Malawi - the hard way
The following is a report by Jim Kelly, of his experiences from a hand propeled tricycle
Jim, Leanna and friends - a long day.
Malawi 6th -14th may
Day 1.
After a flight of 12 hours we landed at Lilongwe international airport where four strong men carried myself Leanna and Brendan down the steps and off the plane, after this we kind of knew what the rest of the week had in store. Once on the ground we were then manhandled into an ambulance which was actually a small van with a side door for the trip to the customs office which was less than 100yds, still without sight of our wheelchairs, although they did finally arrive after Leanna had struggled to get into the loo in a chair that was 3 times bigger than her. We were then transferred into a jeep for a 2-hour drive through the countryside and over some rough roads to our first nights accommodation in the Carolina beach resort. On the way we caught sight of a man dressed completely in leaves and branches who was walking towards a village he was apparently going to bless their crops with a tribal dance, also another man dressed in a small loin cloth and painted all over in grey carrying two machetes, he was the local w doctor who was going to bless the women in the village so that they would bear more children!
Day 2. Kasipa School to Njobvo safari camp/Sani beach resort. 50km
The days start early here and we had to get up at 4.30am to be on the road by 6.15 for a drive of about 40km to the school, where all the school were out to greet us and perform a dance to wish us good luck. Unfortunately it did not seem to work for me as I was feeling very sick at this pointed and spent the next hour puking, as Leanna and Brendan sped off in the distance and I was confined to the support bus for the remainder of the first day, feeling pretty p****d as I was really looking forward to the chance to put some miles in! Leanna and Brendan cycled about 35km that day although the temperature had risen to about 30c by midday, they looked as though they were really enjoying themselves, as all the villagers were coming out and cheering as they went past and they seemed to get bigger and louder as the week went on. The roads were straight and reasonably flat with fantastic scenery and no other vehicles on the roads, if you see one car per hour it was a traffic jam! This was ideal hand cycling country, there were few potholes and lots of chances to enjoy the ride downhill without wondering what was coming the other way. Where we were staying this night was in some beach huts that had 4-5 steps up to each hut. Sitting there that night having a cold beer the faint sound of drums is getting louder and louder and suddenly a witch doctor appears on the porch in full dress of feathers and strips of metal that rattles when he dances, he was there to bless the ride and give us strength and energy, this was really scary as he would dance crazily and the suddenly stop and grab your hand and hold it for what felt like ten minutes but was probably 30 seconds all this while he was staring into your eyes, spooky
Day 3. Njobvu safari camp to Kasasa club. 74km
What a great ride although the early start didn't help, long sweeping roads with lots of downhill sections. After about 15k we came to a valley where we could see a very long downhill section with a bridge and a steep hill the other side. As we started down the hill the rain started and turned torrential, unfortunately the brakes on handcycles are useless in the rain as you can stop the wheel but this did not stop the cycle as you aquaplane after applying the brakes! I could not see as my glasses were covered in rainwater and I could not see the road so I had to navigate at full speed by the white lines in the road, seeing the red shirt of Leanna about 150 meters ahead I thought if I can get behind her I can be a bit safer but she was going a lot slower than me. I flew past Leanna and pulled over slightly to the left and ten seconds later a large truck with horns blaring came the other way, Brendan saw the truck coming down the hill and thought I was a goner. We went over the bridge and up the other side of the valley, pumping hard and changing down gear. First gear up a steep hill and torrential rain, we are getting slower and slower and finally stop but the brake aren't holding and we start to roll backwards, the backup team arrive just before we roll off the road. The rest of the ride was a lot of short steep hills and fast down hill sprints. We came across a small market towns where the locals are all out to greet us and encourage us to go faster, the children want to help and start pushing us along the road, no wonder Africa produces some of the best runners as some of these children pushed for 2k without a break. Also we had two security guards and two helpers as well as Karen my partner and Nicky a physio from Stoke giving us a hand up the really steep hills. Karen and Nicky thought they would be bored just sitting in the back of the truck watching us. But after the first day they soon realised that they would be getting a lot of exercise in the coming week helping us up the hills.
Leanna and Brendan are ahead by about 500 yds with a support jeep parked on the opposite side of the road from them, I am sitting by the side of the road having a drink when a articulated truck carrying large steel drums rumbles past at high speed, then a powerful blast from its horn, and the brakes locking on, I look ahead to see that there is nowhere for the truck to go as Leanna and Brendan and the support jeep are blocking the road, thick black clouds of tyre smoke are coming from the speeding truck as it tries to stop, the back is starting to snake but the driver manages to stop just short of Leanna and Brendan. What a day! We arrived at kasasa club which is a throw back to older times when there was a lot of white plantation owners in the country, the club is like a golf club in England with a bar and manicured lawns with a golf course in the middle plus a swimming pool and air conditioned rooms, luxury!
Day 4. Kasasa club to Chinteche Inn/Sambani lodge. 101km
Boat/jeep crossing of Dwambazi River. 40km
This is the longest day and Leanna, Brendan and I decide to start after on the other side of the river as the bridge has been washed away. Transferring into the jeep we race away to get a lead on the able-bodied riders and 30 minutes later we came around the bend to see the river and the broken bridge in the middle, Bruce our guide gets out and checks the depth of the water and more importantly the speed of the flow. 'No chance, with the water flowing this fast and you lot in the jeep' he says. So off he goes to hire a driver who can get us across, he comes back with an idea "you will have to be carried from one jeep to the other cause we haven't got time to get your chairs out, and your bikes are on the other coach". So we are carried from one to the other, Brendan offers to go first and enthusiastically shouts " give my bike to bob if we go over" he realises to late that the jeep is going to crawl along the edge of the temporary dam that has been built across the river, the dam is 20 feet wide and 8 feet high although the water is now flowing faster since the heavy rain of the night before. The water flowing over the dam is about 2-4 feet high and the dam has been hand built, what an adventure it is, we feel like the first explorers as all the locals come out to see the crazy white people. We all make it over safely and wait for the coach and jeep to be unloaded and slowly make there way across. Leanne's bike has developed a gear change problem, James the tour guide tries to fix it but the sun is getting higher and hotter we should have started cycling 2 hours ago and we are still not turned a handle yet "where can you get a gear change cable for a chevron" Brendan quips I suggest that Leanna takes my bike to save time and I ride on the bus but James still thinks he can fix it if he strips the whole gear mechanism down and re-threads the cable. We finally get started but the sun has got to hot for me ad I only manage a mile or so before I feel a bit to hot, Brendan and Leanna manage a couple of miles further but also have to stop. We are transported to Myaya beach for a long stop and a cool drink, then back on the coach for the ride to Chinteche Inn, Leanna and Brendan decide to ride the rest of the way but I feel a bit light headed. Leanna's bike is still not running right and changing gear is really difficult so I offer my bike to Leanna but we have to change it to fit. We set off following Leanna and Brendan with me in the jeep, the road is smooth as we go through fantastic scenery and small villages, high cliffs and mountains in the background the sun starts to set, Bruce thinks that Leanna and Brendan may not make it to our next stop by the time it gets dark. A couple of the helpers get out to help Brendan and Leanna up the steep hills and they see the end of the road in sight, a long sweeping slope down to the Inn through the trees. Brendan is in top gear really going for it, the locals think he has sunstroke or has been at the local herb garden. Chinteche Inn is like the Hilton hotel compared to where we were before; there are manicured lawns and air-conditioned rooms with a great bar and showers. We shower and eat then retire to the bar where the talk is of the day and what has happened, we are all getting a taste for Amarula, which is a bit like baileys and we all enjoy a few, mainly because they are all on Brendan's bill.
The next morning is a rest time so we arrange a race for the next day with all the able-bodied cyclists racing in pairs on handcycles along the road around the hotel, although they didn't realise that the last part was uphill, to make it more interesting their was an entry fee of 100 kwacha (73 to the pound) whoever won bought the drinks that night. The phrase most of the riders said was "my shoulders are killing me/ bloody hell it's a nightmare trying to get up the hill, you must be bloody mad". We are. That afternoon we took the ride from Chinteche Inn to Nhkata bay which was mostly undulating roads followed by a steep downhill section into the village and through to the bay, this was the best day of all so far as we were flying down the hill into the bay there were people on the side of the road cheering and on through the village where we were all stunned to see the local school children had come out to greet us and they were singing welcome songs and also that "they are happy" what a fantastic end to the day, everyone was very emotional as these children have nothing, Leanna, brendan and myself gave our caps to the teachers and children.
After that we then got into the jeep for the short ride to our accommodation, I wondered why we were taking the jeep and was answered by Bruce "wait to you see the track", it was mostly mud and rock, followed by very steep short hills, and I nearly lost a leg out of the window when we bounced up a rock. Njaya lodge could be described as a throwback to the sixties as there was a hippie air about the place as well as a smell of Jamaican herbs everywhere. Unfortunately our accommodation was up 5 sets of steps and rock paths, so we each had 6 bearers to lift us up and down whenever we needed to go anywhere, although going back up after a few drinks using a torch was something I would not like to do again!
Day 5. Mzuzu to Nkhata bay downhill. 45km
Early start to mzuzu 45 kms away, the road up was very smooth but some parts had been washed away. This gave us a great idea of what the terrain was like when we were coming down. We arrived in Mzuzu around eight am and waited for the rest of the riders, when they arrived we then set off with the rest of the riders in pursuit of us. They didn't stand a chance on the down hill sections as we three were really going well and at one point we were clocked by the jeep at over 60 kms per hour on really twisty and steep roads, if you lost it here it would have been over as there was steep drops on the outside of the road down and a couple of times we agreed that we were crazy but you only get one chance. But you had to remember where the bad bits were as you were going down and once or twice we got caught out and went straight onto really rough road without stopping. On the road down we encounter so long flat roads and the able-bodied riders have joined us and are helping along by grabbing the back of our cycles and pedalling hard, when we came to a slope down they would let go and try and catch us
Just before the ride down into Nkhata bay Leanna has a puncture, we have to stop as she has no more spare tubes so we wait for the jeep that has her day chair wheels on, which are quickly swapped and we are on our way.
We all set off together, handcycles and able-bodied all going flat out down the road into Nhkata bay, this was one of the most exciting rides of my life as we were flat out most of the time. Although I had the other riders pouring their water over me as I am going along, it was great to be able to cycle together in one team.
Day 6. Nhkata bay to Mzuzu then onto a safari lodge near Lilongwe.
Rain, rain, rain the school children are coming to visit as the road is flooded and we can't get over to the school. We give them so school equipment like, pencils, pens, paper and they give us a song, we all thought it was a fair exchange. We arrive at Mzuzu and wait for the other coach, but it had a flat tyre and was two and a half hours late. We then set off for the safari lodge through a vast rubber tree plantation and then out onto the plains, we average 100kms an hour to make up some time. Bruce keeps saying "not far now" then another hour goes by and he would repeat it after six hours he gave up and said " I have never been here before"
That man had no idea of distance or time, I think he had been in Malawi to long. We had an overnight stay in the safari lodge; amazingly they had a wheelchair accessible chalet with a shower and ramps!
Day 7. Safari lodge to Lilongwe
Unbelievable Bruce has got the distance and time right, we arrive at Lilongwe on time and board the plane for the flight home, one hour after take off we land at Harare airport where we have to leave the plane for two and a half hours, after boarding again we take off and land in Lusaka airport an hour away and have to get off again for another two hours, we then board again for the twelve hour flight home. We arrive at Gatwick absolutely whacked but in good humour, but Karen has been ill and we have to get her off to Crawley A+E for a check up. She felt a lot better after so fluids and a rest. I think if anyone gets the chance to go on an adventure like this they should grab it and go. This was a fantastic opportunity to see Africa and a different way of life although you should be ready to rough it a bit and not mind if they do things differently. The thing that will always stick in my memory is the children singing when we first arrived on our handcycles and seeing their faces as we went past.