Blogs from Malawi, Africa - page 18

Geo: -15.9288, 34.6069Majete Wildlife Reserve est un parc de 700km2 géré de manière privée depuis 10 ans. Nous logeons au "community camp", le camping géré par la communauté locale et qui lui apporte un revenu bienvenu. Malgré sa taille relativement modeste, la réserve abrite les "big five" (éléphant, buffle, rhinocéros, lion et léopard), zèbres, hippopotames, bon nombre d'antilopes, etc. Parmi ces dernières, l'éland est la plus grande du parc (rien à voir avec la sorte d'orignal vivant en Laponie et s'écrivant sans "d"). Nous ne l'apercevrons que furtivement… A l'exception d'un spécimen passé de vie à trépas sous les assauts d'un crocodile. Nou... read more

Where to start. Sorry for the delay in updating my blog but I've been very busy of late. Over the past two weeks I have been delving into different projects with a varying degree of success. Unfortunately, there is a major cup competition taking place on the only football pitch in town so their has been no training for two weeks. I have also been informed that this competition will be taking place for a month or so which is a shame. However, the school term finishes next week so the kids might not have been inclined to train anyhow. Never mind ey! Despite not being able to train, there have been many positives with some of the other projects and this includes the nursery school. Francis, one of the gardener's at Butterfly and myself have ... read more

Happy Birthday to our granddaughter, Maisie who is 10 today 28/10/13. We are sorry that we cannot be with you but you are always in our thoughts. Love Grandad and GrandmaX We arrived at the border of Zambia and Malawi and had no problems with obtaining our visas but our Swiss travelling companions disappeared into ‘an office’ and we had to wait for ages for them to return - Malawi seems to have a problem with Swiss tourist, not sure why but eventually they did return. Not sure what would have happened if someone in the group had not been able to get into the country though! Known affectionately as the ’warm heart of Africa’, Malawi is one of the friendliest countries in Southern Africa, offering a true African experience in terms of scenery, wildlife and ... read more

Finally landed in Malawi. After an 18 hour flight from Istanbul to Lilongwe which included a kip on a deck chair in Addis Ababa, I'm finally here. Seemed slightly surreal to be here after all the months of planning and saving money. How things come around so soon! Both flights were very good and the service was efficient. As we departed Addis Ababa in the morning for Lilongwe, I opted for a window seat so I could take in the scenery and it didn't disappoint. The vast open plains of Tanzania and Kenya were breathtaking. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the plane near the border of TNZ/KNY so I missed Mount Kilimanjaro. Once in Malawi, you really got a sense of how big the Lake is here - it is stunning. After landing ... read more

Before I left England, Russel and Jo gave me a journal so that I could keep notes of my trip, where I had been, what I had done and so forth. I will admit that normally I have relied on my camera for a lot of reminders about where I have been, but in Milawi, in my period of no camera sadness (hence photos from other parts of the trip in this blog), I find that I have only written a few notes. One entry stands out from the rest. Sandwiched between “Sunflower fields” and “Catch in the lake”, I have written, in my fair hand, “Liquid poo to the max”. Yes, my friends, my stomach, normally a fairly iron-lined thing, had decided to start disagreeing with the cuisine or water or whatever, and was letting ... read more