Down by the bay

Nkhata Bay is a beautiful town on the shores of Lake Malawi. It has some stunning scenery and also has a buzzing feel to it with a busy market, some cool bars and two fantastic lodges right on the edge of the water. One is called Mayoka Village and the other is The Butterfly Space. Ever since we got to Uganda we’d been hearing about these two lodges and now we could finally experience them first hand. Cam and Precious drove us from Mzuzu to the bay and we went straight to Mayoka Village where we’d have dinner before saying goodbye. Claire and I decided to stay at Mayoka, seeing as we were there, so booked a room, dropped our stuff off and went for dinner.

The room that we were given was right on the edge of the lake offering tranquillity and breath taking views. We had a little ledge with some chairs where we could sit and look out over the water. Mayoka’s bar area is also equally wonderful, with a raised terrace offering more great views, and another place to hang out down by the water’s edge.

One of the other highlights of staying here is the fact that you’re able to utilise the free kayaks and canoes. Claire and I took them out one afternoon and bobbed around on the lake for an hour or two chatting away in the peace and quiet of the open water. As was often the case we’d look around at our surroundings and feel extremely grateful to be on this trip.

Whilst staying at Mayoka we also got to go on a free boat trip, where we met some South Africans, an American and one Israeli girl. The six of us were taken out by a local guy for a fantastic afternoon. First off we fed a giant fish eagle, a graceful bird that looks similar to the American Bald Eagle. We threw fish into the water and watched this majestic animal swoop down from the cliff top and pluck the fish from the water. We laughed when we found out the names the locals had given to the two fish eagles in the area. One was called Tony Blair, and the other was Condoleezza Rice. After feeding the bird we made our way to a cliff jumping spot where we all clambered up to a diving point before taking it in turns to, very ungracefully, throw ourselves off into the water. April, one of the South Africans, took a bit of encouraging, before scrambling down the cliff and jumping off a much lower point. She essentially ended up plopping into the water from one metre.

Feeding the fish eagle.

After this we all made our way onto a beach and played some games, whilst drinking a few beers before heading back to the lodge for dinner. However, before we left we noticed that the locals were bringing in a giant fishing net. This huge net span the entire width of the beach and on one side three men were heaving as hard as they could to pull it in. We looked over to the other side and noticed just one man, wearing nothing but little orange underpants, was pulling his side in all on his own. I went over to help him out with our boat driver. The net was incredibly heavy, it must have been at least 100m wide, and even with three of us pulling we had to heave as hard as we could. I was stunned that before we turned up he was able to pull in his half all on his own. As the edge of the net got nearer to the shore we started walking towards the centre, pulling it in as we moved. The guys pulling the other side mimicked our movements in order to close the net off stopping any fish from swimming out of the sides. It took us around fifteen minutes – bearing in mind they had been pulling it in for about fifteen minutes before we joined in – to get the net into the shoreline. And that’s when the story turns sad. There were about fifty tiny little fish flapping around on the sand, the rest of the net was empty. The guys scrambled around grabbing the hand full of fish that they’d managed to catch, a measly return for the hard labour they’d put in. After saying goodbye to the poor fishermen  we all jumped back on the boat and made our way back to the lodge.

One evening whilst Claire and I were eating at Mayoka we got to witness a phenomenon we had heard about, but were yet to witness. The drunken exploits of Gary the owner. People had told us all about how drunk Gary gets, and twice during our stay, we experienced it first hand. A rather pleasant man when sober, Gary got absolutely hammered twice, both times causing an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere in the bar. In fact, the first time it happened, he was yelling, dribbling, stumbling all over the place, accosting guests who were trying to enjoy a quiet night together, when one of the members of staff came to our table to bring our dinner. We mentioned the drunk man in the corner and discovered that he was the owner of the lodge. The staff seemed to be used to his behaviour, which was actually rather sad to see. It didn’t ruin our stay at Mayoka, as the location and the staff were brilliant, but it definitely meant we had a sour taste in our mouths. He was so drunk that he fell off his bar stool backwards and was impossible to understand. We hadn’t seen anyone in a state like this for a long time. In a way it was a rather nice reminder of home. Despite being South African, Gary got so drunk he made me feel melancholy and yearn for home. However, this feeling would pass and we’d just wish that he’d take himself off to bed. Lots of guests looked very uncomfortable. It was actually a rather sad sight and despite being a bit annoying, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. Though, despite this, Mayoka was a nice place to stay. We just enjoyed the nights when Gary wasn’t around more.

Claire and I also spent some time hanging out with the South African couple, Ross and April and their American friend, Shay, who we met on the boat trip. Ross and Shay were driving from Cape Town to Edinburgh and April had joined them for a few weeks in Malawi. They showed us the most fantastic chicken tikka I have ever eaten. We wandered into the dusty town centre and they took us into this little shack. It was the sort of place that you’d walk past without even glancing in, just a couple of tables and an empty drinks fridge. We ordered our food – chicken tikka skewers and chapattis for everyone – before wandering around town whilst we waited for it to be cooked. The owner, a friendly Indian man with a thick black moustache, does all of the cooking himself, so the food takes a whopping two hours to come out. So the best method is to pop in, order, then go for a wander, which is what we did.

The best tikka

We went for a stroll around town and I managed to get my broken flip flops fixed by a local cobbler before getting my shorts mended by a local tailor. It felt like being around in a different time. I don’t think I’d ever taken shoes to a cobbler, or got a tailor to fix holes in clothes and I don’t know why – they both did a brilliant job. After sorting out these tasks, we all went to the bar just down the road from the tikka place for a beer and a game of pool. It must have been around one o’clock in the afternoon on a week day but the music was still blaring on full volume – a regular occurrence here in Malawi – and there was one guy on an empty dancefloor busting out his best dance moves staring at himself in the mirror.

The tikka was incredible. Words cannot describe just how fantastic it really was, so I will not waste time and effort here attempting to do so. All I will say is that we got loads of meat. And it was the most succulent and tasty tikka chicken I have ever eaten. The moral of this story is don’t judge a restaurant by its appearance.

After five nights at Mayoka Village, Claire and I then decided to move on. We packed up our bags, loaded ourselves up, said goodbye to all of the friendly staff and then walked the twenty metres to The Butterfly Space next door.