Home » Malawi Tanzania » Cycle to the Summit Part 17 - Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe

Highlights of the Dar to Lilongwe stretch of Cycle to the Summit have included some super cycling and World Cup football action. We cycled through Mikumi National Park where we saw elephant, giraffe, zebra and buffalo, before crossing into Malawi to see first hand the famine situation that is featuring in the UK press. We also learned about the increasing problems associated with the AIDS epidemic. We are currently enjoying the hospitality and company of our friend Sutapa in Lilongwe. Over the next few days we will visit WaterAid and plan for the final stages of our journey to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

Cycle to the Summit Part 17 - Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 20:12:13

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irritating. We watched another African sunset at Mukwa Lakeshore Lodge and Campsite as we sat listening to the waves on the shore of Lake Malawi and chatting to Sean, a South African cycling from Addis Ababa back home to Cape Town.

11th June 2002 - Karonga to Chilumba - 88km

A day after crossing the border into Malawi, we realised that we had gained an hour and could have had an extra hour in bed was it not for the noise outside. Africans seem to get up early, and are seldom quiet as they get ready to go about their daily activities. We cycled with Sean for the morning amidst more road construction. We got spread out along the uneven temporary road surface and at one point as I waited for the others I chatted to Peregrine, Managing Director of a company that makes coffins. He explained to me that as sad as it was, coffin making is big business in Malawi, given the AIDS epidemic. This was not the first time that we had heard this. He has contracts with the Ministry of Education and the coffins that he sells range from 3500 kwacha (£35) to 21 000 kwacha (£210)

12th June 2002 - Chilumba to Phwezi - 71km

A 6am rise was our earliest start for a long time - but the prospect of another England game spurred us on. We cycled frantically along the lakeshore road in search of a television and were given a variety of responses as to the whereabouts of a TV; responses ranged from anything between "just 4km" and "in Mzuzu", some 100km away! We stopped to inquire outside a well-guarded house, which turned out to be the house of opposition politician leader Mr Cichana of AFORD (Alliance for Democracy). His guards told us that had he been at home we could have come in to watch the game, but sadly he was on business in Lilongwe. Not disheartened, Toby talked our way into the house of some construction foremen in time to see the second half of the game that saw England secure their place in the next round. Later on, the ...