Travelling by bus around Malawi is harder than in any other country we’ve tried. We found it difficult to find any information online, or from hostel employees/locals and even at the bus stations themselves. From what we experienced, the below are effective ways to travel between some of the main stops in Malawi – but don’t expect a smooth ride! Our top three tips:
Try not to drink anything. This isn’t great in the heat, or for your body, but we didn’t encounter any toilet stops as we travelled and with some journeys lasting 11 hours we didn’t really see an alternative.
Channel your zen. From livestock being transported, which was actually the least of our worries, to being sat in the back of a shared taxi with a box of raw meat that had ants crawling all over it – and therefore us – for two hours, you never really know what you’re going to come across.
Prepare for the unexpected. On several different trips we experienced end destinations changing, vehicle swaps, lengthy police stops, closed roads and lost luggage (read about that here), so however long you think it’s going to take, probably add a little more to that.
Airport transportation (Kamuzu International Airport)
We arrived by flight to Malawi despite being in the bordering Mozambique beforehand. This was due to the floods that hit the North of Mozambique in April and March 2019, which meant that routes to the border had been damaged and, in some cases, destroyed. Our flight from Mozambique (Maputo) was early in the morning, so early that we had to wait 30mins after checking in for the airport to actually open and the immigration officers to start their shift. This meant that our only option to get to the airport was a private taxi (600MZN), which our accommodation kindly organised.
We arrived at Kamuzu International Airport and got through immigration smoothly thanks to purchasing our VISAs in advance at the Malawi High Commission in London. The last security check before you leave the airport has a big plaque with the official Malawi coat of arms on it that reads:
TAXI PRICE TO LILONGWE $35
We both read this sign at the same time and thought exactly the same thing: “good luck to the people paying that for a 15-mile journey”. We’ve paid much less to get a lot further and besides, we’re bus people. So, we headed to the tourist information desk, battling though all the taxi men trying to win our business. There was a lady sat extremely low behind the desk. We strategically asked her, “how do you get to the airport for work?”. She responded, “you need to take a taxi to the city”.
Surprised with her sharp response we replied, “so you take a taxi to work every day?”.
At this point, she was quite agitated with us. We don’t think many people visit the tourist information desk. “Actually, the airport provides a shuttle bus for us”, said the lady. This time we were extremely clear with our request “where can we get the bus to Lilongwe and what is the cheapest way to get into town please?”.
“It’s a very long walk to the bus stop and it’s very dangerous, I wouldn’t recommend you try to get the bus. The safest and easiest way to get into town is by taxi”, she said.
We looked at each other and telepathically said, “nice to meet you taxi person 😑”. At $35 the taxi was going to be half a day’s budget. We still had accommodation and hopefully food to buy! With the thought of having to nibble on each other for some sustenance, we got our best poker faces on and prepared for negotiation.
We thought our best approach for getting a deal that meant we could have dinner was divide and conquer. We spotted a taxi driver that was away from the main group and opened conversation with him. “Do you need a taxi?”, said the driver. “Yes, how much?”, we asked like naïve people who cannot read a sign printed in bold black and white IN ENGLISH. “$35 dollars, let’s go”, replied the driver grabbing our bag to put into his car. “Wait, don’t take the bag as that’s too much for us”, we said.
“So, what is a price you’re happy to pay?”, said the driver. “You tell us the best price you can do?”, we said keeping our cards close to our chest. “You tell me your best price”, said the driver. “$15 is a good price for us”, we replied. “That’s isn’t happening, the best I can do is $30”, said the driver. “Meet us halfway and $25 is a good price for everyone!”. The driver looking quite bored by the negotiation battle, turned around and dragged over a colleague saying, “here you can beg to him!”.
Long story short, driver number two took us to our Airbnb in Lilongwe for $25, so don’t always believe ‘official’ signs!
We’ve become accustomed to locals waving a variety of edible treats in vehicle windows as we travel. So whilst there aren’t stops, there’s always the opportunity to pick up some food as you go, whilst your transport drops off or picks up passengers. What we saw here was a little different though. As soon as we were on the main road from the airport there were boys waving skewers with some sort of meat on them as we whizzed by. Getting closer we saw it was in fact whole mice, fur and all, stuffed on sticks to be sold for the equivalent of 20 pence as a tasty treat. Please don’t ask if we tried them.
Getting to Cape Maclear from Lilongwe
Cape Maclear (known locally as Chembe village) is a small fishing village on Lake Malawi. It has one dirt road leading into (and straight out of) town. Lonely Planet describes it as “a long stretch of power-fine sand bookended by mountains and lapped by dazzling water”.
Here is what Lonely Planet is too scared to tell you. Cape Maclear is a long stretch of beach lodges that mostly serve over-priced food. You can watch locals bathe and wash their pots and pans in the dazzling water, whilst you eat this over-priced food. Lodges provide extortionately priced tours to the nearby islands to see the cichlids, feed fish-eagles and snorkel. However, we don’t recommend any activity that has you coming into contact with the lake as despite what locals may tell you bilharzia is real.
The lake is beautiful to look at and we’ve been told by a few travellers that Cape Maclear is a party town, but we didn’t see anything close to a party. If you do want to try it for yourself the cheapest way to get there is by taking a bus from Lilongwe main bus terminal to Monkey Bay – this is a 4 to 5 hour journey and will cost 7,000MWK. From Monkey Bay there are two ways to reach Cape Maclear. You can take a motorcycle as there are many biker boys that offer their backseat for 1,500MWK or you can take the less occurring carpool (also 1,500MWK). The carpool service starts at 6:00am from Cape Maclear to Monkey Bay and finishes just before sunset going in the opposite direction.
Getting to Nkhata Bay from Cape Maclear
Thanks to the Lonely Planet selling us a dream, we were very excited about our onwards travel to Nkhata Bay. Nkhata Bay is 290 miles from Cape Maclear, so we were prepared for a full day of travelling. We left our dorm room at 5:30 trying our best to not disturb the other dorm guests (Quan’s first ever experience of this!) and looked for a carpool to Monkey Bay. We found one within 10-minutes of looking, however, the car drove around for another 30mins looking for other passengers (cars here usually don’t start a journey unless every seat is taken).
We arrived at Monkey Bay and our driver gave us a pitch. He said, “I own all these cars and if you pay me 10,000MWK (5,000MWK per person), I’ll make sure you get to Salima”. We did some calculations in our head and it was an okay deal. We were expecting to pay to 1,5000MWK from Cape Maclear to Monkey Bay and then 3,000MWK from Golomoti to Salima but in all honesty we didn’t know how we were getting from Monkey Bay to Golomoti or how much it should cost. Turns out he charged us:
Cape Maclear to Monkey Bay – 1,000MWK (for a carpool)
Monkey Bay to Golomoti – 1,000MWK (for a carpool)
Golomoti to Salima – 3,000MWK (for the bus)
We arrived at the Salima bus station to the usual chorus of conductors screaming locations, none of which were what we needed. We headed to what looked like an office and asked how we get to Nkhotakota, which was our checkpoint along the way. Before leaving Cape Maclear, we agreed with each other that we would find a suitable place to rest in Nkhotakota before attempting to make the remaining 122 miles to Nkhata Bay the next day.
We were told to wait for the ‘big’ bus that goes all the way to Mzuzu, stopping in Nkhotakota on the way. The bus is fast but not at all big due to the amount of people they squeeze on and costs 3,000MWK to get to Nkhotakota. We arrived at about 3pm, which still meant a couple of daylight hours left but the amount we’d travelled was plenty for us for one day.
The next morning, we got a carpool from Nkhotakota. We had wanted to take the bus because despite its size, it was fast and should mean we would only need to take one mode of transport. The only problem was no one could tell us with certainty at what time and how often it arrived. However, the driver of the carpool and many random local men assured us that this was just as fast, and the carpool was going all the way to Nkhata Bay. He quoted us 8,000MWK (4,000MWK per person). Just 35 miles later the carpool stopped in Dwangwa and says he’s not going any further and asked for 9,500MWK. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) we’ve been in this situation many times, so we stay calm and show our disappointment by repeating back to him “why did you lie to us?”, without handing over any cash until he provides a solution.
He then comes to an agreement with a bus driver who begrudgingly takes us for 5,000MWK. Meaning that the that the carpool driver pocketed 3,000MWK and our original quote of 8,000MWK stands.
We wait for what seems like an eternity for other passengers to join the bus before they’re happy to set off. Thankfully, we leave Dwangwa with a half-full minibus (extremely rare) stopping along the way to pick up passengers (one had a duck in each hand!) and supplies (e.g. a bucket full of fish and ice, which leaked all over Quan’s bag). Approximately three miles away from Nhkata Bay the minibus stops and we’re told that this is the end of our journey in the minibus, we need to go in the shared car they’ve arranged for us (flagged down whilst we were driving) and it has already been paid for (we’ve heard this before). We reluctantly go in the car and thankfully it takes us to the Nhkata Bay bus station without us having to pay additional money. Victory!
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