Tarmac Tease

If Lilongwe was packed to the gills with holiday shoppers on Christmas Eve, it is a ghost town on Boxing Day Observed. After a weekend so chill we were horizontal, we whip our house, garden and gear in order so that we can set off on a weeklong trip north…only to be immediately stymied. Forex bureau, closed. Multiple ATMs out of cash. Video rental place, still closed. (We’ve already made a special trip to town on Sunday to return our movies to find the entire Old Town Mall locked and abandoned). After leaving a quasi-snarky note at the video store and waiting in a queue for kwacha, we are finally on our way out of town!

The game plan is to make Nkhotakota – a supposedly gorgeous lakeshore town with the dubious historical title “busiest 19^th century slave-trading center on lake Malawi” – the first stop on our journey. There are multiple potential routes, according to our map, but the guidebook claims that the most direct route is a “200 km run along the M7 via Ntchisi, of which only the 30km stretch immediately north of Ntchisi is unsurfaced.”

We hit our first snafu when we miss the turnoff (which is completely unsigned) and continue along the M1 for 10 or 15 km looking for a second turnoff. Maps seem to be amazingly unreliable here, so if the second turnoff exists, it certainly doesn’t look like the “main road” our map advertises it to be. We circle back to take the first unmarked turnoff only to hit, almost immediately, a massive construction project.

They’re not so into doing construction projects in phases here in Malawi. They strip an entire length of highway, then resurface, then lay asphalt across the width of both lanes, etc., such that it is necessary for cars to travel on a dirt track cut in beside the main road for the duration of the road work. We bump along behind an intrepid Toyota Corolla watching for an M7 turnoff that we never find.

Reaching Dowa (which means we’ve definitely gone too far), we ask for directions. A police officer tries to get us to drive to Salima (the main town on the alternate route that we didn’t take), which we know is way out of the way at this point. Luckily, some passengers waiting for a bus put their heads together and direct us back to a minor road we passed some 5km earlier. The road is quite narrow and does not seem in any way like it could be mistaken for a surfaced main highway.

We’re considering turning back when another car comes down the road. Does this road go to Ntchisi? Yup. Just continue straight and we’ll get there eventually. Ok then -- charging off into the wilderness. After traveling about 50km in 1^st and 2^nd gear (thank goodness for the RAV4’s clearance!) we hit a *slightly* larger dirt road and turn North – is this the M7? Yes indeed. Not sure who you got your information from, Mr. Guide Book Editor, but you clearly mailed it in on this one. We finally hit Nchisi, spot a sign confirming the road’s identity, and glory in a brief stretch of pavement before exiting town and hitting the promised 30km of…you guessed it…more dirt track!

Apparently most tourists and expats know better than to take this route because children are endlessly calling out “Azungu!!!” (white people!!!) as we drive past. We reach the end of the M7 and endure about 15 seconds of near panic when it looks like the M18 that we’ve anticipated so long is fully barricaded. Turns out we’ve just reached the edge of the National Park and a helpful ranger gives us some pointers and lets us pass.

The story wouldn’t be complete unless…yes, the M18 through the park were also completely stripped. At least here we’re driving on the packed surface they’ve prepared for paving and we actually make it to 4^th gear a few times. Woot! Clearly, animals aren’t hanging out along the highway so the extent of our wildlife spotting is a family of baboons and the sign commemorating the spot where a local woman was pulled off of her bicycle and eaten by a family of lions. Scenic!

The lodge is about 5mk down a dirt track from the main highway, but we’re old hat at this four wheeling thing by this point and arrive in style at sunset. Check out pictures of the full journey and our stay at the Nkhotakota lodge and pottery studio.