Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
South Africa
There are a number of bus companies running services from Lilongwe and Blantyre to Jo-
hannesburg.
Intercape Mainline
( 0999-403398;
www.intercape.co.za
)
operates a ser-
vice between Lilongwe and Johannesburg on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday
for US$78, leaving at 6am; as does
Chiwale Bus Co
( 0999-034014)
who are cheaper
at US$68 and leave from the same location at 6am on Saturday only. From Blantyre, try
Ingwe Coach
( 01-822313)
. Buses from Lilongwe leave from outside the petrol sta-
tion on Paul Kagame Rd in Old Town. In Blantyre, most Johannesburg-bound buses de-
part from the car park outside Blantyre Lodge.
Tanzania
If you want to go the whole way between Lilongwe and Dar es Salaam, there are five
Taqwa buses per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, US$50) that depart
from Devil St in Lilongwe. These buses also pick up and drop off in Mzuzu (US$30) leav-
ing at midnight and arriving in Dar es Salaam around 2.10pm the next day. Mbeya (Tan-
zania) is handy for going between northern Malawi and southern Tanzania.
If you're going in stages, buses and minibuses run between Mzuzu and Karonga
(MK2000, three to four hours), from where you can get a taxi to the Songwe border cross-
ing (MK1200). It's 200m across the bridge to the Tanzanian border crossing.
Once on the Tanzanian side of the border, minibuses travel to Kyela (7km) and on to
Mbeya, where you will need to overnight before continuing on the next morning to Dar es
Salaam. You can change money with the bicycle-taxi boys, but beware of scams.
Zambia
There are four direct buses per week (two on Tuesday and two on Friday) between Li-
longwe and Lusaka (MK6000), also departing from Devil St - the journey takes at least
12 hours. Regular minibuses run between Lilongwe and Mchinji (MK400). From here, it's
12km to the border. Local shared taxis shuttle between Mchinji and the border crossing
for around MK200 per person, or MK1000 for the whole car.
From the Zambian side of the border crossing, shared taxis run to Chipata (US$2),
which is about 30km west of the border, from where you can reach Lusaka or South
Luangwa National Park.
If you've got a 4WD you can cross into northern Zambia via Chitipa in northern
Malawi. It's four hours from Karonga to Chitipa on a rough dirt road, and then the
Malawian border crossing is 5km out of town. After going through customs it is another
80km or four hours' drive to the Zambian border crossing at Nakonde.
