Day One and Two – Thursday 30th June and Friday 1st July

The 11 Travellers, 2 Malawians, 2 petrol cans and 2 chickens.

Our epic journey began at Glasgow Airport at 2 o’clock on Thursday 30^th June, where 11 of us met and eagerly anticipated what was to come. All bags were checked in with no need for our sob stories and we were on our way! All flights went on schedule and everything was running smoothly –that is of course until we touched down in Malawi.

Waiting on baggage is always a nerve wracking experience and this time after about an hour we had to reside to the fact that we were minus two cases – us girls will all be sharing after poor Monica’s case has gone AWOL (we are assured it shall be brought to Mzuzu ASAP). So after collecting luggage and forcing our way through customs without having to open every case we walked out into the glorious Lilongwe sunshine. Here we were greeted by some familiar faces that made us feel most welcome, Father Wezi Mfume, Mr Banda and Mr Phiri. We were then helped with loading our luggage into the pick up (which Bernadette pointed out looked like we were flitting with the amount of baggage we have) and were shown to the mini bus. Well what an experience – Malawi has a shortage of petrol at the moment so petrol is rationed –when we got on the mini bus what greeted us was the overwhelming smell of petrol. Four hour bus journey and the strong smell of two cans of petrol, brilliant!!

The next port of call was to go into Lilongwe and pay for the safari trips and hotel etc. What struck me was the amount of cars on the road in Malawi now. The road into Lilongwe was so busy it reminded me of the Kingston Bridge at rush hour! Lilongwe itself has also developed, with lots of new shops being built, shout out to John, there’s a new spar shop opened, and cash machines being at nearly every corner (mind you the queues to use a cash machine are miles long). With all business taken care of we were now back on the road heading for Mzuzu. We were running late by now after the luggage debacle and how busy Lilongwe was and had been on the go, with very limited sleep, for twenty-four hours. We were all looking forward to getting some shut eye on the bus as we made our way for a late lunch at Kasungo Inn.

It was on the road to Kasungo that the real African experience began. The bus was rambling along, with the 11 of us all nodding off here and there, when suddenly Mr Phiri pulls the mini bus into the side of the road and Mr Banda opens the window. All of us wake with a start wondering what is going on, when suddenly Mr Phiri and Mr Banda have a group of chicken sellers at each of their windows!! Forget McDonalds drive through when you can have Malawi live chicken drive through!! So after some hard bargaining Mr Banda bought one white and one black chicken which we named The Colonel and Frank. Yes and you guessed it, in the already crowded mini bus with the 11 of us, the 2 Malawians, the 2 cans of petrol we now had in our company 2 chickens – who from all the squawking we took it really didn’t want to be there.

Finally we arrived at Kasungo and quickly ordered our lunch and bought our first round at the bar. Here was our first experience of ‘Malawi time’. There was absolutely no rush in our lunch coming, but after over an hour it arrived and was quickly devoured. Now that we were all fed and watered it was now time for the final leg of our journey to Mzuzu. Climbing in the mini bus, now in the pitch black as the sun had set was an experience – the location of the two chickens couldn’t be confirmed but Mr Banda reassured us that they were somewhere on the bus so we weren’t to worry! This news only worried us all more, and many of us sat with our legs up off the floor.

Another hour or so had passed, with us all nodding off periodically, when Michael N up the front of the bus awoke those around him by saying he could feel something at his leg. Now Michael N was still wearing his kilt at this point, but we very carefully used the light of his phone to peer down into the darkness of the floor of the mini bus. Bad move. Mr Banda spotted that it was in fact one of his chickens that was up against Michael’s leg so proceeded to grab it. This was an even worse move. The chicken then flailed wildly against Michael’s leg, and flapped its wings squawking hysterically in the process. By this point Michael was trying to move out of the way of the chicken which was now directing itself towards Bernadette. Bernadette then went head first into Celia after the chicken managed to get to her and attack her back in the process. Through all this commotion most of the rest of the mini bus managed to sleep and chicken number two was still AWOL.

The journey seemed to go on forever. Bernadette started a sing song to lift our spirits, which for the majority of us it did. However poor Paul and Anne were stuck up the back of the bus, freezing, with the two cans of petrol and the bus was beginning to backfire. Finally we arrived in Mzuzu and were greeted by all our good friends. With everyone helping to unload our luggage it took no time. Paul also managed to locate chicken number 2 as he was searching the mini bus for things that we had left behind, that was a shock!!

Finally, after around a day and a half of travelling we were at our second home of Mzuzu, Malawi. All of us climbed into bed exhausted but excited as to what other adventures we will be in store for.

The 11 travellers, 2 Malawians, 2 petrol cans but only one chicken made it safely to Mzuzu (unfortunately the chicken involved in all the commotion seemed to die off with shock).