Ngala Beach to Mzuzu to Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve

I got packed up at Ngala Beach by 9:00am, which I thought was impressive considering I had been there 8 days and had completely spread everything out. So I started Clancy, drove up to the restaurant to pay Dan and Trish what I owed, said my goodbyes, and went to drive off. The car wouldn’t start. It took two hours and a jump-start from Dan to finally get going. My suspicion after all this, is that the battery terminal has not tight and clean enough. The next few days while show whether I am correct.

So at 11am I headed north towards Mzuzu, getting there at around 3:00pm. I went to the Shoprite, the first one since Chimoio in Mozambique. Somehow Dan and bought me more Pearl Barley in Mzuzu, but I could not see it for sale anywhere. A bit more searching and it was 4:30pm so I headed to Macondo Camp, about 5km north-west of central Mzuzu.

It was cool overnight. Mzuzu is at 1300m so it has much milder weather than near Lake Malawi. In the morning it was 16C, which for Africa weather adapted me is freezing….. I headed of to a couple more supermarkets looking for the elusive pearly barley, but no luck. So I tried a couple of servos to see if they would take a credit card, finally on the way out of town I found a third one that would. I got a minimal 30l. When I was at Ngala Beach talking to my neighbors, they told me fuel is cheaper in Tanzania, so I only want enough to get out of Malawi. I have to leave Malawi by Sunday 24th July, as that is when my insurance and TIP expires.

So north out of Mzuzu, three police stops, where gradually they taught me how to pronounce Vwaza.  The I turned west of the M1 and made it to  Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve. It cost me 27,000Kw, camping and entrance. They are not really set up for camping, you just camp in front of a Chalet, and use the toilet and shower. I can see hippos already.

Camped with the Hippos
Enough Monkeys?

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *