Day 12, Leaving Las Lilongwe

Our last day in Lilongwe was a bit more hurried than expected. We spent the morning making our final arrangements: delivering any leftover supplies to the storeroom of KCH’s dental clinic, paying for our meals and lodging at the guest house, and gathering our belongings for our trip to Johannesburg. Joyce spent most of the morning with us, and our preceptors and faculty from the preceding weeks popped in to wish us safe travel. The Malawians are a model of friendly people. They were uniformly warm and giving, and our enjoyment of the trip was largely due to their uncompromising sense of hospitality.

The bus picked us up at noon, and we needed to make one more run through the curio market on the way out of town. A few items we’d had personalized were being completed, and we couldn’t leave without them. Lilongwe traffic did its best to make us miss our plane, but our driver prevailed.

The Kamuzu International Airport is different than any other airport I’ve visited. Each carry-on bag is hand searched, and each traveler is subject to patting down. Thankfully, none of us attempted to smuggle out any suspicious cargo. The plane ride itself was delightfully uneventful. I had a chance to finish my second book, A Clockwork Orange. I’ve never seen Kubricks’ film version and came into the read with limited knowledge. I found the book compelling, particularly the last chapter (which, according to the author, Kubrick left out of his film). I won’t spoil it, but it certainly provides a very different finish than it would if it were omitted.

We arrived in Johannesburg around 5:30 PM and quickly passed through “customs” (read as “a long hallway”). The Airport Game Lodge, where we spent tonight and where we’ll stay after the safari, has a free airport shuttle. It’s a bit secluded, so we had to have dinner delivered. We ended up eating dinner at 9:30. Better than Malawi, but still grossly unhealthy fast food. We were told to avoid salads at the start of our travel, and I am starving for one of Pepper’s salads, piled high with some fresh mozz.

For the first time since our travel began, we all stayed in. Without the clubbing to keep us up, we clambered into bed. Our safari ride would begin around 7:15 the next morning. No pictures today – my camera didn’t get much work as I shuffled around.