Afrique 33 – MALAWI 2 – LILONGWE TILL MZUZU AND KARONGA

 The day after we go on foot till the bus terminal. It is not far, in the old town with is a slum of concrete buildings with sellers on the boardwalk. The only nice and impressive building is the rather new mosque. We talk with one company which goes till the border, but Martine finds the bus too old and too repaired, so we choose an other company which brings us till Mzuzu. Then we go to the mall where we have a good lunch in a comfortable terrass. Well Africa could look nice for one who just visits the mall and the hotel in the same district. Then we go to internet.

At 5 am we awake and cycle till the bus terminal. The street is very quiet. We wait till 7 for the bus, which has a large cargo in the back. And then the bus waits till 9 am and when it is full it moves, 2 hours late. After one hour comes the first stop, where a lot of new customers enters, and have to stay up in the passage of the bus. Well we arrive in Mzuzu at 14 h30, too late for any conection. The countryside was boring, a lot flat with poor farmland or fields with small bush, and then a forest with small young trees in the hills. In Mzuzu we first go to Shoprite near the bus terminal, and then I find on the phone map a backpacker where a young guy drives us for one dollar. The room is 15$ and the lodge very quiet. It rains all night and all morning, so as we decide to follow by bicycle, we delay the departure for tomorrow. We go to make some shopping downtown, but most of the shops are closed on sunday, and anyway there is nothing but the basics, as Mzuzu is just a slum in concrete with poor people. Noone has any money to waste in unnecessary or comfort. We spend the afternoon resting and reading.
On the morning we take the road to Karonga. It starts hilly and climbing through farmland. After 20 km we arrive at the top and we continue hilly but descending slowly. The countryside is rather beautiful. We are in a large valley, with farms, crops and bananas and mangoes, huts and concrete. In the distance but not far is a range of mountains with forest and some wall of rocks. We stop at a primary school, and the children look at us till night comes, boring.