Nkhotakota - sometimes known as the worlds largest village south of Sahara - is a quite lively place, a lot of things happen, but most of them go unnoticed anywhere else because of the lack of a news agency or coverage for the region. With this as a backdrop, you know that I have almost no official sources of information, and being an expat I don't even really understand what is going on most of the time. But these are minor challenges, I anyway think I will be able to wrap up the news of the year quite nicely.
Happy green new year
The year 2014 started off nicely with plentiful and quite stable rain. Everything was nice and muddy, the grass was green, the trees were happy and the maize and rice was thriving in the fields. I arrived in January with my friend Sille, taking over for Eva and Thomas. For most people in Nkhotakota that didn't really matter, I guess they just thought that the white guys had changed their hairstyle.
Transport and road situation
With the rains came problems with the roads, especially on the stupid old bridge on the road between Salima and Nkhotakota. Most of the time it was closed and an substitute bridge was used instead, but to get to the substitute bride you sometimes had to drive through an incredible mudhole which was virtually impossible if you weren't travelling in a CV90 tank. That was good news for the local boys and young men, who worked as lifters to carry vehicles out of the mud every day and made a decent salary from that I guess. On days when the road between Nkhotakota and Salima was completely closed, the alternative was to drive through the Game Reserve towards Kasungu, on a mud road for about 40 km. In the start of 2014, work was being started to construct a new road on this stretch, but the funds were unfortunately withdrawn even before the work was really started up. As if this wasn't a challenging enough transport situation, the gas station in Nkhotakota has been out of diesel or petrol half of the time in 2014, so you had to be kind of lucky and smart to make your way out of Nkhotakota.
The last way to get to or from Nkhotakota is to take the "Ilala" ferry which travels up and down Lake Malawi dropping and picking passengers here and there. At the start of the year the saying was that the ferry wouldn't stop in Nkhotakota due to the destroyed dock (for which money is said to have been disbursed to repair at least two times, money disappeard each time). Later, it seemed the ferry was broken down, and it actually was. It came back in service, after more than six months in the dock, around October, but only for about two weeks before it broke down again. However, by the end of the year it seemed that it was running again and even stopping in Nkhotakota. I don't know if I would take it though...
Drugs, drugs, drugs
Even though the roads are not in the best conditions, they are the best way to transport large amounts of cannabis out of Nkhotakota. Nkhotakota is known in Malawi to be the home of cannabis and tons of the substance is shipped out from the plantations "hidden" in the Game Reserve every year. The police apprehended about one cannabis transporter every week - and we are not talking about backpackers with a few grams in their wallet - these are buses and cars loaded with the stuff - at one incident a minibus packed with more two tons was stopped.
In May, a couple of British guys were caught with close to one tonne of cannabis stuffed into a boat on a hanger behind their car. A bit suspicios? A nice and modern boat on a hanger - I've never seen that anywhere in Malawi. Anyway, they were brought to Nkhotakota prison, and from there they managed to make out a deal with a local guy to sell their boat for a ridicolously low price, which was anyway enough to cover the bail to get out from prison. They left, of course, but came back a few months later to pick up their car and buy the boat back (probably for a ridicolously high price compared to the ridicolously low sales price). It seems that this drug trafficking is good for local business - it brings money into the local economy and it keeps the police from getting too bored at the roadblocks.
Road kills and accidents
Don't get me wrong, roads in Malawi aren't that bad, really. But the drivers are. And certainly the cars! So - effectively - traffic is quite dangerous in Nkhotakota. Even though the traffic is limited to a few hundred cars per day on the highways leading to Nkhotakota, there seems to be fatal accidents almost every week. Most of these might be related to drug abuse and alcohol - both from the drivers and the pedestrians. I have several times had to stop to complete halt from 100 kmph because of drunk people lying sleeping in the middle of the road or just wandering aimlessly around. But the cars are also a problem - cars in Malawi are old, repairing is expensive and it is difficult to get spare parts. In December, a truck from Yanu Yanu bakery in Nkhotakota apparently lost control on the roads down from Mzuzu. I don't remember exactly, but I think seven people were killed. And things like this happen quite frequently, surprisingly so considering the low density of cars and the little traffic that there is.
Disappearings
It seems that people disappear quite frequently in Malawi. I have during the year come to know about two disappearings in the near family of people that I know in Nkhotakota. Malawians claim that it is because bad people capture them to sell their internal organs to witch doctors. I am doubtful about that. I might be wrong, but I imagine that alcohol or drug abuse is involved in many of these situations. Maybe even traffic accidents can turn into disappearings if the driver is afraid to be discovered as the killer. Or falling into the river - getting eaten by a crocodile - or some people maybe just wander off to new adventures somewhere else in Malawi or Africa.
Culture on the rise in Nkhotakota
It has been a good year for culture in Nkhotakota. The Cultural Centre has strenghened its position and events have been organised regularly. The music school of the Centre that was started up in 2013 has increased it's activity in 2014 and now has two teachers and music classes every weekday. The cultural year culminated in the start of December with the first Nkhotakota Cultural and Music Festival, bringing local and national artists together on the stage in Nkhotakota. Also several new bars and restaurants have opened over the year - I think I should come back with a review of the Nkhotakota cuisine at a later point.
Another year has passed
It has been another year. Good or bad, hard to say. There is of course a lot of challenges and problems, but the people in Nkhotakota are happy and smiling most of the time. Lake Malawi was highlighted by Huffington Post as one of the Emerging Travel Hotspots of 2015. I hope that this will inspire more people to travel here and visit the large and, after all, wonderfully innocent village that Nkhotakota really is.
Thanks to: The Facebook page of Nkhotakota Police - the only written source of news from Nkhotakota as far as I know.
Happy green new year
The year 2014 started off nicely with plentiful and quite stable rain. Everything was nice and muddy, the grass was green, the trees were happy and the maize and rice was thriving in the fields. I arrived in January with my friend Sille, taking over for Eva and Thomas. For most people in Nkhotakota that didn't really matter, I guess they just thought that the white guys had changed their hairstyle.
Rice fields in Nkhotakota.
Transport and road situation
With the rains came problems with the roads, especially on the stupid old bridge on the road between Salima and Nkhotakota. Most of the time it was closed and an substitute bridge was used instead, but to get to the substitute bride you sometimes had to drive through an incredible mudhole which was virtually impossible if you weren't travelling in a CV90 tank. That was good news for the local boys and young men, who worked as lifters to carry vehicles out of the mud every day and made a decent salary from that I guess. On days when the road between Nkhotakota and Salima was completely closed, the alternative was to drive through the Game Reserve towards Kasungu, on a mud road for about 40 km. In the start of 2014, work was being started to construct a new road on this stretch, but the funds were unfortunately withdrawn even before the work was really started up. As if this wasn't a challenging enough transport situation, the gas station in Nkhotakota has been out of diesel or petrol half of the time in 2014, so you had to be kind of lucky and smart to make your way out of Nkhotakota.
The last way to get to or from Nkhotakota is to take the "Ilala" ferry which travels up and down Lake Malawi dropping and picking passengers here and there. At the start of the year the saying was that the ferry wouldn't stop in Nkhotakota due to the destroyed dock (for which money is said to have been disbursed to repair at least two times, money disappeard each time). Later, it seemed the ferry was broken down, and it actually was. It came back in service, after more than six months in the dock, around October, but only for about two weeks before it broke down again. However, by the end of the year it seemed that it was running again and even stopping in Nkhotakota. I don't know if I would take it though...
Drugs, drugs, drugs
Even though the roads are not in the best conditions, they are the best way to transport large amounts of cannabis out of Nkhotakota. Nkhotakota is known in Malawi to be the home of cannabis and tons of the substance is shipped out from the plantations "hidden" in the Game Reserve every year. The police apprehended about one cannabis transporter every week - and we are not talking about backpackers with a few grams in their wallet - these are buses and cars loaded with the stuff - at one incident a minibus packed with more two tons was stopped.
A police officer from Nkhotakota with the catch of the day - 2 tonnes of cannabis! Photo courtesy: Nkhotakota Police/Facebook
In May, a couple of British guys were caught with close to one tonne of cannabis stuffed into a boat on a hanger behind their car. A bit suspicios? A nice and modern boat on a hanger - I've never seen that anywhere in Malawi. Anyway, they were brought to Nkhotakota prison, and from there they managed to make out a deal with a local guy to sell their boat for a ridicolously low price, which was anyway enough to cover the bail to get out from prison. They left, of course, but came back a few months later to pick up their car and buy the boat back (probably for a ridicolously high price compared to the ridicolously low sales price). It seems that this drug trafficking is good for local business - it brings money into the local economy and it keeps the police from getting too bored at the roadblocks.
A roadblock in Malawi, ehm, with a Carlsberg promotion for driving responsibly. Hmm... That brings us to the next topic... Photo courtesy: FK Family/Sille/Facebook
Road kills and accidents
Don't get me wrong, roads in Malawi aren't that bad, really. But the drivers are. And certainly the cars! So - effectively - traffic is quite dangerous in Nkhotakota. Even though the traffic is limited to a few hundred cars per day on the highways leading to Nkhotakota, there seems to be fatal accidents almost every week. Most of these might be related to drug abuse and alcohol - both from the drivers and the pedestrians. I have several times had to stop to complete halt from 100 kmph because of drunk people lying sleeping in the middle of the road or just wandering aimlessly around. But the cars are also a problem - cars in Malawi are old, repairing is expensive and it is difficult to get spare parts. In December, a truck from Yanu Yanu bakery in Nkhotakota apparently lost control on the roads down from Mzuzu. I don't remember exactly, but I think seven people were killed. And things like this happen quite frequently, surprisingly so considering the low density of cars and the little traffic that there is.
I've seen quite a few upside down cars in 2014. Many accidents are due to the bad state of the cars.
Disappearings
It seems that people disappear quite frequently in Malawi. I have during the year come to know about two disappearings in the near family of people that I know in Nkhotakota. Malawians claim that it is because bad people capture them to sell their internal organs to witch doctors. I am doubtful about that. I might be wrong, but I imagine that alcohol or drug abuse is involved in many of these situations. Maybe even traffic accidents can turn into disappearings if the driver is afraid to be discovered as the killer. Or falling into the river - getting eaten by a crocodile - or some people maybe just wander off to new adventures somewhere else in Malawi or Africa.
Culture on the rise in Nkhotakota
It has been a good year for culture in Nkhotakota. The Cultural Centre has strenghened its position and events have been organised regularly. The music school of the Centre that was started up in 2013 has increased it's activity in 2014 and now has two teachers and music classes every weekday. The cultural year culminated in the start of December with the first Nkhotakota Cultural and Music Festival, bringing local and national artists together on the stage in Nkhotakota. Also several new bars and restaurants have opened over the year - I think I should come back with a review of the Nkhotakota cuisine at a later point.
The Nkhotakota Culture and Music Festival 2014 - one of the highlights of the year in Nkhotakota! Photo courtesy: FK Family/Christine/Facebook
Another year has passed
It has been another year. Good or bad, hard to say. There is of course a lot of challenges and problems, but the people in Nkhotakota are happy and smiling most of the time. Lake Malawi was highlighted by Huffington Post as one of the Emerging Travel Hotspots of 2015. I hope that this will inspire more people to travel here and visit the large and, after all, wonderfully innocent village that Nkhotakota really is.
Local kids playing with the wind in front of the lakeshore in the centre of Nkhotakota. Emerging Travel Hotspot 2015! (I forgot to cover the elections in 2014 in Nkhotakota: Former president Joyce Banda came with a helicopter and gave out a lot of free stuff, as seen in the picutre here, but that old professor guy with the sunglasses won anyway.)
Thanks to: The Facebook page of Nkhotakota Police - the only written source of news from Nkhotakota as far as I know.
