Reflections on Travelling Lake Malawi in a boat made in Scotland

Hearing the article on the BBC  reminded me of my own experiences of the MV Ilala, when my late wife and I also boarded her in Monkey Bay for an unforgettable voyage to the northern lakeshore.

It was 1970. My BMW R50 motorcycle (1960 model), my dear late wife, two rucksacks and a spare tyre, were loaded by block and tackle onto the front hold cover on the bows of the boat.

Rosemarie and I were down below in second class, as described by the journalist, but it was early in the year and heavy winds from the South East were blowing ferociously.

We shared the cramped accommodation with hordes of people who used the ship as their sole method of transport around remoter parts of the Lake. Their meagre possessions included more than one goat, and countless bales of pungent dried Usipa fish. “Seasickness“ helped to make the one toilet / bathroom a forgettable experience. We travelled the three and a half days to the other end of the lake via Likoma Island. Here we had time to visit the wonderful Cathedral created in 1903 at the Anglican Mission founded by Archdeacon Chauncy Maples in the 1860’s.

At a place called Chiweta the bike and us were lowered onto a platform made of planks across two of the lifeboats as described in the article. We were motored gingerly ashore to the bemusement of hundreds of villagers who had never seen a motorcycle that didn’t have a chain (BMWs are driven like a car, by a shaft).

From there we continued by road to Dar Es Salaam and then onwards to Nairobi where my folks were living and then on to the Ethiopian border then back to Nairobi. We were robbed on our first night in Tanzania losing our camera, crash helmets and shoes