Heading into Malawi, I knew I wanted to hit Likomo Island. I hadn’t actually met anyone who had made it there due to complicated ferry schedules, but I was determined to make it work. With one ferry heading north once a week and another south on Lake Malawi, I wanted to come from the south, hit Likoma for a few days, then take the ferry north to Nkhata Bay, which I had been recommended as well. 

To do this, coming from Mulanje, I basically had one day to get from the very south of the country, to over halfway up it, to make the ferry to Likoma. Unfortunately, in Malawi, there are very few real buses, just overcrowded minibuses that leave when they’re full, so I arranged for a moto taxi to take me to Mulanje town at 7am. By 7:30am I was on my first minibus to Blantyre, which left fairly promptly and about 2 hours later I made it to Blantyre. From there, I was told to get on another minibus that would take me to a bus station of sorts from where I could catch a direct minibus to Nkhatakata, where the ferry left from the following morning. Eventually, this minibus left, and I found the right one to Nkhatakata, which left after 2 hours.

I was really hoping to make it to Nkhatakata in the daylight, but I missed this by about 2 hours. Finally, with a bruised butt and in considerable pain from 12 hours on minibuses, I arrived in the town around 7:30pm. I grabbed a mototaxi that proceeded to break down 3 times in the 2 km run to the guesthouse, but I made it. When I arrived the receptionist tried to convince me to stay in the dorm for double the price of camping, due to apparently strong winds (that never materialized), and that I could get breakfast at 6:30am before the ferry. At 12:45am, I was woken up by the guards saying that the ferry had arrived and I needed to hurry and pack up. 

Happy I hadn’t paid for the dorm or breakfast, but I was also seriously confused and ridiculously tired, so I followed the guard down to the water, where we hitched up our pants and waded into the water, where I was shepherded onto a little boat that I paid way too much for (being 1am and not having the strength to argue- I regret that now), to be transferred 5 minutes later to another small boat (I theoretically could have avoided this first boat altogether, but would have had to be willing to get wet to my chest, which wouldn’t work due to carrying my backpack and I was not practiced as the locals were of putting things on their head), and finally being pushed onto a ladder to the ferry, where I managed to stay upright with my heavy bag on my back, and upstairs into the comfort of first class. 

First class, of course, was really just an uncrowded open top deck, but it was safe and I unrolled my thermorest mattress for the second time that night, got out my sleeping bag and managed another couple of hours of sleep before the sun camp up at 5am. Thank god for my camping gear.

I had skipped dinner the night before, and lunch really, as I was on minibuses all day, so I was the first in the saloon for breakfast on the ferry. Which turned out to actually be pretty decent and reasonably priced. There I shared a table with a couple from Israel, who were also heading to Likomo but had got on at Monkey Bay at 8am the day before, where apparently there is a dock. Good to know. But they also had spent about 26 hours on the ferry, so were very happy when we pulled into Likomo.

Of course, Likomo also did not have a dock, so we waited for the chaos of boats vying for paying passengers and all their cargo to unload. And waited. Eventually, after about an hour, we were desperate to get off the ship. One failed attempt later, we were told to find a Malawi guy who spoke great English and helped us onto his boat, for which we paid the local price of about $0.50 or 200 kwachas. Finally, we piled into the back of a pickup truck with a couple of others and arrived at Mango Drift, where I set up camp, ordered some food and went for a much needed swim. After Cape Mclear, I was finally back at Lake Malawi.

I spent the next 4 days (the ferry to Nkhata Bay was in 4 days) camping, swimming, paddleboarding, snorkelling (the marine life is incredible for a lake and quite colourful), hiking into town, and of course, reading. I also had fun cooking with the other campers and backpackers, including one meal where some people sourced local fish for lunch, only to find out that was the set dinner, so we had a fishy day. But it was good! And bracing myself for the ferry back. Luckily, it was scheduled to leave at the reasonable hour of 8am and would not be overnight. Fingers crossed.