Volunteer update, Ruarwe and the ferry and 5 months of travelling

Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nkhata Bay
March 13th 2014

Published: March 28th 2014

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RichM

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Hello again. Very sorry for the delay. I think it's been almost two months since I last wrote a blog so I will try sum up the past few weeks as concise as possible. Over the past few weeks I have continued to teach at the school as well as being involved in the other projects on site. We had a special treat at the school when two travellers said they would perform their musical instruments for us. The instruments were a banjo and a flute, they played a range of irish and balkan music which was brilliant. The kids loved it and spent most of the lesson dancing on the tables. It was not only something different but very fun too and it exposes them to different music from around the world which is important. Besides this, teaching has been the same old of maths, english, science and geography. The hard thing I've found is to constantly come up with interesting ideas as given the children's age, their attention span is obviously very short. I've still very much enjoyed teaching at the school despite some naughty behaviour.

I did manage to take some time off when the school closed

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for two weeks. I headed on the Mv Lllala ferry to Ruarwe which is a stunningly beautiful village nestled in the hillside. The area is very picturesque and quiet which provides the perfect place to relax. I spent most of my 3 days in the water swimming as well as cliff jumping..plus I read two good books. I would have to say it was my favourite place I have visited in Northern Malawi so far and would certainly recommend it to others. There are no roads to Ruarwe so the ferry provides a spectacular experience. I was a bit dubious of the ferry but was pleasantly surprised with the service. The food upstairs was affordable and of a good quality and the views along the 4 hour journey north were something else. The ferry was quiet so a few of us spent most of our time relaxing in different parts of the boat, I also had a beer just to say I've had one on the boat 😊

Not for the faint hearted, to board the ship we took a small boat out towards the ferry and climbed up some stairs which were on the side of the trip.

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This certainly isn't convenient for everybody, especially the elderly but everybody got on safely. The boat was only suppose to have 22 passengers, but I counted 41 haha. TIA (This is Africa).

BIG NEWS

I have now been at Butterfly just over 5 months and have decided it is now time to leave for a new challenge. I am going to head to Zambia which I am particularly excited about (Vic Falls and Safari). I am in the process of arranging a new volunteer project which will be similar to Butterfly but in a different environment. My time here in Nkhata Bay has been wonderful and the projects I have been involved with have been very rewarding. This really is a beautiful place to live and the community projects really are helping many people and it has been a pleasure to be involved. I will certainly miss the refreshing waters of Lake Malawi but it is time to move on. I expect to be in Zambia by the end of next week. I was planning on doing some travelling in Southern Malawi but I've decided not to bother now as I'm very excited by entering a new country.