Dertingers In Africa 2012: Chitimba Camp

Chitimba

February 26

Yesterday when our laundry was returned to us all neatly folded in bags, but wet, we scrambled to hang it anywhere and everywhere within our little abode in the hope of drying it before today. That's a pretty difficult feat in this humidity and with so much rain. Once again the bus became a staggering looking laundramat with something hanging in all nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, I left my nifty clothesline behind in the process for the next lucky traveller.

The destination today was Chitimba, about 235 km, or six hours away. Chitimba is on the northern shores of Lake Malawi and very close to the Tanzanian border. Since it was pouring rain, it awns;t hard to get on the truck once again. Its been 32 days now with the yin and the yang of this truck. The truck provides us with the safety and shelter we need to travel the distances we have travelled and venture to the places we have been. We keep our luggage in locked lockers at the back of the truck while on the road and moving on and off the truck. Chris, our guide sleeps on the truck, so its a rare moment when the truck is left unattended. That said, you can imagine what it is like when all eight of us crave a shower at the same time or scramble to get ready in the morning for early departures. When we all need the lockers (rectangles approx 60 cm X 30 cm, stacked on top of each other six compartments high) the system becomes much like solving the puzzle of a runic square as one person moves off and then on and then to the side and then back on again and then steps up to reach to the top and then ouch , a metal door to the side of the head. Regardless, we seem to always leave by the targeted time.

We stopped along the way and purchased some local paintings from some villagers while Kioka bought some items he needed to continue cooking. It was brief stop and pouring rain, so we were glad to be on our way again. When we arrived at Chitimba Camp, we all decided to spend the extra $6.00 and upgrade to a roof over our heads and the possibility of hanging clothes to dry. We had the entire afternoon to fill. Curio shops were lined up on both sides of the road, stopping at the camp gate. We browsed all together and purchased an item each to help support the Chitimaba Village. Ed began to ask if someone would take us for a village tour.

We still had a few hours of daylight and Ed had a strong curiosity to head out to the village for a walk. He began to ask different curio shop owners to take us for a village walk. I distinctly remember Chris, our guide, saying, “If you want to walk in the village, I need to talk to whoever takes you, first.” Ofocurse both Ed and the curio shop owners thought that was real funny and unnecessary. The curio shop owners were not allowed in the camp. Chris chose someone to take us. Chris watches over us pretty closely and looks for safety in situations. Washington, was our village guide's name and off we went, after he Chris and Washington exchanged words of instruction. Down the road and then down one pathway and another, across a river draining into a lake, through a grazing field, past the home of the medicine man and past various plots of land growing sweet potato and kasava, at different stages of development and drying process. No fences in site, so the cattle were tied by one leg to a tree. One cow clearly thought the grass was greener on the other side and had himself stretched out on three legs with the fourth up in the air like a figure skater doing a spiral, as he munched on the grass in front of him. We visited the school, talked to a teacher and had a serious meeting with the principal who at one point in the conversation pulled out a giant, empty donation box. The tour was about three hours and we were glad we did it. We saw a lot in the maze of village that we would never have seen otherwise and Washington was good about answering our questions as we tried to make sense out of what we saw. The children were all very excited to see us and would run out from their houses waving and shouting “Jumbo, Jumbo” (hello), like we were their long lost friends; excitement of the day. LOL

By the time we returned it was dinner time and an early bedtime. We were to be on the road again by 5:30 am for the long drive across the Tanzanian border to Iringa.