Malawi’s east side is bordered by a large lake and this weekend, myself and a few friends I have met here traveled to Senga Bay. Senga Bay is a small fishing village. Wooden boats and canoes drop fishing nets and these are brought in by hand later in the day. This is tough work. We helped pull a net in. There were about 10 of us pulling the net in and it took a good 20 minutes. All for a few small fish. There is a problem of overfishing. Many people use the green mosquitoes nets that have been passed out by various organizations as fishing nets. The fish are taken into the village and spread out on a large table and a fire is started underneath the table the smoke the fish. The fish are then sold by the boatful to buyers in Lilongwe.

After our fishing experience, we took up a game of Frisbee with some Malawians who absolutely loved this. A beach barbeque followed, which was fish and local dancing and drumming. The kids got a kick out of trying to teach us Chichewa and then watching us attempt to dance with them. White men can’t jump and they sure cant dance! Prior to the BBQ, a local asked us if we would like some “chasing winter” for the BBQ. “Chasing winter” or “Bob Marley cigarettes” are the local terms for weed. Chasing the winter comes from the cool sensation smokers experience. We declined his offer. There is a Jamaican influence in Senga Bay as many of the “tour guides” wore beanies, dreadlocks, listened to Bob Marley and smoked. Little Rastafarian getaway. Perhaps my favorite tour guide was the one by the name of Easy Tiger. We also met Dr. Dre and Public Enemy on the beach.

Lake Malawi is by far the roughest lake I have seen. The boat ride we went on felt like a water roller coaster. Dug out canoes often paddle the 4-5 hours to Mozambique and I cannot understand how they can make the trip without capsizing or having the canoes fill with water. The boats in Malawi are all wooden. Usually, 1 or 2 people in the village own a motor and they allow the boats to borrow it for trips to the neighboring islands. The motor usually does not want to cooperate, but luckily for us, it did on this day.

The best part of the trip included a true African experience. Pickup trucks in Africa are not used to haul stone and wood, etc. like they are in America. Here, they are used to haul people. To get from Senga Bay to the taxi station in Salima, 14 crammed into the back of a pickup truck. In Africa, this is quite common. Drivers will wait by the side of the road and when they get a full load of people, will serve as an ad hoc taxi service. It is usually pretty cheap. We shared our truck bed with 4 Brits, a woman from Venezuela, and a few Malawians. I was hanging on for dear life and the roads in Malawi aren’t great so you learn to balance yourself to keep from falling out. It was great fun (except when we went over the railroad tracks).