Reflections on Nkhata Bay and Meeting Bruce Cowley
Good day on this April 18th. I need to say a few more things about yesterday. The walk I took in Nkhata Bay was after dark, and there was really no electricity, so it was kind of a spooky walk. But still, I feel pretty good about doing those things.
When I got back after dinner, I ended up meeting Bruce Cowley. He’s the one that came in riding on the 1250 BMW yellow motorbike, and we ended up talking for quite a long time. He’s about four years younger than I am, and he had taken that bike all the way up to Dar es Salaam. He started in Rhodes, South Africa, which is at the bottom of the Drakensberg Mountains — a little town not on any major highway that actually gets snow every year. That’s an interesting thing — snow in South Africa.
He had basically left the town and did not want to go back there to live. We talked about relationships and what have you. He had gone to Zanzibar for a family reunion and had mostly ridden his bike there, which he had only gotten recently. He made it to Dar es Salaam with the bike, then to Zanzibar, did the family thing, and now was on his way back to Durban or nearby, where his daughter lives.
We had some very interesting conversations. He spent a lot of time in Zimbabwe and knows a lot about plants — he’s an expert in propagation. That was a lot of fun.
The Journey to Kande Beach Resort
On this 18th of April, I was going to make my way to Kande Beach Resort, which in my mind has been my end destination. The owner, Dave Burton, was an overland driver as well. I was under the impression that he worked for Encounter Overland at one point, but he had not. He basically did his own thing — with maybe one or two friends, he bought a truck or trucks and did that five times, driving to Kenya or further through the Sahara Desert, doing his own advertising, getting people, and maybe selling the trucks when he got to Kenya.
That’s a lot of experience right there. But not just that — he also did about 30 overland tours from Nairobi going east to Victoria Falls and other destinations, mostly for the game parks. Then in 1993 he started Kande Beach Resort. But more about that later.
It was only 60 kilometers, but I wanted to take in this area step by step. I went on my way from Nkhata Bay and got to Kande Beach. My location system told me to turn off sooner, but that didn’t seem right. I actually passed the town and checked out some other routes according to systems like my Garmin, but those weren’t right either.
Back to the town — there’s a huge sign with Kande Beach, but it doesn’t say “”resort”” on it from what I recall. I could have taken a turn off there for the quickest way, but I took another route which turned out a little challenging. I was able to do it without four-wheel drive, but it was really, really close. After asking for directions a few times, I eventually made it.
Arriving at Kande Beach Resort
The whole place is walled off except on the Lake Malawi side. It was quite a moment to get to this place after all this time, having started September 26th. It felt really, really amazing — a really good place to arrive at.
I was able to get a cabin with a bathroom instead of the A-frames at the water where you’d have to use a common bathroom. It felt good to have all the conveniences as I get close to wrap-up mode.
Meeting Dave Burton
After an hour or two of hanging out, I got to meet Dave Burton — very enthusiastic. He’s had the place up for sale for the last 8 years, but it sounds more like a casual “”maybe somebody will come and buy it”” kind of thing. He’s asked for probably a million dollars at some point, but now he’s down to $450,000 American dollars, since the Malawi currency doesn’t get you very far.
I’ve been exploring what he has there, and there’s a lot to say about it, but it’s a fun, fun place to hang out.
The G Adventures Overland Bus Arrives
After dark, an overland bus arrived — not a truck, a bus. This was G Adventures, one of quite a few companies that come by and spend two nights at the resort. People mostly sleep in tents, but space allowing, they may upgrade to an A-frame or something along those lines.
Those tours are very similar to what Encounter Overland used to do in the old days — what I did — with the difference being that I was by myself with 20 people and everybody pitched in for cooking, washing dishes, loading the trailer, and all that. Not this one. They have their driver, their tour guide, and I’m pretty sure they have a chef as well. That takes care of most things, though people pitch in because what else would you do? There are stations for each bus or truck, and they’re very well equipped.
It was really fun to run into that group. Very well then, thank you for coming along. We’ll see you tomorrow.
