D&D in Africa

Malawi 1: Bordercrossing nightmare and a good helping of african bureaucracy

September 23, 2008

   

Getting to the next country of our trip proved to be quite a challenge. It started with the hell road between Mfue and Chiapata to get from South Luangwa to the border. I had a bit of an upset stomach and the bumpy ride did not aid my wellbeing. At least I knew what to expect and Dinu was nice enough to take over my part driving. Shortly after Chiapata we reached the border and exited Zambia without problems. We moved over to the malawian border offices and handed our passports to the immigration official behind the counter. He quickly flicked through the pages and handed it back to us whith the question: ‘Where is the visa for Malawi?’ We answered that we were informed that we could buy it at the border and that we would like to do just that. Without comment he pointed to a faded and torn notice hanging on the window of the counter. In short it said that no more visas would be issued at borderposts… ‘Great…’ He informed us that we would have to go to the ‘nearest’ embassy to apply for a visa there, but near meant almost 600km away in Lusaka. I honestly thought we were screwed, but after overcoming the fist shock of the prospect of going back to Lusaka we put our money on the fact that you can always talk about anything in Africa. We begged for some kind of an exeption, a provisional visa or something, just anything to get us in the country and avoid having to drive back to Lusaka (which would have included another 300$ pricetag for entering Zambia…). The official was hesitant, called us to the back into the office and said he needed to consult with his fellow officer. At that point we were getting quite certain that we could do some dealings here. After a lot of talking, apologizing and arguing for our case we managed to score a temporary entry permit under the condition that we would get a proper visa in Lilongwe the next day. At least we were allowed to enter the country and wouldn’t have to drive back to Lusaka! Dinu completed the Customs procedure to get a temporary import permit for the car and off we went. As in Zambia one has to purchase a third party liability insurance in Malawi. Not that anyone could ever make any claims for it, but you have to have it anyway. We read in our guidebook that the premiums were much lower when the insurance was bought in the main centers instead of at the border. So it came that we drove by the shacks of the insurance agents waiting just after the border and headed toward Lilongwe. But of course it cannot be that simple… A few kms inland we were stopped at a police checkpoint. The officer, of course, asked for our insurance. We showed him the third party insurance we had got in ZA, which is also valid for Malawi, and said that we would get the Malawian insurance in Lilongwe. That did not satisfy him: ‘It is an ofence to drive without insurance in Malawi. Your car is impounded and you are under arrest.’… Great… We tried to play nice, apologized and offered to just drive back and get the insurance, surely then there would not be a problem. Not so in his view… He wanted to ‘escort’ us to the insurance agents and said that the offence of driving without insurance would not go away. We returned to the insurance shacks where an eager broker was already waiting with a sly smile on his face. I would not be surprised if he called us in to the police… We got the insurance, offloaded 7000 Kwatcha and drove off again. We hoped that we could now talk our way out of being arrested. Not a chance, the guy was relentless and his sarcastic cheerfulness drove me nuts. I asked what the fine would be that the court, of which he constantly talked, would dish out. I tried to get an estimate of what a ‘spot fine’ (read bribe) could be. He seemed receptable to my offer to pay the ‘fine’ directly to him and we settled on 35$ if the matter would be resolved. Welcome to Malawi, having been arrested for the first time in my life and nearly loosing our car to some underpaid but overconfident police officer.

Martin’s new ‘Casino’ Watch

Nice furniture, but unfortunately too big and heavy for us to take home

I kinda had enough for the day and was happy when I could throw myself into the hammock at the hostel in Lilongwe. Tomorrow we would have to go to the Immigration, the Mozambikan Embassy and the Toyota Dealer and it would be another stressful day. Getting the Visa for Moz was a breeze, very nice guy doing our visa express for the price of normal delivery time. But the immigration of Malawi was utter chaos with running from one desk to another, getting a stamp here, paying something there and always waiting in between. In the end it took us three hours to get the Malawian visa and cost us astronomical 70$ each! Luckily the service on the car went well and nothing needed major repair. At the end they even whashed the car! Anyhow, I was ripe for the island and eager to hit the road to the lake.

• Posted in : Uncategorized
• Author :Admin