I Thought I would spend a boring Day

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Arriving Lilongwe Airport on saturday 12:45pm from jo'burg I longed to check in into a beautiful inexpensive, modest hotel. Yes! the guys did it I landed myself at Annies Lodge in Area 47 after a 30 km motor drive. The Green greeted me and no regrets, but wondered how I would spend the next day before heading for the popular Lake Malawi especially the Cape Maclear beaches which I had read a number of interesting stories. I longed to be there and not in town.

During the night meal I met a middle aged young girl who introduced herself simply as Mercy working for Bon Voyage Tours Ltd an Airline Travel Agent. Mercy told me not to spend a boring day as she connected me to a simple day tour company that would take me to some interesting sites and be able to learn the true Malawi cultural identity.

We straightaway booked a tour guide from the company to come with a simply Saloon car and surely by 8.00hrs the guide came and headed south on M1 road. The guide started telling me the History of Lilongwe town and how it became the Capital City of Malawi, the dream of the first president of Malawi to develop the country, the traditional values of the chewa people of Malawi ( the language Chichewa in Malawi is from the chewa tribe ) We went to Bunda College and Bunda mountain. Then the guide took me to Ngala ya Pakamwa ( a mountain with a mouth ) in the remote area of chief Chadza as my guide told me and there I did learn more about the Ngala shrine and the festivity carried in the area to climb the Ngala mountain and kill the bats ( used for meals ) that gather around the mouth of the mountain before being entertained to Gule wa nkulu traditional dance of the chewa people.

By the time I returned to town with my guide I had already filled my notepad with lots and lots of information about Malawi historically, culturally and ofcourse current beliefs. Iam told there are lots of sites to visit in Dedza, Ntcheu, Mangoche, and Mzimba. I have not regreted anymore it was a well spent day.

Looking forward to tell you more of my stay at Cape Maclear and hopefully I will involve my guide to show me more of these places in Malawi.

Dont spend a boring day in town

Alex

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