Shire River Bridge, Mangochi, Lake Malawi.
I enjoyed my visit to Malawi in 1990. I booked a 10-day fly-drive holiday from Harare.
I flew into Lilongwe and picked up a battered old car. I stayed the first night at a good hotel in the capital.
The next day I walked to a nearby post office and sent some letters home. I don’t think they were used to seeing white people in there. The locals deferentially parted for me to be served first. I declined the invitation, but they insisted.
I drove from Lilongwe to Mangochi, where I had accommodation booked in a resort on Lake Malawi. Frankly I had no idea where I was going, but it was a fascinating drive.
The only map I could buy was of Nyasaland, which was Malawi’s name before independence in the early 1960s!
I drove through some villages and recall seeing lots of goats. There was very little traffic, even on the main highway.
Eventually I stumbled across the resort, where I enjoyed some wonderful weather and sunbaking on the lake.
A group of Zambian travel agents arrived shortly after me on a familiarisation tour, and I made friends with the single white woman among them.
The nearest town to the resort was Mangochi, on the Shire River, which used to be called Fort Johnston.
I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think I stayed at Sunbird Nkopola Lodge. I remember seeing the fishermen at work.
The top picture shows the Shire River bridge in Mangochi. That reminds me of the local beverage, Shire Valley Rum. it was a white rum, like Bacardi, quite delicious. I brought a bottle home, but it didn’t last long.
The pictures below show the Queen Victoria Clocktower in Mangochi, my Zambian travel agent friends Trish and Priscilla, me sunbathing on the beach at Lake Malawi, and the tyre doctor sign.
It reads: “New doctor of tyres. Tube repairs. Best patchars filar. See Bengo.”
After staying on the lake I spent two days in Blantyre, which is Malawi’s largest city and main business centre.
I’ll make a separate post about that.
