'A short distance from the entrance there was an abundance of wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, waterbucks and many more'

'A short distance from the entrance there was an abundance of wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, waterbucks and many more'

Frank remembers travelling around Malawi.

Frank Gaynor

Trinity College Dublin

1970

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Frank Gaynor

Marriage and Family

Life Story

Malawi, Africa

1970's

We lived in Malawi from 1969 to 1975 and have fond memories of those years. We both enjoyed our work at the school. During school holidays we travelled considerable distances both inside and outside Malawi. For our first Christmas dinner in Malawi we went to the Shire Highlands Hotel in Limbe - a colonial - style building with gardens and mature trees. Around 1910 the Shire Highlands Railways Company established its headquarters in Limbe and the Imperial Tobacco Group established a packaging and tobacco grading factory nearby. The hotel had its heyday in the years following these developments. Most of those present for dinner that day were retired white couples. One couple kindly volunteered to entertain Lynda and leave us free to enjoy our meal.After Christmas we went to the lake shore at Salima for a couple of days. Getting there was much more of a challenge than we had anticipated. Most of the road between Zomba and Lilongwe, a distance of 300km, was under construction. There was extensive earth moving and rock blasting, and diversions were barely adequate. Our Austin 1100 car struggled to negotiate a way around the mounds of earth and rock and through the muddy patches made worse by the recent rains. Our first puncture delayed us about ten minutes; the second puncture delayed us more than two hours. A new tube was required, there was no service station nearby and we were ill - prepared for roadside repairs. A couple of local young men came to our assistance; one raced off and returned with a tube, while another got his hands on an iron bar which he used for loosening the tyre. As he came down with heavy blows on the tyre, and sometimes on the rim, we closed our eyes and hoped that we would not need a new wheel. Some time later we were on our way.At Dedza, close to the Mozambique border, we stopped for a delicious Portuguese prego sandwich. When we finally reached Grand Beach Hotel in Salima we were satisfied that the journey had been well worthwhile. We were booked into rondavel style accommodation. Our rondavel was just a few paces from the sandy lake shore. The accommodation, the food, and the service were excellent and beautiful Lake Malawi looked majestic and inviting - a huge mass of clear warm water, 80km wide and over 500km long. Everything was in place for a very enjoyable holiday. The following morning I spent a couple of hours fishing, unsuccessfully, off some rocks. I had taken precautions to avoid sunburn but forgot about the uppers of my feet. By the next afternoon I had two badly swollen feet. Monica got impatient with me hobbling around and soon we were packed up and on our way back to Mulanje.When the Easter school holidays came around we collected our two modest cheques for the month and headed for Salisbury (now Harare). Our journey by car took us through Mozambique (then known as Portuguese East Africa), across the Zambezi river at Tete, and on into Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). At that time there was no bridge over the Zambezi at Tete. We had expected to find a decent ferry; what we found was a raft pulled by a small motorboat. As we waited our turn at the bank of the river we watched the motorboat coming towards us pulling the raft with about a dozen vehicles on board. Then, to our amazement, we noticed that the boat and the raft had parted company. The steel rope connecting them had snapped and the raft went drifting downstream. The boat soon got busy as it rushed off to reconnect with the raft. After a struggle the boat finally got the raft and its cargo safely to the bank of the river. No proper landing area had been constructed. The vehicles drove off at a point where the bank of the river seemed to have collapsed. We were somewhat apprehensive as we drove our car on to the raft. We need not have worried as the boat pulled us smoothly across and we landed safely on the other side of the river.Tete is hot, lazy, poverty stricken and neglected looking. It somehow becomes a more likeable place the longer you hang around. It was here, halfway between Malawi and Rhodesia, that the Portuguese checked passports and issued visas. The visa office had a most inconvenient habit of going for a long siesta from 11am to 2pm every day. To be at the office before 11am required an early start from Mulanje. To be sure of reaching the Rhodesian border before it closed at 6pm it was necessary to be out of Tete by 3pm. We joined the line waiting for the office to open at 2pm. When the officer on duty arrived on time we had high hopes of getting away quickly. As I observed his ponderously slow movements I began to suspect that we might have a problem. He slowly rolled up the long sleeves of his shirt, counted the number of sheets of carbon paper he had a couple of times, went off in search of more paper and recounted what he had when re returned. It was heading for 3pm before he engaged with his first customer. We booked into the one - star hotel in Tete for the night. It was not a pampering experience, but it was clean and friendly. Even the scrawny dog that wandered among the dining tables was friendly in his own way. The following day we drove to Salisbury. As we checked into the Courtney Hotel, an excellent 3 - star hotel, we heard for the first time Dana's Eurovision winning number 'All kinds of everything'. The part of Salisbury where we were staying was low - density, clean and prosperous looking. When we visited Barrowdale Racecourse we were given complementary tickets to the Grand Stand because we were visitors from Malawi. As we were walking near a small park in central Salisbury a group of black men crossed our path carrying planks of timber. An elderly white lady nearby remarked: 'the rudeness of them; wouldn't you think they would stop when they saw you coming'. On Saturday evening we drove the short distance to Lake McElwaine where members of the white community were relaxing and enjoying themselves with an impressive collection of boats and water sports equipment. The weather was just perfect; the April mornings and evenings were cool and the mid - days were hot and sunny. It was easy to see why people with choices would want to live there. After a couple of days we headed for Victoria Falls, stopping off in Bulawayo and Wankie game reserve along the way. In a supermarket in Bulawayo we noticed that all the floor assistants were black, and all those handling cash at the check - out points were grey - haired white women. Most of the road from Bulawayo to Victoria consisted of two strips of tarmac, somewhat resembling a railway track. This worked best when there were few vehicles coming in the opposite direction. It was evening time when we reached the game reserve. A short distance from the entrance there was an abundance of wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, waterbucks and many more. We were feeling tired and moved on quickly to our campsite for the night. We were up early anticipating an exciting day of game viewing. That day we drove through the reserve for five hours and all we saw was one warthog. Disappointed and exhausted we checked into a campsite near Victoria Falls. As we settled down for the night we heard familiar voices in the tent beside us. We were spending the night beside two Peace Corps volunteers who were our next door neighbours in Mulanje - so much for 'getting away from it all'. Victoria Falls is a collection of small water falls over a width of 1km or more. As the water falls into a deep ravine it creates spay and mist that repeatedly rises and falls. As the mist rises it hides the various falls from view, but not all at the same time, and not all for the same length of time. The result is that watching the falls is a fascinating experience, especially with camera in hand, waiting for the best shot.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)