Many volunteers feel that travel is their highest risk activity in Malawi, and a common accompaniment is prayer. There are usually options for transport available in every location, although occasionally there is only one consistently available type. However, being smart about your transport safety is just as important and based on common sense as any other safety issue.

	Safety standards in malawi are amazingly bad. In many cases, an accident like this will sit on the raod for a week before it is removed from other vehicle's way!

Most PCVs are based in rural areas, away from the main towns (called bomas), of their districts. For some, this means a 30 minute walk or bike ride on a paved road to the nearest grocery, while for others it means one truck going once a week on a dirt road for 5 hours. All environment and health sector volunteers are provided with Trek bikes in good condition for personal and work related use. Peace Corps does not provide all education sector volunteers with a bicycle—only those for whom it is deemed necessary (for example, if you live more than 1 hour from your nearest market or more than 20 minutes from your school). Peace Corps will reimburse PCVs for their own purchase of a local bike up to about $40. Unfortunately, for that amount of money, you can’t buy anything that will still be in good shape a rainy season later. Even the Treks take a lot of punishment over a two year period.

One nice aspect of transport in Malawi: the view is always beautiful and / or interesting.

There are a few main modes of transport in Malawi. Large buses run at pseudo regular times form the main district bomas. They are usually packed with more people, katundu (luggage), chickens, and other things than you would think physically possible.
The seats are uncomfortable for the most part, they go quite slowly, and break down often. However, if you are not in a hurry to get anywhere, their slow speed is in one respect a measure of safety. Small minibuses (conversion vans stuffed with extra seats) run all over the country, departing whenever they get full. Sometimes they take 15 minutes to fill, and sometimes 2-3 hours. They go very fast for the most part, and usually you can find one with semi-comfortable seats and a tape deck that might be functional and available for your offerings. However, many are in rough condition since there seems to be little to no mandate of safety. It’s best to inspect the tires, doors, and driver’s breath before choosing a minibus. Also, “full” means 20-24 people, so they can be quite crowded, but if you get a window seat you should be fine. Coasters are medium-sized buses. They are generally in the best condition of all three bus options, and travel at a reasonable speed. In a recent transport survey (Feb ’01), between 70-80% of volunteers in each region rated mini-buses as the least safe form of transport, and about 50% said that coasters were a fair form of transport. Those are not promising statistics, so what, you may ask, offers a better option?

Private transport was consistently rated the safest form of transport, by as many as 90% of the central region PCVs. “Private transport” comes in many forms: work related vehicles like ambulances or government district office trucks, local NGO cars, or the private vehicles of citizens. Usually, this means hitchhiking. In the central and southern regions there are plenty of cars on the main roads, and it is relatively easy to get a ride from one main boma to another. In the northern region, passing cars are fewer and farther between, but prearranged rides can come in handy. Hitching in pairs is better, never at night or even dusk and trusting your gut are the main rules to follow when it comes to private transport.