Blogs from Chitimba Beach, Lake Malawi, Malawi, Africa - page 3

Hello again everyone… I just typed this entire blog entry, and clicked “publish” and the internet messed up. So this is take number 2, and hopefully it works! Sorry the blog wont be as detailed as it was, because I am running out of time. Anyways, I will update from where I left last…Zanzibar overall was amazing! I am convinced it is the most beautiful place in the world! My last day in Zanzibar I decided to do another of the optional excursions which was a Spice Tour (Zanzibar is known for its spices). We left the beach bungalows at 9:00 am and had about a 45 minute drive to the Spice farm. We arrived and by 10 am it was already disgustingly hot (not to mention I wasn’t feeling 100% top-notch after the sunset (booze)cruise ... read more

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 ... read more

We were up at 5am for a 700km drive the following day. Driving for so many hours in such heat is exhausting. Part of the drive was through Mikumi National Park where we were not allowed to stop the truck under any circumstances otherwise we would incur a $1000 fine, so we made such that just before we entered the park we stopped to go to the bathroom. We saw some animals as we drove through the park such as Zebras and Giraffe but nothing too exciting. Bush camping in the middle of nowhere we then had another really early start the next morning. We crossed the border from Tanzania into Malawi which for a change did not cost us anything for a visa. Borders are funny old places, there are so many people buzzing around ... read more

Today we made the shortish drive across the boarder into Malawi we drove along the lake as we headed to our campsite on Chitimba beach. The lake is massive and we couldn't see the other side which made it look like the sea. It had a lot of waves which surprised us you could possibly surf, well beginners anyway. When we arrived at the campsite and set up our tents on the sand, it was very windy which was good because it was really hot. Our cooks tent blew away which was quite entertaining. We headed to the bar and got very drunk very quickly which resulted in bar dancing and very loud singing. It resulted in one member of our group forgetting where there tent was then wondering around the campsite looking for it very ... read more

We loved Malawi -the people most of all. Interaction was still fairly limited as we were there a week at the max but the village walk, eating cassava and beans in the village one evening, chatting to the local beach vendors and visiting the local school and clinic gave us a flavour of how the country and people are. Talking to people and then seeing how they live with no electricity or running water - not even corregated iron for their roof just straw which contributes to the malaria problem. How they dealt with this was eye opening. On some level we found we'd always assumed there is something different between 'us' and 'them' (people living at subsistence level) but we realised people don't get used to poverty they just make do because they have to. ... read more