The Lake of Shining Waters

Goats on the road

My second Malawian adventure was a trip to the Lake with some visitors from the US. Dr. Charles (my advisor from UNC) was visiting, along with Jon Samuel, one of the residents who came to Malawi in the past and is now a Critical Care fellow at UNC.  We set out for the lake on Saturday morning, stopping for lunch at the Dedza pottery store.

We drove down through the mountains on a very picturesque highway with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and the lake in the distance. We arrived at Cape Mclear in the mid-afternoon. Once the rest of our party arrived we hired a boat to take us out onto the lake to go snorkeling.

For those of you who are biologically inclined (or those of you who have watched BBC Planet Earth), Lake Malawi is home to around 500 species of fish, most of which are cichlids. Cichlids are a popular subject in intro biology courses, because they all evolved from a common ancestor within the confines of Lake Malawi. Unlike most fish you might see in a freshwater lake, cichlids come in many bright colors. Each species has a very specific eating pattern, allowing all of the species to coexist in the same environment.

After marveling at the beautiful cichlids and taking a short excursion to see the resident fish eagle, we finished of the evening with a beach barbeque, dining on chambo (a type of cichlid) and duck. Delicious.

Liwonde National Park

The view from the lookout at Bushman's Baobob,
overlooking the Shire River.

The bridge entering the park. Probably safe...

Entering Liwonde National Park

The main gate.  Quite impressive given the condition of
the road leading into the park.

Waterbuck and warthogs.

Kudu

View of the Shire River from the park.

Impala

Yellow fever tree

My first adventure…Part 1

The M1 on market day.
Actually, this picture really doesn't
do it justice. It was much more chaotic.

My first Malawian holiday was a sort of working holiday. The Burn unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre was celebrating its 20^th anniversary and hosting a conference on burn care in Malawi.  Several of the residents and clinical officers from Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH—where I work) were headed down for the conference and Laura and I decided to go the weekend ahead and make a short vacation out of it. We set out on Saturday morning and drove south out of Lilongwe. On our way south, we passed through a small town during market day and the entire road came to a standstill while people, goats, cows, trucks, and oxcarts wandered back and forth across the “highway” between vendors. Granted, the “highway” is a two lane road, but still.

After some momentary confusion trying to find the correct road (the sign said take the next left, but there was no left turn…why?), we made it onto the M8 towards Liwonde. Liwonde is a small town near the Liwonde National Park, a game reserve with some of the best hippo and croc viewing in the region. Instead of the riverside camps offering the delightful opportunity to be eaten by a croc while walking to the toilet (well, probably not, but you never know) we chose “Bushman’s Baobob”, which wasn’t on any of the maps, but exists on the internet, therefore must exist in real life (right?). According to the directions, we were supposed to drive through Liwonde, turn left near the bank, turn right near the public library (apparently those exist here) and follow the signs to the park. Remember, this is one of the biggest parks in Malawi. Are you picturing it? This is where we ended up…

We made it!

After driving for what felt like three and a half years on the roughest dirt road ever (seriously, I think the Mars rover has an easier job) we finally made it to the camp! The camp was actually perfect. Lots of camping tents nestled among the baobobs, complete with attached toilet/shower (before you think we were living large, like Madonna when she visits, the water for the shower was pumped directly out of the river and was dark brown and smelly).  There was also a tree stand with an excellent view of the river and, not to be outdone by the nearby “Hippo Lodge”, many hippo prints throughout the camp.

Hippo prints.

Our tent nestled amongst the baobobs.

A few more guests arrived after lunch (including a doctor couple working with Partners in Health in Malawi who were taking a break after hosting Paul Farmer for a tour of the site…yes, Paul Farmer was in Malawi and I missed it. Sad) and we joined them on a safari drive through the park.  We saw lots of impala, kudu, waterbuck, and various other buck-type creatures, along with warthogs and lots of birds. We saw one elephant, in the distance, but I think it was a little too hot for them.  Once again, no big cats (honestly, I’m starting to think that lions only exist in zoos).

The mighty Baobob.

After the game drive, we relaxed with dinner and drinks and retired to our tent for the night.  Just before I fell asleep, something came thundering through the campsite, which sounded like a dinosaur, but was probably a hippo.  I contemplated sticking my head out of the tent to get a look, but I don’t really want to get killed by a hippo, so I decided against it.

A tour of the house…

The front of the house

The front garden of the house

I don’t really have anything exciting to say in this post, but I thought I should include a few pictures of the house so that you can see where I’m staying.

The side of the house

Our house, informally referred to at times as “the Surgery House” due to the fact that all the visiting surgery residents stay there, is located about a 30 minute walk from the hospital. Currently, there are 4 full-time guests—myself, Laura (another surgery resident from UNC), Claire (a fourth year medical student at UNC doing a year of research), and Rufus (Claire’s fiancé). We also have short-term guests (medical students, residents, and surgery faculty) who visit occasionally.  There are three guards who rotate duty—Gerald, Arnold, and Kingsley—and a housekeeper, Aggie, who comes during the day to help clean.

The living room

Zaza in her favorite chair

We have two house dogs. Zaza, who is likely a mix between a Ridgeback and a Boerbull, was the original guard dog. She is sweet and laid back and well behaved and pretty much perfect. Then we got the new puppy…

The dogs. Puppy, of course, is begging
for attention. Zaza is totally cool and
unfazed.

Puppy, trying to look cute. Most likely
after just destroying something...

The new puppy is some sort of street dog mix, who we adopted from the pound. She is actually more of a teenager, rather than a puppy, meaning she has the energy of a puppy and the manners of a poorly trained (read: not at all trained) adult dog. She’s not quite housebroken, she jumps, bites, chews on everything, growls at the guards and is generally hyperactive and annoying. In the two months that she has lived with us, she has destroyed: the screen door, the doormat, the dog leashes, the pillows for the outside chairs, a backpack, and a mop, among other things. We’re all pretty much thrilled with her existence…Actually, though, she is pretty sweet and I think she wants to be good, she just can’t quite figure out how to do it.

Where does the internet come from?

The internet at the house went out and when we called the company they told us it was because the cable carrying the internet broke…in Egypt.   Does that mean there is a cable carrying the internet from somewhere (Europe, maybe?) through Egypt and all the way down through east Africa to Malawi? No wonder the internet here is so slow…

As we all sat around trying to figure out how the internet gets here to Malawi, we discovered that none of us really know where the internet comes from anyway.  And the worst part is, we couldn’t look up where the internet starts without using the internet.  The world we live in….

Begin at the Beginning.

Every good adventure begins with a bit of misadventure. I was originally supposed to set out for my year abroad on January 6, but due to a slight hiccup I didn’t set out until January 10 (in case you were wondering, it is apparently ill-advised to set out for a foreign country with a one-way ticket and no visa).  Anyway, no harm done in the end, and I eventually set out.

The trip to Dulles and then on to Addis was uneventful, except for the fact that the travel map documenting our progress showed the sites of famous shipwrecks.  Strangely enough, I found being reminded of past mass transportation calamities that resulted in thousands of passengers drowning in the icy waters of the North Atlantic less than comforting.

Looking at the in-flight travel magazine, one might assume that the Addis airport is a rather large hub of international air travel.  After all, flights leave daily to (almost) every corner of the globe.  I eagerly looked forward to a chance to stretch my legs after the 16 hour flight, brush my teeth, and maybe get a bite of delicious Ethiopian food.  In reality, however, the Addis airport looks more like an airplane hanger that was converted into an airport about 10 minutes before my plane landed.  After much searching I found one tiny bathroom.  Allegedly there was a place to buy food, but sadly it was on the other side of the security barrier. Oh well, the layover was short.

After not being allowed on the plane in Roanoke because I didn’t have a complete ticket, I was amused to be handed a handwritten ticket by the gate check agent, after she couldn’t find my boarding pass in the pile of tickets. America, you silly, don’t you know that rules like “all-passengers-must-have-a-ticket-that-doesn’t-look-like-they-made-it-themselves” are made to be broken? In any case, I hopped on the plane, accompanied by a group of young African Mormon men, who appeared to be headed out on a mission, and we set off. After a brief stop-off in Lubumbashi, DRC (try saying that 10 times fast) to drop off the Mormons, I arrived safely in Lilongwe and the real fun started…

Joining the ranks of the blogosphere

Since my brothers and sisters-in-law have all started blogs while they were away on adventures, I thought I should probably do the same.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any adorable children to fill the blogs posts with their pictures and stories, but I’ll do my best.  Here goes…