The Circle July 2022

THE CIRCLE

In this issue:

The beautiful Lake Malawi is situated in the southern part of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. We were invited to an accountants’ conference at a resort on the lake. We arrived, but our luggage did not.

2. A perfect village

It was just another tiny village along the Canal du Midi. Then it began to reveal its secrets. A 16th century basket bridge, a hat museum with 6,500 hats, a bookshop straight out of Paris with 50,000 books, a fabulous Alimentation Generale on a canal boat, and a Hakka just for us. A remarkable 24 hours.

Warm heart, no luggage

The Great Rift Valley

Africa’s Great Rift Valley is a geological fault in the earth’s surface, a combination of deep trenches, low lying areas and lakes. It begins in Lebanon in Asia and runs down the Eastern part of the African continent for about 4300 miles.

From Lebanon it follows the Red Sea before cutting through Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and the fringes of South Sudan, then into Tanzania along its border with Zambia. The rift then passes through Malawi before it ends in the Zambezi valley in Mozambique in Southeast Africa.

Africa’s great lakes

From the map, it’s easy to see why geologists say that in 10 million years, the Eastern part of Africa will be a separate continent, like Madagascar. All the African Great Lakes were formed as a result of the rift, and mostly lie in territories within the rift. The Rift Valley Lakes are some of the deepest in the world, reaching a depth of 4,820 feet at Lake Tanganyika. Lake Victoria is also part of the rift valley system although it currently lies between two branches.

Much of the Rift Valley lies within the boundaries of magnificent national parks including Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwenzori National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, and Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

Lake Malawi

The southern section of the Rift Valley passes through Lake Malawi, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the third-deepest freshwater body in the world. The shores of the lake – formerly called Lake Nyasahost about a dozen upmarket hotels and lodges. Backpackers and campers from around the world visit the lake shore to meet the locals and enjoy the local produce including the famous “Malawi gold”.

Malawi is one the world's least developed countries. Around 85% of the population are rural subsistence farmers and the economy is based on agriculture, its main source of export revenue being tobacco.

Warm heart, no baggage

It was a lovely spring day when my wife and I checked in at Oliver Tambo airport in Johannesburg for the 2- hour flight to Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city. We were looking forward to attending the three- day annual congress of ECSAFA, the Eastern, Central and Southern African Federation of Accountants, at the Sun and Sand Resort on the shores of one of Africa’s natural wonders, Lake Malawi.

About 200 people from 14 countries were expected to attend, including several international guests and speakers, of whom I was one.

Malawi is known as "The Warm Heart of Africa" because of its friendly people. Lake Malawi is home to more species of freshwater fish than any other lake in the world.

It would be good, I thought, to renew acquaintances with colleagues from Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland, to meet some new people, and to experience the lake and Malawian hospitality.

It was a warm day and I dressed for the flight in my usual holiday traveler outfit of golf shirt, knee-length short trousers, trainers and white socks.

On landing in Lilongwe, we discovered that our luggage was not on the flight, but the Air Malawi airport staff assured us there was nothing to worry about, the luggage would arrive on the next flight that afternoon, and would be delivered to our hotel that evening.

The congress organisers had chartered a bus to transport guests from the airport to the conference venue, about a three-hour journey, we were told.

On the bus we were pleased to meet the President of the International Federation of Accountants (who held a CBE for services to the accounting profession), and two officials from the Association of Accounting Technicians based in London.

The driver followed a roundabout route to the lakeside venue as the bus followed the strip roads from village to village, to our surprise occasionally dropping off passengers and picking up new ones. We finally arrived at the conference venue after a 6-hour journey, around 9 pm.

By next morning our luggage had not arrived. My wife found the resort shop, but the only clothing we were able to buy consisted of T-shirts in bright colours, all bearing the name of the hotel in large print. I had no choice but to attend the opening ceremony of the conference in a new T-shirt and yesterday’s shorts. Accountants at a conference are conservative dressers and many of the delegates were in formal clothing, the men wearing lounge suits, and the ladies in full office dress.

I was conscious of some suppressed amusement among my fellow delegates, as I was the only person at the conference dressed in short trousers.

That night our luggage had still not arrived and in spite of several phone calls to airport officials, locally and in South Africa, our bags could not be found.

I was scheduled to be the second speaker on the second day of the conference, and the organisers were not able to disrupt the schedule. I was asked to speak dressed as best I could.

The first speaker was the Malawian Minister of Finance, an imposing man wearing a fine suit, who gave a stirring address. When the master of ceremonies introduced me as “the speaker from South Africa who left his trousers behind” the audience – many of whom I had met by this time roared with laughter and burst into warm applause.

The next morning, the final day of the conference, our luggage was still missing. My wife was able to borrow a dress for the formal dinner that evening from one of the Accounting Technicians, but I had no option but to wear my often-washed pair of shorts.

It was only after the closing speech from the conference chairperson that I was tapped on the shoulder by a member of the hotel staff. Our luggage had arrived!

We flew back to South Africa after spending a day relaxing on the lake with optional camel rides. I hope I’m invited to the next ESCAFA in 3 years’ time. I’ve promised the president I’ll bring my trousers.

A perfect village

The Canal du Midi

Winding through the countryside and vineyards of southwest France, the Canal du Midi is one of Europe’s oldest canals. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was the brainchild of a 17th century tax collector obsessed with the idea of linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Pierre-Paul Riquet ruined himself financially but built a great architectural monument, with 63 locks, oval basins, aqueducts and 126 bridges. The Canal du Midi was completed at the end of 1682 and was used for commercial transport for centuries until it was displaced by rail and road transport.

Today the canal is filled for most of the year with holiday cruisers and accounts for a fifth of all French river tourism. In the blazing heat of July and August, the locks and ports are crammed with boats and boaters, resulting in long waiting times. But the scenery is lovely, all the locks are manned and the lock keepers’ cottages are beautifully kept.

There are always opportunities to disembark, especially if you have brought bicycles on board –the boat providers hire them. You'll also be able to visit restaurants and wine cellars along the canal.

The waterway passes through sleepy villages such as Homps, Argelliers, Capestang and Le Somail, each offering glimpses into daily life in the French countryside.

We arrived in Le Somail, a little corner of paradise, after a morning cruising gently through vineyards, with sights of yellow ibis and wild gladioli through the trees on the banks.

Le Somail has only 500 inhabitants, so small it is classified on local maps as a hamlet (hammeau) rather than a village.

It was built in 1682, the same time as the Canal Du Midi, as a staging post and overnight stop for the mail boat and its passengers. Le Somail retains many of the original buildings including the lock-keeper’s house and the chapel.

There were about 20 boats moored along the canal and the canal path was filled with walkers, cyclists, fishermen and people sketching.

The Hakka

It was the time of the Rugby World Cup and we were following matches in cafes and restaurants along the canal.

We were flying a South African flag at the back of our boat and had hardly moored up when we heard shouting from the deck of a cruiser moored on the opposite bank.

It took us a while to realise that the wild man dancing and waving his arms was wearing a New Zealand rugby jersey and trying to perform a Hakka – rather badly we thought. We waved our beer cans in his direction and he disappeared back into his boat.

Later that afternoon we took a walk into town. In the centre of Le Somail an ancient and striking baskethandle bridge, Le Pont Saint-Marcel, crosses the canal. Nearby is a picturesque and ivy-covered lock keepers’ cottage – today a restaurant - an inspiration for artists and photographers.

We discovered a floating shop, the Tamata, a beautiful barge located on the north bank of the Canal. The two restaurants were already fully booked and we decided to enjoy our evening meal on the upper deck of our boat supported by a few samples of the great wines of Minervois. We returned to our boat laden with fresh bread, ripe tomatoes, ham and local cheeses.

The Kiwi appeared at our mooring later that evening. He’d walked all the way to the bridge and then back to us, in search of rugby company.

Exploring around the town the next morning we discovered two highlights - a unique hat museum containing 6,500 hats, and an incredible book shop tucked away in an old wine cellar. Named “trouve-tout-du-livre” (‘find all the books’) the shop stocks over 50,000 rare and second hand books. Tired of city life, its owners relocated from Paris to Le Somail in 1980.

We left Le Somail at noon – a tiny hamlet not even mentioned on road maps and yet with its old arched bridge and chapel, quirky hat museum, magnificent antiquarian bookshop, grocer’s barge and restaurants on the quays, an unmissable and remarkable stop on a trip along the Canal du Midi.

The Circle is a private, limited edition magazine produced as a retirement hobby for family and friends, and fellow Midstreamers. The magazine is distributed at no charge. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Photographs have been sourced from my personal collection, Le Somail facebook page, Le Boat website, Air Malawi and the Sun and Sand Resort Facebook page. Content drawn from Wikipedia, Le Boat and the Canal du Midi visitors’ guide.

Street scene in autumn, Montreal, Canada