Lake Malawi

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OK sorry for another massive delay of getting this updated but determined to finally get at least the Africa portion of our adventures finished.

If you can't remember where we were up to then you'll have to go back to the previous Blog, but we had arrived at Lake Malawi for a couple of days rest after the trip down from Tanzania.


We had two stops in Malawi centred around the wonderful Lake Malawi which is one of the worlds largest fresh water lakes and is just like a tropical paradise. First up we were in Chitimba Beach for a couple of nights staying in nice little lake front cottages - very relaxing and with great views over the lake.

Second stop was the small lakeside village of Nkata Bay a few hours drive south taking in the central Malawi mountain regions along the way. Again we stayed at a very chilled out beach side place for a few days and enjoyed swimming and paddling the local dug-out canoes in the lake - which did give me some additional swimming practice about 30 seconds after I pushed off the shore!!! Paddling what is basically a hollowed out log is not easy and the locals had great enjoyment watching me fall in and then confessed that they knew it was coming as I was sitting at the wrong end - so after I got a dunking they then gave me some instructions.

Malawi itself is technically one of the poorest countries in the world and certainly poorer than most of its African neighbours, but despite that it would be hard to tell as the people are as friendly as ever, and in some cases they seemed a lot happier with life than many other Africans we had met in our travels. They certainly live a basic and simple life, but it's a nice environment to be in, which is evident from the increasing number of expats that are now calling it home. The place we stayed at in Chitimba was owned by an ex-overland tour driver who choose Malawi to settle over all other places he had travelled through in Africa.

Whilst it's off the beaten tourist track for now, that will change when more people get to know how nice the place is and make the effort to visit. It is certainly one of the places we would go back to in Africa.

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Photos

Chitimba Beach Resort
A really nice quiet place that we spotted again when we watched Ewan McGregors Long Way Down TV series

Lake Flies
We thought this was smoke heading over the lake but it was a swarm of lake flies - take cover

One, two three, splash
After about 3 strokes I was in, much to the joy of the locals