonous. Eek! Glad I didn’t try to catch it myself!

Tomorrow, we leave Malawi (and hopefully all its spiders) behind!  Next stop, Zimbabwe.

Border crossings

Published Date : January 14, 2005

We had another long day on the truck today.  It was two hours to the Mozambique border, 30 minutes to cross, 6 hours across the Tete corridor, and 1.5 hours to cross the Zimbabwe border.  The Zim crossing was a new record for Anton; it was the fastest he has ever taken a group across.

The lengthy wait was to purchase visas (US$30 for me, $55 for the Brits, and free for the Kiwis until Monday – lucky them!)  The border officials also checked all of our Yellow Fever immunization certificates.  After going through all the paperwork, they searched the truck from bumper to bumper and went through all of our luggage as well.  Anton had warned us about this search before we left Malawi, so all of the wood products we had purchased were safely hidden away under the floor with the safe.  Yup, we were smuggling illegal items across borders in Africa! ��

From the border, we had another 3.5 hours to our campground in Harare.  We were offered free upgrades again, but I decided to stay in the tent.  I’m avoiding dorm rooms for as long as possible!  After 2.5 months of being with the group 24/7 I’m really struggling.  I’m trying to seize any opportunity to spend time on my own these days.

Cash flow problems

Published Date : January 15, 2005

I have no US cash left, so I tried to exchange some traveller’s cheques today.  Unfortunately, nobody in Harare will take them without the original purchase receipt.  Considering my original purchase receipt is in a landfill somewhere in London right now that makes things rather complicated!  I eventually found an ATM that would allow me to use my UK debit card and managed to withdraw about $50 (Z$300,000).  This money is going to have to last me ten days until we get to Victoria Falls!

While I was in town, I also priced out replacement mobile phones.  My phone had died in a thunderstorm back in Uganda.  It was only the battery that was the problem and Anton has the same phone as me, so I’ve borrowed his a couple of times to connect with Greg and my parents.  I had hoped to find a battery somewhere, but no luck.  To buy an entirely new phone, the cheapest I found was $150.  I’ll have to see what else I can find over the next couple of weeks.

I spent the rest of the afternoon keeping to myself at the campground.  I enjoyed a swim in the pool, did some yoga, caught up on my journals.  It was nice.

Lake Kariba

Published Date : January 17, 2005

Yesterday we left Harare and headed north.  After a 5-hour drive, we arrived at Warthog’s Bush Camp near Lake Kariba.  We passed dozens of elephants on our drive and were greeted by two more in camp.  Our hosts told us that just before we had arrived, the younger elephant had actually been in the pool!  What a sight that would have been!

Once again, I was the only person to tent it last night.  Everyone else paid to be upgraded to dorm rooms.  I was up with the sun this morning and explored the camp before breakfast.  I eventually found myself a quiet spot near the lake to watch the hippos frolicking.

After breakfast, we left Warthog’s behind.  Our home for the next two nights is a houseboat on Lake Kariba!  We were ferried out to the houseboat on a small raft in two groups, passing hippos and crocodiles along the way.

Safely aboard, we spent the rest of the morning cruising the lake.  I passed the time reading and chatting and just hanging over the railing watching the world float by.  After a lunch of grilled hot dogs it was time for a game walk.

We were split into three small groups and taken out one group at a time with a guide.  Christopher took us ashore and we left the lake behind, heading into the bush.  It wasn’t a smooth process getting started though.  With the exception of Sara (from Alaska) and I, everyone else in our group loudly protested the fact that Chris was carrying a rifle.  The man had the patience of a saint as he kept explaining to them why it was necessary to carry a gun out here.  Finally Sara and I jumped in, completely exasperated, and helped him explain.  It took a bit of work, but between the three of us we finally got them to understand that everything out here could and would kill us.  On top of that, we were days from medical care and there would be no chance of rescue if anything were to happen.  The grumbling finally stopped and we set off through the bush.

It wasn’t long before we spooked up a water buck.  While we saw plenty of tracks in the soft earth, we didn’t see any more animals until we entered a clearing some time later.  Stumbling across two very large and very agitated bull elephants, our group finally seemed to grasp why Chris had the rifle.  The older of the two animals conceded the territory not long after we spotted them.  The winner though, caught sight of us and gave an impressive of display of widespread ears, trumpeting and even a bluff charge!  After several minutes, it decided that we weren’t a threat and backed down.

The return trip to the lake was uneventful.  In the heavy heat of the afternoon, I would have loved to dive into the inviting water to cool off.  The prevalence of 10-foot crocodiles unfortunately made that impossible.

Back on board the houseboat, we enjoyed an excellent chicken roast for dinner.  The rest of the night was loud and sleepless.  There were only beds for about half of our group, so it was first come first serve to find a comfortable berth.  I was lucky enough to find a bed, but the party continued long into the night.