The Ilala Ferry

Before I write my "Goodbye Malawi" post I wanted to catch up on blogging about some crazy experiences that we had that I didn't get a chance to share with you. So now that I have some time (relaxing on the beach in Zanzibar!), I wanted to post them.

So as previous blog posts have mentioned, traveling in Malawi hasn't always been the easiest (or the safest) but it's always an experience- and taking the Ilala Ferry down Lake Malawi was definitely one of the most interesting ones we had. To start, the Ilala Ferry is the only long distance transport that goes up and down Lake Malawi. It connects northern Malawi (bordering Tanzania), the eastern part of Mozambique, ending up in southern Malawi at Monkey Bay with about 11 stops in between.

The Ilala Ferry- Photo by Sosten Chiotha (my boss at LEAD)

The route of the Ilala- we boarded at Metangula

This ferry has been in operation since 1951 (no real upgrades or renovations since!), is 172 ft long and can accommodate 365 passengers (although i'm sure it's been over that...) The ferry has 3 classes, 1st class (which is the upper deck), cabin class (about 6 sleeper cabins), 2nd class and 3rd. Although 1st class is more expensive we were told that this is the only way to travel since 2nd and 3rd is very crowded, dirty and filled with people transporting goods (ie. chickens, maize etc.)

Waiting for the ferry with Malawians and their cargo.
This man had a duck under the net which he was
feeding termites. Josh was helping..

Bananas!

It is not easy to book tickets beforehand (type in 'Ilala Ferry' into google and it's littered with people wondering where do you book tickets??), so the cabins are usually all full (which we found in our case as well) but again we were told that you could just sleep on the top deck under the stars and this would be just as good.  But what we forgot was that we were taking this during rainy season.. open top deck is not so good in the pouring rain...

Safety boats that hang off the side.. hmmm

 So this was the last leg of our Christmas in Mozambique trip, and if you recall previous posts, josh and i had a heck of a time with the transport options- so we thought ok, take a boat back into Malawi and that would beat the back of a pick up truck for 20 hours!  Well this wasn't as easy as we thought. The ferry is wellknown to be late, but wow, they weren't kidding.  We were meant to catch the ferry at 12 noon from Metangula (in Mozambique) and arrive in Monkey Bay at 10am the next day.   Our ferry was 10 hours late so we ended up getting on the ferry at 10pm.


Now what we didn't know is that at this stop there was no dock.  I don't know why I found this surprising... but at this point in our travels I was exhausted and just craving some 'normalcy' which for me meant a dock on which to board the ferry on.  But, c'est la vie, when you're in africa you just gotta go with it.  So here we were, 10pm, in the dark, standing on the sand with about 100 or so others waiting to board- it was chaotic with people hauling jerrycans of gasoline and luggage to the shore while waiting to get into these small boats, which would then take you out to the bigger ferry, which then you had to climb up the side of the ferry to get in. No joke. We knew it wasn't going to be good when josh was warned by another local to take his pants off or hike them up, because we would be wading into the water to get into these small boats while carrying our luggage overhead.  I almost had a fit! Two rickety motarboats were shuttling people/goods back and forth and our strategy was to just watch the first one to see how it's done.. the local Malawian that we made friends with while waiting for the ferry told us to get on the 3rd one, because apparently everyone rushes to the first one and the last ones are just for goods (unfortunately I did not take any photos at this time.. but we got some the next day of other boats coming in, but still doesn't do it justice!)

Coming to the ferry from the shore

 

People being shuttled to the ferry from the nearby shore

Getting ready to climb up the side of the ferry

 So we actually ended up getting on the 4th one.. with all the jerrycans of gasoline.. why? well all the others were waaay too over-crowded and we thought we might sink in that little boat- plus i had to muster up the courage to walk waist deep in the murky water trying not get my shirt or laptop wet!  So here we were sitting in this tiny motarboat surrounded by 20 or so cans of gasoline (sound safe?) making our way through the waves to the ferry. Somehow we made it without capsizing and we crawled up the side of the ferry and were immediately whisked up to the top deck.
Phew! we had made it..  just barely.

Top deck of the ferry

One deck down where the Sleeper cabins were located

The bar in the back

On this top deck was a bar, surrounded by all the other expats (who had been on this boat for already 24 hours or so-- drinking away their pain).. but in the rainy season there was only a handful of us. Our next task was to figure out where we were going to sleep. Since the sleeper cabins were full we were just planning to sleep on the top deck under the stars, but bam, the rain started just then, and as we tried to take refuge under this tiny bar (the only covered place) we both got pretty soaked.... So that option was out. Luckily, or unluckily, they offered us the chance to sleep in the 'restaurant' for the night. Now this was the point that almost set josh off, this room was muggy and the cockroaches were everywhere.. literally everywhere.. but at least it was dry! So our strategy was so pull some chairs together and try to sleep.. blocking out the thought of cockroaches climbing up our legs..

Sleeping on my yoga mat.. thankful I brought that!

By the time 6am came (not sure if either of us slept at all) they shooed us out so they could set up the restaurant.. gross.. this is where we would be eating too??  But luckily they managed to get most of the cockroaches out and when we returned for breakfast it didn't look as bad.. But the bathroom, don't even get me started on that cesspool. So this was 1st class eh? I couldn't even imagine 2nd or 3rd and the conditions people were in..  just blew my mind. Welcome to Africa.  

We spent the next 16 hours up on the top deck.. trying to sleep more or just read/play suduko and willing the boat to go a little faster. Every stop took about an hour or 2 to load and unload people/goods via these small motorboats.

Soot.. mmm. it got everywhere..

Attempting to sleep but then the soot came..

Life jacket anyone? I think they were 'airing' them out..

Josh and Suduko.. poor guy, looking a bit rough..

We arrived in Monkey Bay 24 hours later at 10pm.. slightly unfortunate for us because we needed to spend the night before heading back to Zomba, and the place we were going to stay at ended up being closed.  Just our luck right?

Ilala at night getting into Monkey Bay. But look a dock!

We were a bit stranded, but after some negotiation we hired a "taxi" (a pickup truck, with a cracked windshield, and of course it was pissing rain!) for a ridiculous amount of money which took us to a nearby town to a nicer hotel (it had to make multiple stops along the way though to try and find petrol!!). By this time it was 1130pm and when we finally arrived were pretty delirious (thankful that we were alive) and i don't think i've even been so happy to see a hotel in my life.

So I could see that in the dry season, if you were to sleep on the top deck, board the ferry in the day or with a dock, the experience might not be that traumatizing, but it was for us and this was one of those experiences for me where in your head you are just screaming "are you serious????".  But thank God we never broke done, and the sunset was truly amazing. 

Amazing sky..

Am I glad we did this? Yes, but I would never need to do it again.  But it was a true experience. And there is so much potential here.. the potential to have another boat, for a safer/efficient ferry, not only as something for tourists but for the locals to be able to move their goods back and forth more frequently.  I do hope the government wakes up and realizes this soon..