Lucastravels

Geo: -13.9676, 34.8205On Saturday and Sunday in Cape Maclear day trippers come out from Lilongwe to swim in the lake, drink in the bars and jam up the internet connection so I have only just managed to post the pictures for yesterdays blog.Our last day next to the lake was spent people watching from our veranda with a short walk along the beach for a couple of beefburgers and a beer. Malawi is supposedly the poorest country in the world or so we have heard from several sources. I am not sure how this is measured, if it is just average dollars per day income then this might well be true as a very high percentage of people earn next to nothing. They grow their own food, catch their own fish and sell any surplus to ... read more

Geo: -12.8793, 34.1053We are now back at the lakeside in more modest accommodation right on the beach which is nice. This afternoon, provided it is on schedule, we catch the Ilala for the last time down to the far south of the lake at a place called CapeMaclear named by Livingstone after a friend of his. During the 50's it was the overnight stop for the BOAC flying boat service to South Africa, apparently it is now the "Benidorm of Malawi", we can't wait!Actually we are only there one night as we are then due to paddle ourselves to a tropical island (Mumbo Island) which is about 10km away from the shore. The company who organise the trip say it takes 2 hours to get there and I have noticed that they intend to bring us ... read more

Geo: -12.9354, 34.3205I am pleased to say that our excursion off the ship mentioned in the last posting went to plan. We managed to get on the first lifeboat off the ship, get into the bar where my camera had been left, have a couple of beers, a very nice dinner and catch up on the news. Apparently Barnet drew, England beat Scotland and a hotelier will be the next President of the USA but I presume you all knew that. We then got back on before it set sail again.The planned three hour stop took over five as the jetty at Nkhata Bay was washed away in a storm last year so even at this quite big town they still use the lifeboats to load and unload the ship. You can't imagine that a lake ... read more

Geo: -13.7158, 34.6287As mentioned yesterday we are staying in a place called the Mushroom Farm, it is on the side of a mountain with spectacular views. Our bedroom is a cob house (straw and mud construction, as seen on Grand Designs) and the bathroom is huge, it only has three walls, the fourth is open with a 1000ft drop immediately below so there is no danger of anyone looking in although it is a bit disconcerting when you go to the loo in the middle of the night. It is a vegetarian establishment but they seem to think that if you are not given meat you must eat lots of greens. Yesterday's lunches were huge and then dinner was beyond us, I managed 70% of my plate of food but Gill was completely defeated and only ... read more

Geo: -10.5956, 33.8587Not only did we have a ship stop especially for us (see A very African Day) but we also have our own game park and a valet! We spent a night in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve which is a transfrontier park, a very fashionable concept, where the borders between countries have been removed to allow the animals to migrate.This reserve borders Malawi and Zambia although we stayed firmly on the Malawian side. We were the only people in the reserve, 960 square kilometres just for us. Unfortunately most of the animals decided to holiday in Zambia so apart from a lot of hippos (who find migration and holidays in general stressful) we did not see much else although it was great just sitting out at night listening to the frogs and the odd strange, ... read more