Malawi – Nkhata Bay 马拉维- 恩卡塔贝 11/2018 Stop 12 站

27-28/11/2018. I descended from the mountains in Livingstonia early in the morning. I then waved down a pickup to get down to Chitimba by Lake Malawi, and from there hopped onto a minibus heading for Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi. A ride that should take less than four hours eventually took 10, because the local minibus waited at Mzuzu for about four hours until the bus was maxed up. That’s how you do it if you have no transport of your own. The bonus is you get to go local and mingle in a packed minibus.

The four hours wait at the busy local bus station and outdoor market at Mzuzu provided a kaleidoscope view of Malawi. Able-bodied young men peddled pencils, sweets, and meat skewers to passengers for a mere pittance. They could have been more productive, but their lives now seemed wasted, their future hopeless. In the beehive of activities, a black young man yelled out at me, “Hey! White boy! Where are you going?” Okay, I was really not that white, having been tanned by the African sun now. Maybe to him I am not black enough and must therefore be white. If he had called me yellow, I would not have minded. I really stood out here.

The bus finally dropped me off by the roadside near Kande Beach in Nkhata Bay around 8 p.m., in pitch darkness, except for a few small shops. I was expecting a little town, but I could not even see household lights, let alone anything that resembled tourist accommodations. Some local youths eventually drove me into the village to a campsite next to the lake. It took a lot of work to get here. Getting here alone, looking glaringly different, and without my own transport, was probably not the smartest thing to do, but it made for a most memorable African adventure.

This was a sizable camp by the lake in the village, but on the second night, there were only two guests. Creepy. Late that night, as I was walking on the breezeway connecting my cabin and the shared washroom, I noticed something resembling a grayish scarf lying motionless on the side of the floor. I bent forward for a closer look, like a little mischievous boy, then walked away nonchalantly to the bathroom. I really couldn’t see well in the dim light. Emerging from the bathroom, a snake, about a meter long, head raised, looked at me from the same spot where I had bent down to look at the “scarf.”. Our eyes met. The critter’s eyes sparkled in the moonlight (or was it the ceiling light?). I recoiled back to the bathroom, shaken.

After a short while, I emerged from hiding to face the snake-like a man. It was gone. Three security personnel, armed to the teeth with sticks, hunted it down and beat it to death. The camp manager surmised that there were probably two mamba snakes out on a date. Oh no, I had the boyfriend killed! I felt terrible. Taking that closer look could have meant my death—one of my stupidest moments in life.

I felt African wandering the Kande Bay village, talking with the villagers, joining the little children as they walked, some barefooted, to school, greeted with a welcome by small and all.

There was no lack of adventure, perhaps too much for my nerves. This is a true African story.

27-28/11/2018 在利文斯敦尼亚山上招到一辆轻型货车下山，然后搭上小巴往恩卡塔贝 (Nkhata)去。车程本来只需四小时却费了十小时，因为小巴公交在姆祖诅 （Mzuzu）靠站拉客等了四小时。但我在这里也看到马拉维生活百态。年轻力壮男丁费劲口舌只为了推销铅笔，烤肉串，纸巾，看着这绝望使人沮丧。

抵达恩卡塔贝时已一片漆黑，车就把我卸在马路旁，这是个落后的村庄，灯火不多，除几间小店，基本四周伸手不见五指，且还没预定住宿，在这陌生荒山野地就深感不安。庆幸最终还是当地几个年轻人帮忙找到一个营地下榻。

这营地规模较大，可是第二晚就只两人住，一片阴森。当晚往共用洗漱间时看到走道地上躺着一条如灰色围巾的东西，本能的逼近两尺内仔细看。 但因老花看不清，且脑子欠灵光，瞄一眼后不经大脑转身就继续往洗漱间走。洗漱室出来后一抬头，一双眼睛正好跟我的碰上了，没擦出火花，倒吓得我魂飞魄散，缩回浴室。过片刻后请安保过来，三个安保像讨债似的把他从丛中揪出来乱棍毙了。营地经理轻描淡写的解释，这是非洲，大惊小怪! 可能是一双情侣，今晚在约会。天啊， 我把她男朋友给干了，深感内疚。回想起来， 她在两尺内大可在我鼻子亲一口而使我一命呜呼。真没想到我比自己想象中还笨，太走运了。

跟着孩子们，有些赤着脚，结队走村路上学去，男女老幼友善的招呼， 跟村里的接触交谈，目睹他们的生活，深感他们的贫穷，也游览了他们相依为命，美丽又平静的马拉维湖，这是真正的非洲体验，是最真实的非洲故事。