My two friends and I went to Monkey bay for a weekend and it was beautiful!
They travelled from Lilongwe and I travelled from Limbe, Blantyre. Their trip was about 3 and a half hours long (through Khwekhwelere road), and mine was about 5 and a half hours long because…public transport unpredictable happenings. It should normally take about 4 hours or 4 and a half hours via public transport from Limbe all the way to Monkey bay but on this particular day things happened differently.
When you board the minibus from Limbe and tell them you’re going to Monkeybay they tell you the fare (this time it was MK 10,000) and you get on. When you get to Mangochi they transfer you into a Sienta (small cars that operate between Mangochi and Monkey bay) and it takes you to Monkey bay.
(I later thought it would be a good idea to just negotiate for Mangochi in Limbe and then negotiate for Monkey bay from Mangochi myself instead of paying the full Monkey bay fare from Limbe. I think I could save about a thousand Kwacha, or maybe more, this way.) Lesson number one.
So I spent a lot of time waiting in Monkey bay especially after being transferred into the Sienta because
(i) it ran out of fuel and the person who was driving had to leave us somewhere almost in the middle of a road and go and buy fuel - without telling the passengers anything - So we sat there waiting indefinitely, watching other vehicles try and make their way past us because he kinda blocked traffic and it was in a busy'ish market place…drama I tell you.
(ii) the driver was still looking for more passengers to fill it up. And I mean FILL IT UP. Those Sientas are packed with people and goods to the brim! I could not believe it. I mean I’d seen it before but I was always in another vehicle watching from a distance. Well this time I was in the action and I will tell you it was trying. I had an inner conversation with myself where I said “he/she who uses public transport truly must endow themselves with patience, and humility", because you are going to be TESTED! By God’s grace I was calm. Lesson number two.
What made the ride from Mangochi to Monkey bay bearable was the fact that I took the front seat, and even though occasionally a passenger would be fixed up between the driver and me it was still better than what was happening in the middle seats- there were two heavy women sitting in the middle row and two more people still had to be packed in that row by all means. At some point a man literally had to stand squeezed between the next passenger and the door, and he still paid the expected fare...blows my mind. So go for the passenger's seat when travelling from Mangochi to Monkey bay and back as well. Lesson number three.
After a long ride (we stopped a lot along the way) I finally arrived in Monkey bay and met up with my friends, who had been waiting for about 2 hours...
Monkeybay Beach Lodge is run by a South African white man who was pleasant and nice right from the phone calls to when we met and stayed at his Lodge. That nice customer service always makes a difference for me.
The Lodge has about three rooms in the main building, a separate chalet-like building close to the entrance of the place, and two tents with two single beds in each tent on the other side of the grounds. It's all laid out in a way that the guests can pretty much have their privacy (maybe except for those inside the main buildings because it's essentially a house with the rooms kinda close to each other). There's a single room, a family room and another room which I don't remember the size of. At first we were going to book the Family room but we happened to be having our weekend getaway on a busy weekend where there was an ICAM Conference that had most Lakeside Lodges fully booked and it turned out that this room was already booked. So we had to go for the tents, which I was super excited for because I've always wanted to go camping and sleep in a tent somewhere out in the woods- a total dare because I think it's fairly scary. One day. So this was something of an introduction to tent sleeping for me and I loved it, absolutely LOVED it!
Of course these tents were way comfier than a regular camper's tent so don't worry, I am aware.
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Breakdown of costs:
Accomodation: MK 45,000 per night for both tents (he charged us the same as we would have paid if we had been booked into the family room). We stayed for two nights so total cost was MK 90,000. Split between us it was MK 90,000/3 = MK 30,000 each.
Transport from Limbe to Monkeybay: MK 10,000 + MK 200 (from Monkeybay depot to the Lodge) = MK 10,200
Transport from Lilongwe to Monkeybay: MK 10,000 + Mk 500 (From Mtakataka turnoff to Monkeybay) = MK 10,500
Lunch on Friday (Day 1): MK 0 (We ate packed lunch from home)
Dinner for 3 on Friday: About MK 5,000 at a restaurant by the road. We ordered two plates of the same thing and shared. It was more than enough for us.
Breakfast: Included in our accomodation. It's a bed and breakfast.
Boat ride: MK 1,000 one way so MK 2,000 total - Charged per trip not per person.
Lunch on Saturday (Day 2): That breakfast was pretty filling so we were doing Ok by lunch hour and we just ate the snacks we had on hand.
Dinner for 3 on Saturday: Fish fresh from the Lake - about MK 500 or a bit more, I don't quite remember, 4 pieces of Nsima at MK 100 each = MK 400. Total meal cost - MK 900 or MK 1,000 to be on the safe side.
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| The young man who works at the Lodge took us here and roasted the fish for us at no cost. |
Transport from Monkeybay to Mangochi: MK 2,300 each (negotiated from MK 2,500)
Transport from Mangochi to Limbe: MK 6,500
So in total I can say MK 60,000 per person would probably be enough to cover all expenses from Limbe to Monkeybay and back to Limbe again- depending on the kind of activities you do and how frugal you get as well. It is also always wise to have some extra money ready for contingency.
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Fish Shopping:
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| Chambo/Tilapia |
What brought us to where we had our dinner was the fish shopping Maness needed to do. I know it is generally expected that when you travel to Mangochi you should come back home with fish- it only makes sense... So Maness fulfilled that general expectation, and at the end of the escapade Naomi and I also ended up buying a little bit of fish. No regrets whatsoever. Actually, eating fresh fish from the lake with the scales on and without any soup whatsover to go with it made me appreciate fish a lot more. The delicious aroma of it, the taste, it made me fall in love with fish! So now even though it's a bit involving to prepare fresh fish for cooking and even though cooking it can also be a whole process I feel that I don't mind it as much as I did before. Travel for cooking inspiration right? Definitely two thumbs up.
Maness managed to find 2 Chambos at MK 2,000 for both (which could have been cheaper without a middleman, but probably also difficult to find because there seems to be a little "network" where fishermen already know who they're going to sell to etc etc). It was an interesting experience where we witnessed a whole lot of women waiting by the beach for fish to arrive so they could buy and resale - businesswomen essentially.
On Sunday morning we all travelled to Blantyre.
THE END.
Cheers!
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Cheers!
