Nkhata Bay

By Elise.

Nkhata bay is a lakeside town in the middle of Malawi, small enough that everything is within walking distance, but big enough to keep us exploring for a while. We only intended to stay a few days here but we enjoyed the lifestyle so much we ended up staying a week, and I'm sure we will return. 

After an overnight bus from Zomba, we caught a taxi to Butterfly Space Hostel. It is located on the outskirts of town, on a steep incline with buildings scattered across the hillside. It’s a steep trek up and down stone stairs to get anywhere, and our legs are tired by the end of the week. The toilets are all compost, with outdoor showers overlooking the bay. There garden is full of figs, bananas, mangoes, and sausage trees. Vervet monkeys climb around the trees in the mornings. There are vegetables growing near the lake. The bar is located on a deck at the waters edge, with a small rocky beach for access to the lake. Nowhere near the sandy beaches of Monkey Bay, as the rocks are either jagged or slippery, and don't make for the most enjoyable beach experience. However, the view from the bar is incredible, especially when the hills that rise from the lake are silhouetted by the red and orange haze of sunset.

Most of our days in Nkhata Bay are spent walking into to town, drinking tea at a local Rastafarian cafe or relaxing at the hostel. We both get some clothes made by a tailer named Buela, and buy a few too many clothes, which makes it difficult to pack our bags when we leave. One of the dogs from the hostel, named Thor, takes a liking to us and usually joins us for our walks into town. We thought this made us special, but he's known throughout Malawi as being a friend to all. The hostel has happy hour every afternoon, as well as various other entertainment every night to keep us occupied. The night of the pub quiz we joined a team with two very drunk New Zealanders with limited attention spans and a local young man named Daniel (whose answer to everything is South Africa), and subsequently our team came last in the quiz. On Sundays there are big parties at the local beach, with a stage for live music and karaoke, a couple of bars and people selling fish cooked fresh on a BBQ. At the beach party one of the hostel owners daughters' teach us how to dance like a Malawian, and her advice to me was, "try and be less white". We joined up with others from the hostel and proceeded to have a rather rowdy night, which ended with me falling down a hill and getting stuck in a ditch (always falling over). 

The compost loo is located at the top of a small rise. There is a large open window overlooking the water. There is a mirror placed on the back of the door and when the door is open the mirror reflects over the surrounding fig and mango trees. The first few weeks a small blue bird noticed the mirror and would spend its days fluttering in front of it, admiring its own beauty. As you sat of the loo the bird would fly in and out, fluttering away at its reflection. Another day as I was walking up I saw a medium sized vervet monkey too admiring itself in the mirror. As I approached the monkey was spooked and ran through the tire window to the roof. As I sat on the loo the monkey and a little friend kept peering at me from the tire window, and the roof, checking to see if I was gone so they could get back to that curious fellow in the mirror. 

Nkhata bay is the kind of town we have been looking for this whole trip. The locals are very friendly, the staff at the hostel are great fun, all with views of the beautiful blue lake. It has a great sense of community that draws everyone together. We made some great friends here and reunited with a group of them later on in Livingstonia. Wish that we had more time to spend here but there is so much of Malawi still to see.