Photography Life

Our trip away from South Africa 2010 and the soccer world cup fever have brought us to Malawi where we have found highs and lows.

A tree stands among the houses in Chembe Village

I have not blogged for a while. I have been having too much fun in the crystal clear blue waters of Lake Malawi. As you drive into the village of Chembe on Cape Maclear in the South of the lake, there are all the scenes of the Africa you would expect. Poverty is clearly visible as you drive past young children sitting in the dirt, playing with sticks and sand. Goats roam free, nibbling on anything they can find. Driving on the sandy pathway amongst the densely built grass hut homes is a mission in itself, dodging chickens, street vendors and even a Boabab tree. The guidebooks hadn’t much described the village of Chembe, but somehow I pictured a western seaside village, manicured lawns with square city blocks and a bitumen road. It seemed like we had come to the wrong place. At this stage, we certainly were not expecting the tropical haven that we pulled into.

It is an extreme contrast. The resort style accommodation stretches along the beach, broken up with houses (huts really) and even fish drying platforms. The beachfront area of the resort is carefully and tastefully patrolled by local security and if locals linger too long while passing, they get a glare and a move-along from the hired muscle. Local people bathe and do washing in the shallow blue-green waters of the light brown, almost idyllic white sand as far as the eye can see, but beware if you ask to take a picture, it will cost you … “Money”.

People bathe and collect water from the lake at sunset

Tour operators and vendors hang around on the fringes of our property on the beach in a sort of gentleman’s agreement with the owners that they would not hassle patrons. Beware if you make eye contact though, they call out and try and coax you to their stall with promises of new items and different tours. Every time you approach, you get swamped, as the moment one person sees that you are near the ‘free-lance’ zone, others descend like seagulls to a hot chip to try and hawk their goods. The goods are of good quality though and very reasonably priced. It just depends how many times you would like to be asked to buy bracelets, or paintings or earrings or key chains.

a man with dried fish

Even leaving the accommodation for a stroll along the dusty pathways of Chembe leaves you feeling really guilty. The scenery is absolutely amazing. This is Africa, there are children and adults seemingly wandering aimlessly everywhere. The word “Hallo” is usually followed by “Give me money”, from children as young as 2 and 3 years old. It is hard to imagine where they have learnt this phrase, as they do not seem to know any other English.

I am sure that foreign tourists have come here for years and have taken lots but left little, Malawians have obviously realised that the balance was not quite fair, and this has also now had a negative influence on this small community. It has created a whole us-and-them feeling. Tourists rather stay inside the resort area for fear of being swamped by traders. You do not want to approach local Malawians for fear of being asked for money from these predominantly friendly, helpful people.

Children play and swim in the lake

If you look past this, work with them and give a little back, life becomes a lot less stressful, then you can also get to the other reason for being here - The Lake. There is still a LOT of fun to be had!

Cheers

Morne de Klerk