A Rough Thanksgiving Ride

Happy and healthy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends back home.  We miss you all and truly appreciate all of the support that we have received.  Please give yourselves a warm hug from us.  We are thankful to Amber and Josh Karausky for caring for our family members, Ella and Zeke. Please kiss them for us.  

Our trip through Africa has made us feel very thankful for our opportunity to travel as a family and see so much of the world.  This time together is priceless.  

Of course, seeing how difficult life is for so many makes us thankful for all that we have.  Hopefully, we will all hold these memories close as we return to regularly scheduled life in 2014.

Thanksgiving provided us an extra opportunity to reflect.  As our South African Airlines 737 drew closer to Jo'Burg, we encountered severe thunderstorms.  The turbulence grew to a disturbing level as the plane was thrown about.  We circled for approximately 20 minutes before decending to land.  As our altitude dropped, the plane was rocked.  Several people began screaming.  Within a couple thousand feet of the ground, the pilot jerked the nose up and aborted the landing within a minute or two of expected touch down.  We were then diverted to Durban Airport about 400km away for refueling and to wait out the weather.  

After approximately an hour on the ground, we took off again for Jo'Burg.  Once again, we encountered severe thunderstorms and watched with concern as bolts of lightning lit up the night sky.  In an unwelcomed repeat performance, an approach was aborted in mid-decent.  After circling the airport again, we finally touched down in Jo'Burg 14 hours after boarding a boat on peaceful Mumbo Island.

Roman and Mabret were tremendous throughout the ordeal.  During the first attempt into Jo'Burg, Roman made some silly jokes and Mabret kept Roman occupied and gently patted his hand a few times.  They were sitting together a row in front of us.  On the second go'round, Roman slept through the entire flight after taking some Dramamine.

We recently received an extremely nice email from Mabret's teacher, Kevin Kromko.  In the email, he described Mabret as "the calm before, during and after the storm.  Foreshadowing, I suppose.

After landing, Mabret said to us, "those people screaming does not help anybody and will make other people scared.  We just have to breathe and try to relax."  

The experience is another chapter in a trip full of lessons.

Sorry we were out of touch on the holiday but we are back on the grid.

Headed to Zambia on a 10:40am flight.

More posts coming today.

Peace Out!

Favorites Malawi

Favorite activity:

 

Bob: Snorkeling around the cove with the boys

Kathy: Kayaking around the island

Roman: Snorkeling for the first time

Mabret: Snoreling around the cove

Favorite Food:

Bob: Veggie curry followed closely by the butternut squash pizza

Kathy: Creamy chicken with mushrooms over rice

Roman: Mac n cheese

Mabret: Homemade sausage pizza

Favorite napping spot:

 

Bob: Hammock on the beach

Kathy:  hammock in the shade at our family tent

Roman: " I don't like to nap"

Mabret: "I don't think I ever napped"

Faces of Africa

   

 

Mumbo Island

The Question:  How long could you spend on a deserted island with your family before it was no longer fun?  How about if the island is a paradise with a self-sustaining Eco-system?  

The Answer for Us:  A whole lot longer than we did.  Of course, it helps to have fresh healthy meals prepared each day and coffee and tea placed outside your tent at 6:30am.

Mumbo Island is an innovative place and those who have made it a reality have accomplished something quite noteworthy. 

Some views from the island looking back toward the mainland.

Mumbo Island is a one hour boat ride across Lake Malawi from the Village of Cape Maclear which is pictured in our last post and is home to Gecko Lodge where we stayed on Sunday.  The camp on the island is a minimalist design using only what is absolutely necessary to sustain itself.   The materials used to construct the abodes and furnishings are local reeds, bamboo and grass.  

The boat ride to the island.

Local craftspeople are hired to build the furnishings and weave the canvas mats laid in the tents.  Even the trees that provide wood are obtained locally but only when roadwork requires their removal. 

The power on the island is solar generated.  We used wind-up flashlights and solar lamps after dark.  

Cooking is done with a solar hot water heater and fuel efficient wood burning stove designed for developing countries.

Organic waste is removed and transported to the village where it is first placed In fields so local goats and dogs may feed.  The field is then covered over until it becomes ready compost.

Dry compost toilets are used and the waste is placed in a decomposition field and ultimately used as fertilizer.

Water is taken directly from Lake Malawi via a solar powered pump and purified in ceramic filters.

Mumbo Island belongs to the Malawi Department of National Parks.  An organization named Kayak Africa has an agreement with the Department to administer tourism activities on the island.  They work together to preserve the natural beauty and resources of the island and its surrounding waters. 

Kayak Africa was started by a young couple who pitched a tent under a tree on rented land in Cape Maclear.   The company now employs 10 members of the family  who originally rented them the land where they pitched their tent.  When you see the poverty within Cape Maclear this fact is astounding and heart warming. 

Started as just an idea, Kayak Africa now employs 54 people full-time.   More than 95% of the employees are residents of Cape Maclear.  They hire, train and promote people from the village.  We can say that the staff is second to none that we have experienced.  

We were greeted by Juliet, the Island Hostess.  Juliet gave us a quick overview of the island and showed us our tent chalet.  One room for us and one for the boys with a separate bathroom.  

Soon after arriving, we were eating a fresh and healthy lunch of pasta with a choice of vegetable or meat sauce.  By mid-afternoon, we were snorkeling in the lake which is home to diverse marine life.  Truly, it looks like an aquarium without the glass.  The best view through my mask was that of Roman and Mabret flashing double thumbs-up as they pointed to the many fluorescent tinted fish. 

We topped off the afternoon with a hike to the western edge of Mumbo Island to watch a beautiful sunset.  Mabret and Roman had scouted out the location themselves on a kids only hike earlier in the afternoon.

The boys on a perch an waiting for the sunset.

A sunset selfie.

The day concluded with a traditional Malawian meal.  Thus far, the food here is the best that we have consumed since leaving the U.SA.

Tuesday began with 6:30am tea and coffee with the boys outside of our tent chalet. The boys then knocked out some school work before an outstanding breakfast.  We then did a further dose of school work and we were ready for a big adventure.  A kayak trip all the way around the island. 

A view from the kayaks.

The kayak adventure was priceless.  We stopped at various points along the way and jumped in the lake for some family snorkeling.  We also found a perfect spot to eat a snack and drink some sodas that we had packed. 

We returned just as lunch was being served.

After lunch, Mabret and Roman wrote essays about our kayak trip around the island. They will be posted as separate blog entries.

In the late afternoon, Dad, Roman and Mabret put on their snorkel gear and headed out to find a cave that is at the end of a huge rock formation between two coves .  We explored the caves and swam the entire way around the rocks and back to the beach. A swim of more than 1/4 mile that the young adventures handled with no problem.  We are very proud of their accomplishment.

Ok, Roman was a bit tired after the swim.

Dinner was delicious.  The chef made Roman mac and cheese rather than the beef kabobs that were the main course.  

The highlights of Wednesday were a repeat kayak trip around the island and a rope and tire climbing competition with Roman and Mabret crushing Mom and Dad.  We also spent hours playing our new favorite game - Bawo.  This is an African favorite in which each player moves beans around the board attempting to swallow the other player's beans.  Counting ahead and plotting your moves is crucial.  The strategy and basic ideas are similar to backgammon.

We needed to be packed before dark as we depart the island at 6am on Thanksgiving morning so the balance of our stay will be in darkness.  

We a enjoying a final meal on Mumbo Island.  The food here rivals the finest 5 star restaurants in the States.

Thanksgiving will offer a one hour boat ride, a 3 and 1/2 hour van ride, a two hour flight followed by a 30 minute car ride.  All served with a side of passport control. 

Hello again. We made it to the airport in Lilongwe, Malawi.  The boat ride and van ride were pleasant and uneventful with a quick stop at a roadside ice cream shop.

Again, we were struck by the vast undeveloped and obviously dry lands in this beautiful country.  Many people here are living in difficult circumstances that are hard for Americans to envision without seeing them firsthand.

A pic from the boat.

Mabret and Roman have been responsible enough that Mom (the carrier of all important documents) has permitted them to carry their own passports in the airport. 

A quick report on the currency of Malawi, the Kwacha.  Four hundred Kwacha is equivalent to approximately one U.S. dollar.  1000 Kwacha is pictured below and is worth $2.50USD.

Welcome to Malawi

Our day began with circumstances lining up such that we were very concerned about missing our flight from Jo'Burg to Malawi.  One of the few things that could give the RTW Adventure Family a very bad day would be having important items stolen from our checked luggage.  Unfortunately, this can be a problem especially when traveling overseas.  The best way to avoid this calamity is having your important luggage shrink wrapped.  Many airports overseas offer this service in the airport.  Upon arriving at Jo'Burg Airport, we printed our boarding passes and headed to the kiosk to have 2 of our packs wrapped.  We had 90 minutes until departure.  However, the line was extremely long and the man wrapping was extremely slow.  In addition, there appeared to be a dozen people in front of us transporting the equipment for the entire Philadelphia Eagles 53 man roster.  After a brief discussion, we decided that skipping the wrapping and risking a theft was not an option.  

The bags were finally completed at 8:35am but the flight was scheduled to board at 8:45am.  We still had not checked the baggage and, obviously, needed to clear security.  As we got in line to check the bags, it was becoming apparent that we were going to miss the flight.  Bob did something creative yet wildly American.  He located an airport porter.  There are many of them in Jo'Burg Airport and they make their living largely on tips.  Bob negotiated $15USD to get us a front of the line pass to check our bags and an extra $5 so the porter could take care of the ticketing agent.  The porter then walked us quickly to a security checkpoint serving exclusively the international gates (we had been standing in the area serving domestic and international flights) and we arrived at the gate with plenty of time to spare.  As Ferris Bueller says, "see what a finski can do to a guy's attitude."  

Below is the work of art that we paid for.

We retained the wrap and with some duct tape should be able to reuse it ourselves. 

The flight to Malawi was just a touch under two hours. 

Welcome to Malawi.

We are spending the night at the Gecko Lodge which is a 3 hour drive from the airport in the country's largest and capital city, Lilongwe.  This is the first long drive not undertaken with Bob at the wheel as we had arranged for a van to transport us since we are kayaking to Mumbo Island tomorrow morning.  

During the drive, the van became a slumber area on wheels with Roman taking to the floor while Dad and Mabret used one another for support.

Shortly after beginning the drive, it became very apparent that Malawi is a country of beautiful landscapes but also tremendous poverty.  There are very few cars on the roads and a very limited highway system.  The main modes of transportation here are bicycles and feet.  The homes are almost entirely huts.  While portions of South Africa were fighting overwhelming poverty, the country as a whole appeared healthy.  Malawi is quite the opposite as life here appears to be a struggle for almost all. 

Malawi is among the world's poorest countries.  The average family income is less than $0.60USD per day.  Yes, that is 60 cents per day.  The economy is almost entirely based on the limited agricultural resources.  Because of the poverty and limited infrastructure within the country, the health of the Malawian people suffers.  Many people die young from a variety of illness related to a lack of healthcare and proper diet.  

We arrived at Gecko Lodge around 4pm.

We decided to get out and stretch our legs with a walk through the local village.  As with each stop along our journey, the people were warm and welcoming.   A nice woman quickly approached Bob and was anxious to utilize her near perfect English. Turns out that her family came to Malawi in 1992 from Zimbabwe where English is heavily spoken.  The most widely spoken language in Malawi is Chichewa although other native languages are spoken.  

The guys walking through the village.

The local kids are always anxious to be photographed.

Roman bartered like a pro to purchase a bracelet on the beach near the lodge.  The local merchant was very impressed and posed with Roman.

Tomorrow we paddle our way across Lake Malawi in a kayak.  Our destination is Mumbo Island.  Perhaps, Kathy's most anticipated stop on the trip (we don't count Ethiopia which we all await anxiously).

While there is likely internet reception, there is no electricity so we will blog as long as the charge lasts. 

Dieter, the new haircut looked very handsome today. 

Jack, Wyatt and crew, good effort in Saturday's basketball game.  Making us proud all the way around the world.

Hope that you are feeling better, TJ.

Peace Out.