Whatshot
Adventures with Kingsley Holgate (15)
Adventures with Kingsley Holgate (15)
With Lake Tanganyika behind us we survive the torturous track to the remote shallow lake of Rukwa - a place that few travelers ever visit. Shaped like an elongated hourglass the central waste of marsh often dries out to form two lakes. The village elders tell us it once dried up completely leaving crocs, hippos and fish to bake in the scorching sun. Fisherman drink from the mud grey alkaline waters of the lake and tell us they often get sick - it is the ideal place for the expedition's LifeStraw campaign. A LifeStraw is the size of a small bicycle pump and gives a 1000 litres of pure drinking water. The villagers can't believe it as Mike demonstrates the use of a LifeStraw by sucking water out of a filthy puddle and then gargling swallowing and then spitting some now clean water into a bowl. Now with Lake Rukwa behind us our next Rift Valley challenge is the Tanzanian side of Lake Nyasa.
It's a great vibe for the expedition as by Land Rover and bicycle we drop down through the lands of the Nyakyusa people to reach the base of the dramatic Livingstone mountains, where we gather more calabash water, this time from beautiful Lake Nyasa (that is what Lake Malawi is called on the Tanzanian side). Despite feeling travel-worn we are overjoyed to reach our last big Rift Valley lake. But! There is a bit of tension here with the rumor of oil finds. Tanzania, it seems, wants to shift its old colonial shoreline boundary out into the middle of the lake. 'That's war talk,' say the Malawians, as in low ratio first gear we climb up the steep rocky switchback of a mountain pass to the historic Malawian Rift Valley escarpment mission station of Livingstonia, established by trailblazing Scots missionaries in 1894. It's tough going and dangerous in the dark.
Tomorrow early we cross the lake to Chizimulu and Likoma islands. We had hoped to take the Ilala, an old ship that serves as a lake ferry, but unfortunately the old girl is out of commission and so we organize a local plank-built dhow. If the wind picks up the lake can be extremely dangerous. We are told the journey will take around 5 hours - Will keep you posted.