Days 60 - 61

Day 60

We left at 6 as usual, driving up the lake road with an aim of reaching Nkhata Bay, another popular tourist hot spot that apparently vies with Cape Maclear at Christmas and New Year. To begin with we were just driving through more of the same cultivated areas which at times was quite shocking as it was the first time on this trip that we’d seen children with swollen bellies from hunger. Malawi is certainly one of the poorest of all the countries we’ve visited and according to a magazine on display at Fat Monkey’s the average protein intake per annum for the average Malawian is 6kg! So that was the first part of the drive, it rained a bit too. But once the road began to trail the edge of the lake it became much more beautiful, with thick forests either side of the road, and hundreds of flowers that looked as though they’d just burst into their bright colours. We were slightly worried about half way into the drive as none of us had taken out enough money from the bank we’d visited in Lilongwe and we were beginning to run a little low on petrol but didn’t have enough to fill up. There is a serious lack of banks in Malawi, probably because the poverty of the majority of the population means they don’t need them. Luckily we saw a sign for a Standard Bank right in the middle of a sugar cane plantation - the most random place ever, but it did the job and we were able to fill up and buy some breakfast. We reached Nkhata Bay at about 2, driving around for an hour trying to decide where to stay. Eventually we settled on a little backpacker place called ‘Big Blue Star’ which seems to rise up out of the lake on a little cliff. They have lovely little chalets built on stilts over the water for only $6 so we’ve booked ourselves into one of those. Ours has a lovely little veranda with steps leading down into the water and a mosquito net too for those worried about Malaria! We sat up in the lounge area which looks out over the water and ate bread and jam which constituted a sort of breakfast/lunch and drank some more tea. It is really hot here, possibly the most hot we’ve been on the trip, except in the deserts in Namibia, and it seems that we’ve broken away from tradition and haven’t actually bought the rain with us. We walked down the hill and into to town, taking a trip to the market place to buy sukuma, tomatoes and onions for our evening stew. The town is very bustling and smells strongly of fish but at high tourist season it must be great fun. We haven’t really seen many other tourists, but I think we’ve come at the low point. We strolled back up to the hostel and sat for another two hours or so relaxing before starting on the cooking - Robert and James managed to persuade one of the guards to make our ugali for us, which meant that it actually worked for a change, and we were able to eat my stew with our hands instead of with a fork which is what happens when we cook ugali because instead of becoming hard so you can break it off with your hand, it just becomes sticky and unmanageable! We met another guy who was also having a lesson in ugali and was attempting to wash it down with Chibuku - we gave him much applause when he actually managed to drink more than half of the carton. As it grew dark the fishermen came out on their little wooden dug out canoes with lights on to start the night’s fishing for these tiny little fish that seem to be the staple diet of the majority of the population. We retired to bed at about 11, after a prolonged discussion about religion and poverty that drove all the other iunhabitants of the veranda to bed about 5 minutes after it began. It was lovely to lie in bed being lulled to sleep by the water lapping gently beneath, making me feel as though I was aboard a small ship, in the middle of a calm sea.


Day 61

Had a proper lie in this morning! Because we were in a hut not a tent, I didn't wake up feeling like I was in a sauna and was able to stay asleep until 10...so lovely.
We went down to town to buy ingredients for a fry-up, and afterwards all sat and watched the Departed on the tv, the temperature outside being to hot to allow for anything else. I'm just sat in the little internet cafe in town and seren just bought be a banana milkshake in a plastic bag which is very helpful in the process of updating this blog. We've been to the market to get more sukuma and tomatoes for tonight's meal too. Tomorrow we'll be leaving Malawi and reaching the final stage of our journey, Tanzania. We'll try to make it to Irringa, but if not we'll stop short in Mbeya. I will be sad to leave Malawi, it's a really beautiful country, how strange to think that we have just over a week left of the trip. After a year of planning, it seems to have gone in a flash and soon I will be back at home and it will all seem a distant memory.

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