After 4 peaceful days on Lake Lake, Eric and I are well-rested and ready to begin our 2-day journey to Tanzania.
It starts off with us having to walk along Nkhata Bay’s main drag to catch a mini-bus to take us back to Mzuzu. We easily find one, but we have to wait for it to fill up before we can take off. And once we do, we still make multiple stops along the way to pick-up more people. Just when I think we’re full, we stop again – in Africa, there’s ALWAYS room for one more.
We arrive in Mzuzu mid-morning and before Eric and I even have time to breathe, we’re whisked off by another mini-bus operator heading to Karonga – Karonga is the town on Malawi’s side of the Tanzanian border and our goal destination for today.
And of course, the whole mini-bus “pick-up routine” begins again.
Eventually we’re packed to the point of bursting and wouldn’t you know it, our mini-bus breaks down. Thankfully it’s nothing too serious – apparently all we need is gas. And since we’re only about 20 minutes outside of Karonga, one of the operators catches a ride into town, while we wait by the side of the road. Ironically enough, we seem to be one of the few people who aren’t in a hurry, so while nearly all the other passengers perform a mass exodus and hitch rides for the last leg of the trip, Eric, I and three other men wait it out. I mean really, what else do we have to do?
So we wait…
And we wait…
And we wait.
To pass the time I make friends with a fellow passenger, the village children staring at us from the side of the road and some mosquitoes.
Eventually our guy returns with gas and we’re back on the road. We now have tonnes of room in the mini-bus and we don’t pick anyone else up, so it’s a comfortable way to end the ride.
When we arrive in Karonga, we set off to find a place to stay but the options are pretty slim pickings. We settle for a hotel right at the main intersection in town, which we later learn is a popular truck stop. It’s nothing spectacular, but it serves its purpose. Besides, there’s a good restaurant across the street, so we have a clean bed and good food – what more do we need?
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