Blogs from Malawi, Africa - page 75

Sunday 6th I wandered down to the lake at 8.30 as I had arrived in the dark the night before. I just happened to come down to the lake next to Cecelia’s house where she was washing in the lake. We went to look at the self-catering quieter Anglican chapel that they thought I could stay in. However I asked to stay at Cecelia’s as I didn’t want to be by myself. They thought I wouldn’t want to be at Cecelia’s as there is no electricity or water and it means bathing in the lake and a long drop squat toilet. We sat outside in her garden overlooking the lake and then went into the ‘town’ to the Hunger Clinic for lunch. We eat with a traveler who was wearing far too much sun cream ... read more

Sorry so much in one go. This is the first internet I’ve had in a month and for that reason I am going to let dad be solely in charge of the blog so he can do it when he gets back home. Sun 29th It was 11pm by the time I’d left Paul going through security and I went outside to phone the airport backpackers for my free pickup. I’d clearly woken her up and there was some confusion over where I was supposed to meet the pick up. Eventually I had to walk to the domestic flights area at the other end of the airport where there was a taxi waiting for me. When I arrived she told me I had to pay for the transfer as it was after hours- why she ... read more

I’m in love…. again. Yes, I know I’m prone to this affliction, at least as regards the places I visit, but it was love at first sight with Malawi. Even the mayhem at Blantyre airport when I arrived didn’t bother me: the warmth of the people waving and smiling from the balcony above the immigration/baggage collection area (I’d hesitate to call it the “arrivals hall”) at arriving friends and relations countered any possible frustration at the ad hoc immigration and baggage retrieval procedures. There was a long queue, reaching back nearly to the foot of the steps from the ‘plane, for the “immigration counter”, a couple of desks set up on an apparently temporary basis in a dark corridor to deal with arriving foreigners (Blantyre clearly does not get many international flights each da... read more

Malawi wasn't on our initial plans, not that we have any, but we first thought on crossing from Mozambique straight to Tanzania. As we had done a detour to Zambia to sell the crasymobile, why not visit another well recommended country (we are getting expert on that, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and now Malawi). Malawi has the nickname "The warm heart of Africa". Well given, because we found that people are indeed very welcoming (Exception to the police officer in the border control that had to be bribed to do not more than the job he was supposed to do in the first place). But the beer "Kuche Kuche Mowa Watu Watu"…hehehe… was cheap enough to compensate (33 cents of dollar for 500ml). Our trip to Malawi started in the capital, Lilongwe. We arrived there at 3:00 ... read more

Up at 4am, which was about 3 hours after we stopped drinking. Needless to say, the truck was quiet today and in fact the 10 hour drive went remarkably quickly as we slept through most of it. We crossed into Tanzania in the morning, paying $50 each for our visas. The campsite we stopped at today was great, for one thing it was up in the mountains and so was quite cold and gave us the rare treat of using our sleeping bags. The showers were almost too hot, which was great and which made the shampoo actually work like it should do, so we (well, the girls plus 'doublewash' Andrew) all had silky soft, fluffy hair - oh little things. And lighting in the shower was by kerosene lamp. Security was provided by some spear-carrying ... read more