After spending almost 3 nights at Lake Malawi on the MV Ilala Ferry, it was time to rest. The first thing to do if you arrive on the ferry is to take a shared taxi that takes you from the port of Monkey Bay to Cape Maclear.
Getting off the ferry is a complete chaos because everyone is tired and everyone is trying to get down as quickly as possible. Like inside the ferry, outside is another chaos, people looking for their boxes, taxi drivers looking for passengers, everything happens very fast. When we arrived, there was someone waiting for a friend so he already had a Taxi so we asked him if he could take us to our hotel: The Funky Cichlid
When I arrived at the hotel, Holly and Matt (the managers) were waiting for me and treated me like a king. They asked me about the ferry ride and introduced me to some backpackers who were at the hostel at the time. Unfortunately I was exhausted so I just took a couple of beers and headed to sleep.
The next day, I had no idea where I was. As I arrived at night, I wasn’t able to see the landscape. I got up for breakfast and as I approached the restaurant, I began to see the lake. I felt like in paradise, clear water, perfect weather and an amazing atmosphere.
While having breakfast, I felt that someone tapped my back and when I turned around it was Martin and Katie, an English couple I had met in Livingstonia and crossed them again in Nkhata Bay. They are traveling in the car throughout Africa and it was amazing catching up after some time.
If you like to venture and get to know the culture at first hand, you should walk to the town. It is an easy and short road and you can enjoy the happiness of children running beside you (I must confess that people from Malawi seemed to me the most happy in Africa). I decided to walk in the sun to walk its small streets, visit the fish market and distract myself for a while. When I went back to the hotel, I decided I would rest the entire day. Perfect sun, breeze moving the palm trees, I couldn’t ask for more.
If you are a diving lover, this is one of the best places to get your license or go for an adventure. There are some diving schools and even Matt and Holly are instructors so they can help you, just write them before so they can book you your course with The Funky Cichlid . As I said in the Nkhata Bay blog, Lake Malawi is the mis biodiverse lake in the world. It is a perfect and cheap place to get a diving license. Sadly I did not have the time because I had to travel soon to Zambia. I still need to get the license !!!!!
As I do not have a license, I decided to rent Snorkel equipment and visit the national park that is just in front of The Funky Cichlid on Thumbi Island. A fun ride, you can go kayaking or ask a boat to take you. You have to pay the entrance to the national park if you are going to the island. To end the afternoon after snorkeling, nothing like watching the sunset of Malawi. Cape Maclear is one of the few places on the mainland that you can watch the sunset in Malawi. Almost the entire coast of Malawi faces east.
You can rest every day and enjoy the lake. It is an amazing place to meet travelers, rest and party.
If you do not come by ferry and you come from Lilongwe or you need to go to Lilongwe and you do not have a car, I recommend you write to Matt or Holly and ask for a reliable taxi. They have one that it’s way more cheaper than if you ask for a normal taxi.
PS: If you go inside the lake, it is recommended that you buy some pills for the Bilhazia. In some parts of the lake there is a bacteria that can get into your body. It’s nothing to worry and I really encourage you to go inside. It is not very expensive and nothing happens if you take it and you do not have the bacteria. It is better to be safe than sorry …. Ask Holly or Matt they have some in the hostel.
