http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Malawi , Northern en-us Fri, 24 May 2013 07:50:18 +0000 Fri, 24 May 2013 07:50:18 +0000 ltstrong idinternalsourcemarker0.6066271627787501 stylecolor 000000 fontfamily 39Times New Roman39 fontsize medium lineheight normal fontweight normalgtNyuma Nunlthali is a woman of 51. She lives in a rural village in northern Malawi near the lake. She is a subsistence farmer and mother of seven children. She does not think she can ever get out of poverty.For the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-780080.html phew its good to be back online again i feel like i havn39t written in so long and i don39t like itWe were very busy bee39s whilst in Iringa we shall miss it very much. after a ropey start getting robbed and the stark realisation that the company that we were volunteering with lied extensively on their website seriously we were living in SUCH a sht hole we genuinely grew to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-779032.html Resumo morando em um lugar que a minha cara Estudando Criando novos projetos Estou bem hummm .. atrasada nos meus posts como sempre. Mas aqui estou para dizer que moro hoje em um lugar que a minha cara tranquilo de frente para o Lago Malawi comida caseira jardim orgnico banheiro ecologicamente correto pessoas simples alguns voluntrios por perto ... mas preciso dizer que quand http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-775133.html This is going to be a long entry as Ive been here 3 weeks now and havent written a single blog but here goes. I met up with Jo the founder of Temwa and Alex and Leona who are friends of hers at Heathrow on the 17th and after a very long flight via Nairobi finally arrived in Malawi The first day was spent in Lilongwe which is the capital. Jo and Alex had a meeting straight away with t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-771085.html Getting to Nkhata Bay from Chitimba was realtively easy. We got a minibus on the main road to Mzuzu. This journey took us away from the lake and up into the mountains. We also had some baboons chase the minibus for a few hundred metres as the conductor threw out some nuts to them. It took 2 hours to get to Mzuzu where we switched to another minibus and were in Nkhata Bay 45 minutes later.I stayed http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-744147.html The nice description Africa for beginners in the Lonely Planet book sounds great and of course you are expecting quite relaxed friendly and a beautiful country we were really looking forward to hit the road by backpack in an easy way this time. But when we finally arrived to this country and faced to extreme poverty hassle which remained us a light Kenya and remote capital city so w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-680983.html I realise our trip is long over but we thought we would make an effort to finish our blog entries.After 2.5 months of nonstop travel we thought we deserved a break and checked into a campground luckily situated on the edge of Lake Malawi and unluckily situated on top of a giant anthill. Of course not before suffering through yet another day of African public transport madness this time involv http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nyika-Plateau/blog-610095.html Day 6 This morning I sat on my balcony that over looks the lake unbelievably beautiful view played on my laptop and read my book. It was a good morning.In the afternoon the backpackers was offering a boat race in the local dugout canoes and the prize was free pizza 3 people in a team and it was a relay. The guys decided they would enter Tim Matt and Joost while Tessa and I opted out. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-605984.html Well anyone who knows me will know I am nothing if not determined so finally through sheer persistance I am able to post my first blog of our trip to Malawi We arrived in Lilongwe around 1pm on Tuesday and as forecast wrinkles were prominent alongside rather large bags under our eyes as I think collectively we had about 10 hours sleep between us on Monday nightSo we arrived at the Kiboko http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/blog-592748.html Day 3 We had a chilled morning quick swim in the lake and then collected our clothes from town. As we were walking down the road we ran into Matt and Tim again. They were heading to Mayoka. The party started early with a free lunch of Nsima pap beef stew beans and veg. We played a round or two of killer pool while chatting and having a few drinks. The party continued well into dinner and aft http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-582973.html Day 1 Rasta Kelvin's Restaurant After we had checked into Mayoka Village the same place Don and I had stayed almost a month before we decided to go for lunch at Rasta Kelvin's up the road. What I had forgotten however is that you need to preorder food because it takes so unbelievably long to cook 23 hours minimum. We must have arrived at about 12 and only got to eat at 430 but it was a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-582960.html The unique charm of novelty watches the world Alarm clock wall charts watch these can represent a wide range of watches a unique beauty and emotion it seems very appropriate them as gifts. Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa has a dream I have sought to design a simple and rough mad watch. Naoto Fukasawa Twleve this is his work to realize this dream this is a design for the Issey Miyake http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-559945.html Hello from Mzimba. We left Nhakata Bay yesterday where we have been staying at Butterfly Lodge where they have chalets for the tourists but also support the local community through some good projects including an H.I.V support group a single women's support group and a youth project. It is a very relaxed and creative place to stay. Weve met so many people including those who met Derek last time h http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-549054.html The directions to the Mushroom farm from Nkahta Bay are to take a dalla dalla changing at Mzuzu and head north alone the main road towards Karanga which is the nearest town to the Tanzania border. Get off at the police checkpoint near the town of Khondowe here you then take the dirt road towards Livingstonia and the Mushroom Farm is about 10 kilometers. There are two options either wait at th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nyika-Plateau/blog-536240.html The flight from Lusaka to Lilongwe in Malawi was only a short one and I was due to be met by someone from the volunteer project. The airport is small but people everywhere pushing and shoving to get their luggage and get out. After waiting for about 2 hours I realized that no one was going to show so jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to a backpackers I think there is only a choice of two http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nkhata-Bay/blog-531253.html Three days ago it was the Malawian Independence Day and to celebrate a little ceremony was organized on campus by the students. There I had tried local traditional drink called Thobwa a fermented mix of millets maize porridge sugar and water. It had the smell of really old cheese had a really chunky texture to it and it tasted like milk that had been in cereal for way too long. The week foll http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-518090.html For the weekend the Lilongwe interns took the bus up to Mzuzu to join us for an adventure to the Nyika plateau national park. Earlier in the week I arranged with one of the other professors Edgar to rent an old LAND ROVER through his friend who used it to harvest tobacco. Edgars friend provided a driver who was also an experienced mechanic and agreed to pick us up early in the morn http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Nyika-Plateau/blog-518086.html Our first experience on an African bus 4am wake up breakfast and a short walk to the bus depot in Lilongwe before enduring a 9 hour bus ride to our project site Engcongolweni School. Many of us found the journey to be tiresome and somewhat tedious those who could the minority attempted a comfortable sleep whilst the others enjoyed absorbing the wonderful Malawian scenery ...certainly an expe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-516960.html This week I ended up meeting a French professor while drinking a beer in the teachers lounge during a world cup game. It was a while since I spoke French to anyone and a little surprising to do it in Malawi were French is not spoken in any communities around the country. He was so impressed by my French that he kept buying me drinks in the Malawian custom. He then invited me to attend one of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-512524.html It was the third day of the students sit and another day without classes. Before starting the work day an intern Merrell and I decided to go to the teachers lounge to share a pot of coffee. On our way there we could hear the rally protest of the students sit in. After delicious Mzuzu coffee I made my way to the bathroom and I heard a loud bang coming from outside. Thinking t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Northern/Mzuzu/blog-510762.html