Adventure Part 2: Cape Maclear, Malawi (and a Sunset Cruise!)

Cape Maclear, Malawi... what a paradise. Originally known as Chembe, this UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Lake Malawi National Park was originally inhabited by the Yao people, later discovered and renamed by explorer David Livingstone, and today is the busiest tourist destination on Lake Malawi. 

Upon arrival, you wouldn't know it's one of Malawi's biggest tourist destinations. There's no regular public transportation to get there from the turnoff at Monkey Bay, and the road is partially unpaved, full of potholes. There are no ATMs on the Cape, and no way to change money (this actually became a problem for us, as we ran out of money and had to resort to a shady metical-to-kwacha exchange with a mysterious man on the beach)

Our journey to Cape Maclear started in Lilongwe. We heard there was an 8 a.m. AXA bus daily to Monkey Bay, so we dutifully went to the bus station at 6:30 to get our tickets as per the advice of our hostel. Upon entering the bus station, we were absolutely bombarded with "helpful" Malawians shouting at us, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING? HEY FRIEND! SISTER! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? LET ME HELP YOU!" (expecting a tip for their "help", of course...) We were more than capable of finding the bus by ourselves, though, so we pleasantly but firmly ignored even the pushiest of people trying to assist us.

Almost all the AXA buses were gloriously fancy -- all except, of course, the one we were on. Not only was it run-down and smelled very weird, it was also completely full, with people standing in the aisles (and most definitely invading my personal space) for the entire six-hour journey to Monkey Bay. We stopped about every 10 minutes for no apparent reason -- after the 20th pointless stop in which no one got on or off the bus, we started to go a little crazy -- and yet somehow still made relatively good time to Monkey Bay. 

From there, we got Muzungu-priced (i.e. ripped off) on the fare for the half-hour ride from Monkey Bay to Cape Maclear -- having no idea how much it should cost, we paid 2,000 Kwacha when it should have been 600. Live and learn, right?

But our travel-induced frustration and bad mood immediately disappeared when we got to Cape Maclear and were greeted by this view:

WOW.

In a fun twist to our plans, we found out the lodge that we were planning to camp at doesn't allow camping. We went to check out our second choice and found it closed for re-thatching. However, a really friendly local Dutch offered us a suggestion -- why not try Taipei Garden Lodge?

Taipei Garden Lodge

It was a bit out of the way, pretty quiet, and not as equipped as some of the other lodges. Still, the manager, Collins, was extremely friendly and personable, and told us we could set up our tent wherever we wanted to. He also gave us an incredibly good price, so we accepted and set up our "tent".

When Collins saw it, he laughed.

"You girls going to be OK in the night in that... 'tent'? It gets pretty windy at night this time of year."

"We'll be fine!" we assured him, "We're well-seasoned travelers. We can sleep through anything."

He gave the Bug Hut a very unconvinced gaze up and down and said, "Well, I stay up pretty late, so when it gets too windy and you want to move into the dorm rooms, just come and tell me. No extra charge."

We thanked him, assured him we'd be fine, and went to watch kids play as the sun went down.

Kids play at sundown.

Night fell, and we were pretty exhausted, so we went to our tent around 9 p.m. to get some z's. I fell asleep almost instantly, as did Szasha and Joanna.

Two hours later, I was woken by the extremely loud WHOOSH-ing of HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS. The trees creaked and croaked. Sand flew everywhere. Mary Poppins floated by on her umbrella.

OK. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but if I had some kind of measuring device, I'm fairly sure it would have read: "Current conditions: Pretty f***ing windy."  

Far too windy for our sad little tent, anyway. After a few more minutes stubbornly trying to hold out, we gave up. I stayed behind to sit in the tent as human ballast and keep it from flying away while Szasha and Joanna slunk into reception to find Collins smiling knowingly.

"I thought I might be seeing you soon!" he said cheerfully, "Let me take you to the dorm room." 

We slept the rest of the night like babies. (One bed per person? What luxury!) Needless to say, the experience cemented our positive view of Collins, and we stayed at Taipei Garden Lodge the rest of our time at Cape Maclear. 

(1). Original tent location. (2) Midnight emergency removal of tent to indoor location. (3) Fancy dorm beds we ended up sleeping in.

The next two days, we explored every corner of Cape Maclear. It was bliss. We wandered the beach, swam, ate delicious food, explored the surrounding areas, but mostly lazed about, swapping fofoca (gossip) and stories. We culminated our days together with a sunset cruise on our last evening together. It all kind of runs together in my memory, so I'll let my pictures speak for themselves.

Enjoying beachside strawberry smoothies.

The docks at sunset.

Aboard the Miss Java, about to start our sunset cruise.

Chilling in our capulana dresses on the boat.

Stunning Cape Maclear sunset.

The next morning, Szasha and Joanna left to continue their adventure into Northern Mozambique to explore Ilha de Moçambique. I stayed in Cape Maclear and awaited the arrival of my two friends, Will and Anna.

Coming Up Next Time:

Cape Maclear, Part Two! Hiking and Exploring with Round 2 of Friends.