Easter Weekend on Chizumulu and Likoma Islands

I just got back from a lovely Easter long weekend.

Here in Malawi both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so I wanted to make the best of my extra long weekend. I decided to go to a couple of Lake Malawi’s islands: Likoma Island and Chizumulu Island. I managed to convince my friend Heather to join me on the trip.

Likoma is a small island, 8km long by 3 km wide. It is located in Mozambican waters, but is territorially part of Malawi. It is of historical note in Malawi because of the Scottish missionaries that set up shop there. Aside from that, the main draw for travelers is the island’s isolation and mellow vibes. Chizumulu is smaller than Likoma and even more remote. It has some lovely beaches lined with ancient baobab trees, and great snorkeling along the shores.

For budget minded travelers, it is a bit of a trek to get to the islands. The only “budget” option to reach the islands is by taking the lake ferry, the MV Ilala. The MV Ilala has run up and down the lake once a week since 1957. It is notoriously slow and often late. However, I’ve heard wonderful things about the trip itself, and been told it is something not to be missed, so it is something I had to make sure I got around to doing before leaving!

On Friday morning, Heather and I headed off to catch the ferry! A couple hours by minibus brought us to the town of Salima, from which we grabbed a matola (an unofficial shared taxi, in this case, a small lorry) to the town of Chipoka. We weren't sure how long we were going to have to wait (we arrived pretty early because not only is the ferry often late, it is also sometimes early!). Soon enough, the ferry came into view.

Photo 1: The Ilala

The ferry pulled out of the dock at around 4pm. Our first evening on the boat was quite pleasant – we made some new friends and sipped beer on the deck, and enjoyed a lovely sunset. After a quite delicious dinner in the “saloon” we tucked ourselves into bed for an early night.

Photo 2: Me hanging on the deck

Photo 3: Heather and a fellow traveller Jesse, enjoying a beer
Photo 4: The sunset

The level of comfort with which one travels on the Ilala varies greatly depending on the type of ticket you spring for. Second class is on the lowest level of the ship, and is cramped and chaotic. People and cargo are piled on top of one another, and theft is apparently a significant issue. Not so pleasant . . . weighing cost vs. comfort, we opted for first class deck tickets.

The first class deck wasn’t very busy; we were two of 6 people camping out that night. Heather and I managed to rent the last available mattress. It was a little cozy! Sleeping out on the deck was less unpleasant than I thought – I managed to sleep despite the constant grumble of the engine and the mighty breeze that blew across the lake. Poor Heather opted not to bring her sleeping bag, so she woke up every so often to add layer upon layer, as it was quite chilly that night.

Photo 5: nighttime on the ferry deck

The next morning, the ferry slowly (it is not the swiftest of boats) tugged along the Mozambican coast. It is beautiful, and much less developed than the Malawian side. We stopped at a couple of ports along the way.

Photo 6: Baobab on the shore

Photo 7: Despite how patriotic this photo looks with the Malawian flag blowing in the wind, the land behind me is actually Mozambique

Photo 8: Metangula, Mozambique

Many of the ports the ferry stops at are too shallow to dock at. In these cases, the ship’s lifeboats are used to ferry people back and forth between the ship and the shore. It is a slow process . . .

Photo 9: Lifeboat
Photo 10: Filling the boat with people and goods
Photo 11: Picking up and dropping people off at the shore

It was a long day of ferrying. It takes a lot out of you!

Photo 12 : Napping

It wasn’t until we were already most of the way to Likoma that Heather and I decided to make a slight change in plans, and head to Chizumulu Island (we were originally just going to Likoma). It is a stop further along on the ferry route; we didn’t arrive until around 9:30pm on Saturday evening.

As we boarded a lifeboat to be brought to shore, the thought suddenly occurred to me: how exactly are we going to get out of this thing without getting completely soaked? Just as I pondered this, the dude driving our boat informed Heather and me that we were going to have to jump. As we neared the shore he started shouting “jump in! you must jump in now!” The crowd which had gathered on the shore to board the boat soon swarmed around and people frantically began loading in. I hopped off and found myself waist deep in water. Heather and I, both sopping wet, glanced at each other and started laughing hysterically about our soggy conclusion to 30 hours of ferry travel.

Dripping, we dragged our weary selves 100m from where we were dropped off to Wakenda retreat, a backpacker resort which, save for a couple local rest houses, is the only available accommodation on the island. We were greeted by the lodge’s proprietor – an Englishman named Simon. He was surprised to see us; it is uncommon for the lodge to receive guests coming from Northbound ferries (more commonly they receive guests on the southbound journey, as the island is only a few hours away from some larger Malawian towns in the north).

We were the only guests at Wakenda. It is an isolated place, depending almost exclusively on the Ilala for the transportation of guests. Some also come on a local transport boat that runs between Likoma and Chizumulu almost daily. Wakenda also relies on the Ilala to bring in all supplies – food, building material, etc. The manager hops on the ferry on Saturday evening on its trip north, and returns late on Monday on the southbound journey. Since we arrived at the end of the last food run, we were warned that supplies were running low.

Our time on Chizumulu was wonderfully relaxing. We swam and snorkeled in the crystal blue waters surrounding the resort, went for some nice walks around the island, watched local football games, sampled some local wine (brewed from water, tea leaves, sugar, and yeast), and read magazines (a rare treat for us!) while basking in the sun or lounging in hammocks.

Photo 13: Some fish I saw while snorkeling in the waters just in front of the lodge (making use of my waterproof camera!)
Photo 14: More fish
Photo 15: Our grass hut (with Dopey, one of the very cute resident dogs of Wakenda)
Photo 16: There was no cell reception right at the lodge, so we had to walk a little distance away to a hill for signal. We were followed by this group of kids, who started to sing and dance (with dance moves simulating a cell phone conversation!) for us – quite cute!

Photo 17: A view of one side of the island from a hike
Photo 18: The Wakenda retreat shoreline at dusk

As nice as our time was there, we intended to spend just one day on Chizumulu before heading to Likoma. We were told that the local transport boat between the two islands would not leave before 10am, but may not leave until as late as 1pm. However, when we arrived at the beach at 9:20am on Monday, we saw the boat sailing off into the horizon. So much for never leaving before 10am…

Photo 19: Our boat, sailing away without us

Oh well, there are worse places to get stranded . . .

Photo 20: Got some good hammock time in!
Photo 21: Yet another lovely Malawian sunset

We had to make it back to Likoma for Tuesday morning, to make it back in time for our flight – we had managed to score stand-by tickets for a chartered flight to Lilongwe (the ferry was great and all, but we didn't need to repeat the experience only a couple days later!). We were unable to take our resort’s boat because it was out of petrol (and wouldn’t be getting more until the return of the ferry!), so, the only other option was to hop on the ferry as it made the return trip to the south. The ferry wasn’t due back to Chizumulu until 12am. Once the power cut for the night at around 10pm (the island is powered by a big generator, and only has power available for 14 hours of the day) Heather and I headed for a couple of lounge chairs on the beach. We napped until woken up by the sound of the boat’s horn, as it pulled up into the bay.

Back on the ferry, we staked out suitable sleeping spots and hunkered down for a couple of hours. The ferry sat in the bay until 3am, and arrived in Likoma at around 4:30. Needless to say, we didn’t have the most restful night’s sleep.

Photo 22: Being ferried to the shore as the sun rose

It was nearly 5:30 by the time we got off on shore. So, we had some time available to run around the island before catching our flight. Our first stop was the lovely St. Peter’s Cathedral, built by missionaries and completed in 1905. It is huge, similar in size to Westminster Cathedral, and quite lovely!

Photo 23: St. Peter's Cathedral

The rest of our time on Likoma was spent exploring the market, wandering around aimlessly, and hanging out by the beach. We met some lovely people, and had a nice time.

All in all, quite a well spent long weekend I'd say!