The dusty five hour trek north to Mzuzu is not for the faint hearted. Rampant inflation, poor Forex, and the weekly payments on the fingerprint booths have necessitated that Malawi’s metalled arterial routes are decorated with pot-holes to be proud of. Our fixer/driver is an expert at avoiding them, honing his last-nanosecond-pot-hole-chicken gaming skills to admirable heights at some impressive speeds.
In the more built up areas the slightly better moneyed’s mode of transport is the taxi peddle bike. Constructed in China with a hundred-weight of gash bridge iron, these monsters, complete with retro fitted passenger padded seat bike rack, require some nifty leg work to propel them at any speed on the level. Fully loaded with a traditionally built female passenger side-saddle, the dollar a day owner-operators prove that with enough mental and physical fortitude, gyroscopic balance theory can be tested to the maximum and forward motion is just possible.
daveboni traveling tales 