Blogs from Mangochi, Southern, Malawi, Africa

Mangochi was only a brief stop along the way but we felt the need to blog about it as it is a place that has so much wrong with it at the moment. There's a newly surfaced road running all the way from Liwonde to Mangochi. The first 20-odd kilometres were impressive. The final 20-odd kilometres are still under construction and we have to drive on dirt tracks at the side of the work in progress. Back on the road, you could tell we were getting closer as the potholes got bigger and bigger until at times there was pretty much no road left. Once we actually got to the town, incidentally in the pouring rain, there was indeed no road whatsoever for several sections. Our objectives in Mangochi were twofold. First, we wanted to pay ... read more

May 25th already? Time has flown here in Africa. We are done teaching and we are now at a resort on lake Malawi. The lake is massive! It reminds me of the ocean. We have done too much stuff for me to type it all in one entry...I will have to let everyone know in person! Jenelle... read more

Continuing with my weekend tours of Malawi, I decided to go to the Sun ‘n’ Sand resort between Monkey Bay and Mangochi (yes I do realize that my trips so far have been to places I’ve already gone). I decided to go mostly because come last Friday I still wasn’t sure where I wanted to visit, so an ad in the paper and the fact I knew where the buses left from convinced me I should take a trip to the lake. So after wasting an hour and a half of my Saturday morning sitting on a bus in Limbe station, it finally filled and we could set off. In case you don’t know the journey from Blantyre to Mangochi probably takes 4 hours if your driving yourself. In a bus, because of stops, refilling and ... read more

After a brief, boozy farewell at Doogles on Thursday night, we leave Blantyre in high spirits - me, ready after ten weeks in Malawi to move on to wider and wilder pastures; and the others - Marie and Eline from the Kabula Lodge; Richard and Melise, two ex-pat friends - at the start of a ten-day holiday to the Mozambican coast. Spend enough time as a freelancer and you begin to forget what it’s like to live a life of early-morning commutes, workplace politics, nine-to-fives. In short, you forget how much of the world lives. But now, with the others giddy at the prospect of a ten-day jailbreak, and the girls free from the hospital’s headaches, even I’m infected by the holiday mood. Ten days! Imagine the luxury, after daily wake-up calls at half-past four; after ... read more