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Published: November 29th 2008
Lake Malawi
The lake looks no different to the sea.Lake Malawi
The 2 day drive down to Malawi was boring. The highlight was passing through baobab valley where hundreds of these strange looking trees covering the hills of southern Tanzania; the crap part of the 2 day journey was an attack of the squirts; quite common on these trip, the squirts is usually brought on when plates and cutlery are not dried properly. Luckily the malaria tablets we are taking have more than one use, syphilis included but more importantly diarrhoea!! Well I made it to camp on the shores of the lake, my resolve stiffened enough to the point that I had a few beers the same night. Elephant beer, all 7.2% of it, was severely tested by the group that night. Luckily being the oldest on the truck I have hade more than enough hangovers in my lifetime to foresee the combined effects of strong beer and a boisterous crowd: it started with an impromptu national sing along contest (we were rubbish, lumped with a lone South African the only thing we could sing was the Zim anthem - mainly humming, the Irish were brilliant, singing old folk songs whilst dancing around in circles, arms linked and
Lake Malawi
Slaughtering the pig for the spit!! legs flicking), degenerated to the point where Emma the Aussie broke her hand when she fell over dancing with a wooden Tokolosh carving! Others were seen lying half in their tent so as not to puke inside it!! The 30km hike to Livingstonia was going to be interesting.
Not sure I wanted to hike considering my dodgy gut but persevered anyway. Up at the crack of dawn, we eventually left at a later time of 6:30am as many of the group were still drunk after the previous night’s party at the bar on the edge of the lake. The Irish contingent was in full cry singing the same folk songs from the previous night and the banter continued for the next 2 hours until hangovers kicked in. Around 11am we reached the …….falls plummeting 50m over a cliff face. A swim in the cold water was refreshing, reinvigorating us as we pushed on to Livingstonia. The last hour march began quickly enough but the 750m climb took its toll before we crawled into the missionary town. The many villagers we met especially the children were very polite and friendly as were most Malawian’s we met, a result of a
Lake Malawi
Beginning the 30km hike police crack down on children begging and Kamuzu Banda’s strict rules put in place when he was president.
The town is named after David Livingstone after he inspired a Doctor Laws to leave Scotland and set up a Christian mission in Africa. All rather boring to be honest and after an hour for lunch we started the descent back to the campsite, resisting the temptation taking a car back, unlike our Irish companions. I hate downhill’s the most when hiking and my knees reminded me of this with each step as we finished the final few kilometres. It was a good effort by us all especially the drunken lot from the previous night, but we all felt better for it after days sitting in the back of the truck.
The next 3 nights were spent at a campsite close to Kandy Beach Resort. Kathryn’s brother and sister in law had stayed there, and it was unfortunate that we missed them by a day as we planned to spend a few days with them at their game lodge in South Luangwa, Zambia.
An early start to the day meant we arrived in time to watch the final of
Lake Malawi
Not even halfway and already cooling off the Tri-nations; having loads of Kiwi’s and Aussies around made the match more exciting but it was great anyway to watch sport for the first time in weeks.
The day after was the return 5 a side football challenge; motor mouth Neil wagering 2 hours of free beer for the winners. Another close contest, we narrowly lost 3-2 due to some poor defending and to the Irish lads credit they only guzzled one round of free drink; thank god they weren’t Scottish. .
As I said earlier, I was not sure why we spent so much time in Malawi; there was not enough time to complete our diving license course, and the only other options were snorkelling and horse riding, we chose to loaf around instead, building our strength for a 2 day drive through Zambia before we arriving in Vic falls!
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