We set off early only to discover after we had left the park that I had a puncture in my back left wheel. It took us two old fogies about half an hour to change the wheel and we were very hot and very dusty by the end. My first puncture - and I hope the last! This all happened in the village of Chiamanimani where the good lady said we must visit the Anglican church. We did, and there, just as she said, were three wonderful stained glass windows above the high alter at the East End. Apparently, a church [View Full Entry]

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Dawn at 5 am is a bit unkind to us old fogies, but we were up a little later as our first stop was the Museum in Matari which didn’t open till 9 am and about which we had heard so much. But first we stopped to refuel. No problems but we were interested to find an aged English lady working in the Fuel Station Shop. There was not much for sale but she had organised a small bakery there selling mouthwatering buns while the other goods there - quite a comprehensive selection and by far the best we have seen [View Full Entry]

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We were up at dawn (5.30 am) to be certain to get to the Immigration Office when they opened at 8am (we located the place yesterday). We were there early where the youngsters in the street were more than ready to find us parking slots and to look after our vehicles. While awaiting the office to open we were looking through the shop window of a gunsmith cum safari operator when he turned up himself. A very large white Zimbabwean who immediately invited us into his shop, and office beyond, more than ready to talk. Clearly he is a high powered [View Full Entry]

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We were “discovered” at breakfast when a cheerful local man turned up with his 2 dogs and armed with a catapult. He hunted regularly thus equipped and told us that he then traded the rabbits he killed for maize flour. Nobody had any money. He looked fit and well himself and was delighted to chat with us as we packed up to go. Our first encounter with a Zimbabwean. We then set off to drive the hundred and more miles to Harare . The road was excellent, hardly any traffic - although it was Sunday. We passed through progressively more developed [View Full Entry]

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We were up early, none of us really looking forward to the bumpy ride ahead and, of course, the worry about fuel. When we got to the Malawi/Mozambique border at Mwanza we filled up our car with fuel to the maximum capacity before completing the simple procedures. Then on to the Mozambique side where again the formalities were relatively straightforward. We changed enough cash into Moz money, enough to fill our tanks again before we entered Zim. The one big feature was crossing the Zambezi River - it was huge! Like crossing of the Rhone at its widest. This was j [View Full Entry]

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Our priority today was to get our transit visas for crossing through the top end of Mozambique tomorrow. Our guide book map showed the embassy not too far away from where we were camped but, when we got there, we found the place is now a night club. But the French Cultural Centre was nearby and they were kind enough to direct us to the centre of town. We found it soon after 9 am where the girl behind the desk was very efficient but must have passed out of charm school with zero marks. We parted with our $30 per [View Full Entry]

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We passed a very pleasant night, with the sound of the waves breaking on the sandy lake shore only a few metres away. But we had to get on to Blantyre because it would leave us just one day to get our Mozambique Visas before the weekend, and we didn’t want to waste a couple of days in a city. As you will have gathered by now we are finding it impossible to free-camp in the countryside because of the density of the population and consequent lack of any opportunities. We are therefore selecting known camping venues from the guide books [View Full Entry]

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This central part of Malawi we felt was rather boring and uninteresting as we drove southwards but one must balance this with the fact it is so dry at the moment. There were people everywhere, half of them on bicycles made in China and I expect that when the rains come and it all turns green it must be more attractive. Our destination today was Senga Bay, the old Livingstonia hotel which is one of the oldest in the land and is situated on a lovely beach on Lake Malawi. They offered rather attractive camping facilities and when we got there [View Full Entry]

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There are 2 National Parks near Rumphi. The first is the large one on the Nyika Plateau which we were going to visit but instead, we were lured to go to the nearer Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, some 20 miles away, which reputedly had some excellent birds. But first we had to get fuel so, back we went into Rumphi to the BP station we saw there the night before. But it was closed. We ascertained that the owner did not have enough cash to reorder his supplies until he had sold his present stock - which had run out - [View Full Entry]

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No water in the showers when we awoke so off for a dip in the lake to awaken us properly. It was not long before we were away back down the dusty road towards the tarmac highway to the border. This road was surrounded by well watered, dense farmland. Mostly bananas and vegetables but we also noticed lots of cocoa bushes with their rich brown fruit ready for picking. Formalities at the border were reasonably fast and efficient and we were through in about an hour. Money changing was a novelty - we got 148 kwacha to the dollar at the [View Full Entry]

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