“In Mozambique they are horrible people, because of the war I think.”
We are standing by our loaded bikes at the gate of a forgettable roadside guesthouse, near the junction of roads M5 and M1 in central Malawi, talking to its owner.
“Malawi, Zimbabwe they are fair countries, just poverty. They might rob your glasses or something but…”
Implying that in Mozambique the larcin would get violent. This type of xenophobia doesn’t surprise us, dislike of one’s neighbors is quite common, especially if there has been conflict in the past, or if the culture is highly different.
He continues.
“In Zimbabwe and South Africa it’s full of white people, they will take care of you there, you guys will have a great time”
These words would be impermissible coming from a white person, but here it is said frankly with enthusiasm and reassurance. We shake hands and start to ride towards Malawi’s Southern Region and the Mozambican border.
Leaving the sanctuary of Joma Adventure Lodge on Lake Malawi’s Leopard Bay is a warm moment. The whole team comes out for a family portrait for our last moments on the life-giving lake. After a four-day sojourn—where we wrote, ate, watched the 2024 Olympics’ closing ceremony, and ate some more—we leave with clean clothes and a plan to enter Mozambique at Milange. Republic of Malawi, Central Region.
Since leaving Dar es Salaam in June we can always count on red onions and fresh tomatoes to make sandwiches or pasta, even during an abnormaly dry season this year. Republic of Malawi, Central Region.
En route to Balaka on M5, with goats and other cyclists. Republic of Malawi, Central Region.
At the end of a long day spent battling a muscular headwind and searching for a safe place to spend the night, we are granted permission to set up camp at Mtakataka Secondary School. The headmaster and eleven teachers all live on campus in separated houses with their families. Morning reload: fresh ground Tanzanian coffee for Pierre, Kenyan tea for me and South African oatmeal with Saudi dates and Malawian bananas and Tanzanian cane sugar for both. Republic of Malawi, Central Region.
This anodyne image of bags of charcoal on sale by road M3 belies the environmental catastrophy happening. Malawi is suffering rapid deforestation. Between 2001 and 2023, it lost almost quarter of a million hectares (617,000 acres) of its 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of tree cover, according to Global Forest Watch. Charcoal production is not the only contributing factor to the deforestation, but it sure is a visible one. Everyday we see thousands of people hacking trees with machetes, women carrying big bundles of small tree logs on their heads and hardly-hidden smoking earth mound kiln. In some areas all is lost and dust devils rise up from the dusty fields and swirl without any impediment, in other areas few baobabs are left standing protected by their unconquerable girth. Republic of Malawi, Central Region.
Roadside bicycle technicians can help with tightening spokes or fixing flat tires and are always a friendly face in the crowd. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
The Shire is the largest river in Malawi and is the ONLY outlet of Lake Malawi. At the end of its 402 kilometre journey it flows into the mighty Zambezi River in Mozambique. We are crossing it first here in Liwonde, next time will be a different kind of bridge! Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Canadian bicycle technician with a miniature audience. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Alone on the side of the road with a jammed pedal crank. Pierre tries his best to help, without much success, the axle is probably fried. We end up giving him a lift home. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Either on his way to be sold or heading to his forever home, puppy’s world as he knew it is over. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
One bicycle taxi, one rider, four passengers! Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Nearing the small town of Phalombe after a ride over the Phalombe Plains, gentle elevator to Mount Mulanje. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Mchese Peak (2,281m a.s.l.) is part of Mount Mulanje, an imposing granite massif with sheer walls. Its Sapitwa Peak is Malawi’s highest mountain at 3,002m a.s.l. The “island in the sky” is an international hiking destination and, with continental Africa’s tallest rockwall (1676 m base-to-summit) on Chambe Peak, a rock climbing treasure. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Mount Mulanje captures the humidity of the winds coming from the Indian Ocean, creating mists and rains that nourish lush forests and tea plantations. The major watershed contains the headwaters of nine rivers that supply water for hundreds of thousands of Malawians. Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Last pedal strokes in Malawi! Republic of Malawi, Southern Region.
Mozambique
Crossing the border into Mozambique is a bit daunting. The information we can find online about the process seem to indicate that Canadians can now enter visa-free—lucky for us, many African countries have pulled back on the red tape post-COVID—with a payment of 650 meticais (MZN). Travelers accounts differ but all agreed on one point : you need a hotel reservation paid in full to enter the country. Some paid for a night in a faraway city online, some turned around, many bribed. We decided to do what we do best, look innocent and be patient.
I enter the new concrete immigration office, painted blue like the sky, while Pierre guards the bikes outside. “Ola! Como vai!”, I start, handing out our passports to the young officer sitting behind a high desk. As he is leafing through he looks up at me “reserva de hotel online?” With four months of portuguese instruction on Duolingo and an adequate knowledge of Spanish to the rescue I explain that we are going to stay at the Milange Guest House but, of course, they have no online reservations. He is not happy. He leaves. Another officer arrives in a fancy car, this one with stars on his shoulder pads, and spend 20 minutes on the phone. I can here “bicicleta”, “Canada” and “South Africa”. He hangs up and ask me to follow him to a back room. Once he takes my photo and signal for me to lay my hand on the fingerprints machine I know we are in!
It’s over a week later that I realise I have been learning Brazilian Portuguese on Duolingo which, it turns out, is quite different from Mozambican Portuguese! No more “Ola! Como vai?” but rather “Bom dia! Como esta?”
While scanning some posts on the iOverlander app we notice a few check-ins by a British couple (longpedaldown) who cycled in May 2024 on a remote track towards the Zambezi River. Two hundred and fifty kilometres off-the-beaten-track is an inspiring proposition!
We spend less than 24 hours in Milange, the small Mozambican border town. Enough time to buy a SIM card, packets of spaghetti and shortbread cookies, cans of tuna and delicious bread. We sell our Malawian Kwachas to some shady exchange dealers, who expertly rip us off, and off we go! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
After a first day ride in Mozambique, over a perfectly packed red-dirt road, we eye a fenced-in medical clinic to spend the night at. Over two hours, as the sun is setting, five levels of regional officals (including the clinic’s doctors, the mayor and police chief) debate on the safety of us setting up a tent in the clinic’s backyard. Well after dark we are left in this municipal building to rest. Protocol and hierarchy is taken seriously, no wonder our unorthodox border crossing required phone clearance from up above! At five the next morning sweeping sounds stir us from our slumber. By six there are knocks on the door to see if we are ready to leave. The highly welcoming mayor is uncomfortable, the office needs cleaning because the province’s governor will visit today on the election camping trail. Mozambique’s general elections will be held on Octobre 9th 2024 and the countryside is bouncing with anticipation. Flags, t-shirts, hats, pennants and posters to the colors of the two main political parties (FRELIMO and RENAMO) are omnipresent. Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Moments of joy! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Colorful capulanas for sale, worn by women as a skirt or dress, headdress, shawl, towel or to carry a baby. Tanzanians and Malawians mostly declined our requests for portraits. Mozambicans have no anxiety around the camera and reciprocate with their own cellular phones, snapping pictures of us and filming our encounters! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province
Last topography’s hearbeats before flatlining onto the lower Shire flood plains. Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
In Chire, we are so close to Malawi that we need to change our Meticais back to Kwachas to pay for bread, beer, a chicken and rice dinner and this camp at the local guest house! Most people are Chichewa, separated by an arbitrary Anglo-Portuguese Treaty that set the invisible boundary one-hundred and thirty-three years ago. Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
After winning the arm struggle against Portugal and gaining independence from the colonial power, Mozambique, led by the Marxist Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and opposed by the anti-communist Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) entered a civil war that lasted until 1992. Horrible war crimes were committed, countless people fled and one million died. In these remote parts the country, the striking evidence of the past violence are countless bombed buildings, schools, hospitals, town halls left to slowly rot away. Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Perfect bicycle path at 50m a.s.l. It gets to 38 degree celsius in the afternoon, luckily this is the dry-cold season! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Our Shimano SD5 sandals imprints! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Please, do not adjust your set! Traces of the disturbances caused by Cyclone Freddy are visible since Lake Malawi. Tranquil night spent in a family’s backyard. Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
On this blissful backroad we become entertainers. Mostly people want to help, they often bring us chairs and inquire about our route, it’s a nice change to getting mistaken for an animal that throws wads of banknotes to whomever asks! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Deep in the African Rift Valley, not surprisingly, there are hot water springs. At Aguas Quentes, remnants of a former resort astound. Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia Province.
Since the retirement of the iconic hand-cranked chain ferry, the Shire River is crossed in dugout canoes! Trust the captain and watch for crocodiles and hippopotamus! On the West bank of the river we film a short video on our phone to congratulate Alexa Fay. Her short film about Pierre and I, The Slow Lane, has just won the award for best short-film at the Ladek Mountain Festival in Poland! Republic of Mozambique, Zambezia and Tete Provinces.
After a night in Mutarara we wake up to a rainy sky—after a bone-dry three months this is a welcomed change. Today we cross the mighty Zambeze. The river starts its course in northwestern Zambia and flows all the way to the Indian Ocean. The crossing is on a 3.67 kilometre long railway bridge! “A Ponte Dona Ana” has a long history since its completion in 1934 and was even completely closed in 2006. Since a 2017 renovation of its pedestrian walkway 3,000 people use it daily. Walking on its cracked ciment slabs, watching the fast flowing grey waters far below, I freeze from time to time. A woman following me softly encourage me to keep going “Vamos, poco a poco!” After an hour we get to the south shore at Vila de Sena as the rain intensifies. Republic of Mozambique, Tete and Sofala Provinces.
Rest of the day spent riding against a strong wind, our tires being sucked by the muddy road, rain washing our sweat-saturated hats, running salty water into our eyes. Republic of Mozambique, Sofala Province.
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After reaching Caia in the dark, we check-in a typical overpriced Mozambican guest house. A man is washing his shiny white pick-up truck as we haul our mud covered bags inside our room.
“Nasty today! I came on the same road as you guys. I work for USAID, I bring medecine to all the small clinics. How far are you going?”
“Well, we want to ride all the way to Maputo but we were given only 30 days at the border so we will have to exit to Zimbabwe before then”
“Just extend! You are tourists so necessarily regarded as investors, at any immigation office they will give you more time”
We decided to believe this stranger and follow road N1 to the Capital City! Vamos!
