Malawi

by following the news in the last couple of days in february 2020, we realized that the covid-19 virus has started spreading all over the world. and although we always had to wash our hands with chlorinated water and our body temperature got measured at every border, which is a standard procedure in most african countries since the ebola outbreak, sub-saharan africa seemed not affected so far. nevertheless, everybody was aware of the spreading virus and the question of how big the black box we were living in has been in fact arose more and more… we knew about the very restricted testing possibilities and the limited health system in the country in general and of course about the strong economic collaborations with the asian continent… nevertheless, we decided to take day by day and to observe how everything would develop.

as we drove along the shores of lake malawi, we enjoyed the friendly and easy-going mentality of the locals, and also to drive in a more relaxed manner again because we could leave tanzania’s corrupt road police behind us. our first overnight stop took directly place at the beach of northern lake malawi in the greenery surrounding of a nice eco campsite. and although we got daily afflicted by heavy rainfalls, we tremendously enjoyed the beauty of lake malawi that looks and behaves rather like an ocean. but malawi not only scores with its beautiful lake but also with a stunning mountain region. after passing lilongwe, we started the steep ascent with hundreds of hairpin bends through the jungle’s thicket. perched on the side of an idyllic valley, where the manchewe and kazichi falls plunge into a deep and untamed gorge, we reached the eco campsite lukwe «a place of natural beauty». totally imbedded in nature, the view from the camp’s deck is just breathtaking: it takes you to the valley with nyika plateau in the backdrop, leads you to lake malawi and across the great expanse of water, into tanzania and the kipengere mountain range. this is certainly a place where dreams are dreamt. our drive to the malawian highlands let us pass a beautiful landscape occasionally lined by fields of tobacco, peanuts and yellow flowering moringa trees. and although the harsh gravel road made us feel like sitting in a shaker, it was such an epic drive into the cold and misty mountains. up on 2500 meters above sea level we reached the plateau of nyika national park where a vast and mysterious landscape like the scottish highlands welcomed us. we love the pleasant feeling of warm air surrounding our bodies and sun beams kissing our skin. but ghastly weathers have charming sides too and so we enjoyed some couple of days in this remote area where we lived closely with zebras, roan, eland and bushbuck antelopes. it was the perfect place for huge bone fires, for reading books and practicing yoga and meditation. on the last evening, we got accompanied by a lovely polish-south african couple with their elderly red fire engine range rover. it was nice to spend some time together at the crackling fire with some red wine, lots of laughers and mutual adventure story telling.

before we went back to the caribbean looking shores of lake malawi, we took the occasion of an overnight stop at mzuzu where a lovely italian family and overlanding lovers runs a cozy lodge with a very delicious traditional italian cuisine. how much did we enjoy having real pasta and pizza! at this time, we have not known that this place will become a crucial refuge for us and Flora…

while we spent some relaxing time at paradise-like makuzi beach, news about the spreading corona virus got more serious day by day and clouds arrived over our journey. as we became confronted getting stuck in malawi, we met up with our french friends who were always close on our heels. from this moment on we spent days and weeks (and later even months) of intensive thinking, of endless discussions, weighting different options and scenarios, we firstly decided to stay in malawi. although we would have faced several risk factors from a health-related as well as from social- and political-related perspectives, the risk of travelling home outweighed at this moment, especially for katharina as a person at high risk for getting infected. we were so glad that we could spend these moments of uncertainty together with our friends. as more and more borders got closed and flights canceled soon, we accepted to get stuck in malawi and to wait this out.

together with our friends, we prepared ourselves that we could be self-sufficient as long as possible. back in mzuzu for a huge grocery shopping, we were impressed how calm and relaxed the people in the town still were and also about the everywhere installed possibilities of washing hands before and after entering a shop. and as we went for a visit and indulged ourselves for a delicious lunch at the lodge of the italians, we decided to spend our malawian quarantine at their harmonic place. we were definitely prepared and determined to stay there. but the president’s announcement of the country’s complete lockdown at the end of this week changed the atmosphere in malawi immediately and impactfully. malawi became more and more critical, not only for health reasons, but also for security reasons, which we have experienced ourselves through a few events. the first violent attacks on mzungus (non-inhabitants) in the south of the country were not long in coming (based on the belief that mzungus bring and spread the virus). this was communicated to us by our embassy on the following day of the president’s speech with the most urgent and last call to leave the country immediately. a race against time followed in every aspect. with lots of luck we had found a flight from lilongwe via nairobi and muscat to zurich for the next day. we took the most important belongings with us but left most of our stuff tucked away in Flora. on sunday morning, before we left with our french friends for the four hours taxi ride to lilongwe airport, we said heavily hearted goodbye to Flora, which will hopefully be waiting for us for our return and continuation of our journey. the deluge of the sky on this morning reflected our souls…

it hurts very much to be torn out of everything like this and specially going back into great uncertainty with no home, no job and an indefinitely long quarantine. but we have to accept that this is also part of the adventure and health and safety are of paramount importance in such a situation. it is a very unpleasant feeling to have to flee for security reasons... sitting in the airplane together with sad people, none of whom willing to go on this journey, and simply fly away over everything that we had recently fought for meters and experienced intensively... almost 40'000 km... it felt like being in a pile of broken glass! dragged out from a month-long life in nature, out in the bush, not to hear the hum of the crickets at night anymore, not to feel the warm air on the skin while falling asleep... we are infinitely sad to had to leave Flora and africa behind us... this feeling cannot be described... it still breaks our hearts!

of course, we were very relieved and happy that we had overcome the uncertainty of the return journey and safely landed in zurich. since then it has been simply a matter of staying healthy. we are infinitely grateful for all the enriching encounters, for the great friendship, support and solidarity we were able to experience through our friends and family and all our companions on our journey! bringing love and positive spirit out into the world, we will hold on to that and whatever the future may bring, our journey is only interrupted, we will continue where we left off! a bientôt Flora, à bientôt l'afrique!!!