Malawi cycle
Returning to Malawi after nearly 10 years, I was super stoked to be returning, my plan was to cycle from Liliongwe to just south of Chincheche to Kande Beach, a total of 350km, which would be the perfect warm up ride for our trans Zambia cycle.
On leaving Liliongwe I was on a high to be finally on the bike and hitting the road, although a little apprehensive due to the fact it was the first time I'd ever done any cycle touring.
Leaving Lilongwe the capital of Malawi early morning avoiding the heavy traffic it soon became apparent I was in for a tough ride, the heat was 30+ by 9.30am and climbing the escarpment before dropping down to lake Malawi in the Rift Valley was a tough day, at one police check the Officers insisted I stop cycling and take shelter as it was to hot, once I dropped down into the Rift Valley the temperatures increased and the cycling hit a level..
Day 1: I cycled 107km into Salima after finding a bed for the night I had time for some food shopping at market and early night.
Day 2: an early start as I decided to cycle before the day got stupidly hot, hitting the road by 5 was perfect with the air reasonably cool and the African sun slowly rising I was buzzing, finally back in Sub-Saharan Africa and on the open road. I made a few stops mid morning village stops and soon realised why Malawi is known as the Warm Heart of Africa, I never for one minute felt any danger other than the odd crazy bus, but everyone I met roadside were incredibly friendly and interested in what I was doing and more importantly why ?
The constant shouts of Mzungu and the kids sprinting to the roadside screaming and shouting was great fun, children would line the road on seeing me, dancing and singing so excited to see me cycling past it was a huge amount fun.
The word Mzungu which is used throughout East/Central Africa is the term used for a white man, although the originally comes from the meaning to wonder around in circles, when the first 18th century explores first came to Africa the local villages thought it was the same person walking in circles.
Day 3: I had Kande in my sights only 150 - 160km away so I decided to nail it get to Kande chill and party, today was to prove one of my toughest days due to heat in Central Malawi and holy hell was it hot, I managed to find bananas today which was a great treat as there wasn't much in the way of food supplies in Malawi, I just ate noodles for the first 3 days and I just have drank 9lts of water on day 3 and still never pee'd. At 18.00 I made it to Kande Beach after 13hrs totally exhausted and burnt to a crisp, I can tell you the first 2 beers were heaven, I now had 8 days at Kande to chill out on the lake before the next ride from Lilongwe to Lusaka in Malawi.
