MV Ilala

MV ''Ilala'', formally ''Ilala II'', is a motor ship that has plied Lake Malawi in East Africa since 1951. Every week she crosses the lake all the way north to Chilumba, Malawi, near Tanzania (about from Monkey Bay) and then returns to Monkey Bay. She carries both passengers and freight, and calls at major towns on both the Malawian and Mozambican coast, as well as at two islands of the lake ( Likoma and Chizumulu).

While the ship is often late (reportedly by as much as 24 hours or more) and has sometimes broken down she remains the most important means of long-distance transport for the people living on the coast of the lake. She is long overall, has a gross tonnage of 620 tons and can accommodate up to 365 passengers and 100 tons of cargo.

History

Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun near Glasgow, Scotland built ''Ilala'' for Nyasaland Railways in 1949. As she was the second boat to be built for service on Lake Malawi (the first being built in 1875 at Poplar), and her predecessor was called ''Ilala'', the ship was formally named ''Ilala II'', but she is now commonly called just ''Ilala'' and this is also how the name is painted on the hull. In turn, the first ''Ilala'' was named after the Ilala region of Zambia, where David Livingstone was first buried.

Once built, the ship was dismantled and transported to Malawi (then Nyasaland) in pieces, first by ship to Mozambique and then from Beira, Mozambique by rail and road to Chipoka.Malawi: Sixty Years of the MV Ilala
''BBC World Service'' 22 December 2008 She is operated by Malawi Lake Services and based in Monkey Bay, Malawi (on the southern end of the lake); She began operating in 1951, and has run continuously since then, except for periods of maintenance. She also survived several groundings. Some steel panels have been repaired over time, and she was re-engined in the 1990s. When ''Ilala'' has been out of service for maintenance, she was usually replaced by a companion, newer ferry called (which means "peace" in Chewa), which otherwise only cruises the southern part of the lake. The also provides additional coverage for ''Ilala''.

References in culture

British historian, traveller and writer Oliver Ransford thus describes life aboard the MV ''Ilala'' in his book '' Malawi, Livingstone's Lake'':

The ship has been depicted in several postage stamps of Nyasaland/Malawi.Ilala II at Shipstamps
/ref> In 2009, BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service broadcast a travelogue-style tribute in occasion of the ''Ilala''s 60th anniversary, with interviews with managers, crew, passengers and tourists.

Route

The MV ''Ilala'' weekly calls at the following places (they are visited in this order when the boat is going north, and in the inverse order when the boat goes back south):Timetable 2017
/ref>

* Monkey Bay, Malawi
* Makanjila, Malawi
* Senga Bay, Malawi
* Nkhotakota, Malawi
* Likoma Island, Malawi
* Chizumulu Island, Malawi
* Nkhata Bay, Malawi
* Usisya, Malawi
* Ruarwe, Malawi
* Ncharo, Malawi
* Mlowe, Malawi
* Chilumba, Malawi

In the past, the ship used to reach farther north to Karonga and the short strip of the northern coast of the lake belonging to Tanzania, but this route has been discontinued.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilala
1949 ships
Ships built on the River Clyde
Ferries
Paisley, Renfrewshire
Lake Malawi
Transport in Malawi
Ships of Malawi