You Can Leave Your Tie On

Our trip so far has been one full of entertainment and challenges, but at the same time relatively pain free (besides the sore bums and Fish’s ego). You see, the difference between travelling Africa in a V12 5 litre Double Cab with 12 jerry cans and a 15 ft canoe strapped to the roof, is that the simpler you travel, the more cred you receive. There have been countless times where we have been waved through roadblocks, given immunity at “tolls” (by toll I mean admission to bribe establishments), or simply only stopped for inquisitive questioning. Three lads straddling scooters with nothing more than a can of baked beans, a leatherman, and a pot of hair gel (in Fish’s case) are completely harmless to the local law, which made us extremely approachable along our route. In fact, the most common reply to any official en route was “hahaha silly Mzungus!”

Rising with the sun with sore heads in Lilongwe we were absolutely in no rush at all. With only 100km to Senga Bay the Buggers took the opportunity to service the ladies. We have by now become very familiar with our machines and within 1 hour fresh clean filters, oil, and plugs were ready to see us to the lake of stars for checkpoint 5!

Gloves on, jackets off, and capes on! We made our way out of Lilongwe’s bustling market super-hero style. The 100km still took us most of the afternoon as we cleared the interior’s rolling hills and spotted the giant lake for the first time. Senga Bay is one of Africa’s timeless destinations. Once there, it is extremely difficult to pick yourself up and move on. Our arrival at sunset meant that Iron-Mayday, Super-Fish, and Spider-Jared could remove masks and enjoy a sun-downer on the freshwater beach. Little did we know that calmness was about to erupt into a fire-blazing, lumo, full moon party!



Pic by Tyson Jopson



The atmosphere was electric as dusk settled into a bright full-moon. A lumo paint fight even left the scooters glowing bright as we partied the night away indulging in punch, stage diving, punch, night-swimming, punch, fire-work setting, and some more punch! Needless to say there were a few casualties. James managed to roll into a fire, he also managed to kick Jared in the head in a failed jump/duck manoeuvre, while Fish’s stage diving technique proved to be an interesting one. In a struggle to get naked for his trademarked dive his tie got the better of him resulting in a classic “no shoes, no pants, but got a tie” jump into the crowd. He too still looked like a Taiwanese glow-in-the-dark figurine most of the next day.

The Bucket Cam was a hit!

As we woke on the shores of the lake the following day a tough decision was to be made. Could we actually leave this place? Completely burnt out from the last few days (and with over 1700 km to go till we reach the finish line) a group decision was made to head down the lake and relax in Monkey Bay. We bent a couple of other teams’ rubber arms and headed out southwards along the lake’s scenic roads. Malawi is known for its busy, craft-full, and friendly markets, and with a box full of props and previous party dress wear, we sent Fish in hoping to bag some cool Malawi memorabilia. Extremely chuffed with himself he returned with three bracelets boasting how he had won the bargain. Still we haven’t seen these bracelets again!

With the warm Malawian air it was a pleasure to ride in a t-shirt with visors open. After a painless 200km we were greeted into Monkey Bay where our little backpackers had its own private lagoon. Sipping on a couple of Greens, Mac from the Pistons whipped up a Potjie as we chilled out beachside under the bright night sky.

The point of the rally were every kilometre takes us closer to South Africa was upon us. Incredible adventures had passed by us, and surely some more to come. 1550km to Inhambane. The Put Foot Rally 2012 finish line.

Enjoying a beer in Monkey Bay



 Keeping it Silly