Blogs from Lilongwe, Central, Malawi, Africa - page 18

Am at Lilongwe now.. the capital of Malawi.. Internet's ok.. about 400 malawi qwachas / hr (1USD=145malkwacha) Just spent 4 days a long Lake Malawi.. not too bad.. Lake Malawi is a pretty nice lake.. it's kind of amazing to see such a big body of water.. with crashing waves.. and it does not taste salty!! Basically did some kayaking... swimming against the waves.. and did my first freshwater altitude (475m above sealevel only) dive! whoo.. something new to add in my dive log.. basically just saw a lot of boulders.. and this species of fish called chiclids or something.. they lay eggs and fertilize them in mouth.. and when fish hatch, they just swim out of mummy's mouth.. too bad didn't get to see this... visibility is bad at only 5-8m.. still enjoy saltwater ... read more

url='/Videos/3450.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3450.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Mwezi marking Greg's laptop Thursday I spent another day meeting with Mike all day, since it would probably be our last office day before his departure (Friday is a camp day). In the afternoon we had a birthday party for the outgoing country director, who is moving on to work with refugees on the U.S.-Mexican border. One of the Malawian teachers at the camp, Isaiah, brought music he had composed, and the Malawian women on staff demonstrated some traditional Malawian dancing. Us mzungu women ended up being pressured into trying it out, which was a disaster. As someone pointed out, you need to have African hardware (for lack of a better euphemism) to dance like that! Every Thursday Matt hosts a movie night at our house which usually attracts 25-30 expats (he actually lug ... read more

I won’t bore you with the details of my flights to Malawi, other than to mention S. African Airways serves a mean breakfast! I’ll just start with how it went when I got off the plane in Lilongwe. It was a gorgeous day, and the weather was really pleasant—warm and breezy. I was in a really good mood until we got to customs, which was extremely chaotic and very slow. I’d say I was in line for about 30 minutes—and I was one of the first to be off the plane. I finally got my bags and headed out to the greeting area, where my supervisor (who had just arrived in Malawi himself—he’s the NGO’s regional director and based in S. Africa), the country director, and my new housemate (Matt) were all waiting for me. ... read more

This trip has been planned for some time and now, departure day is next week! I am so excited. At this moment I have not yet packed everything into one rucksack, so I may yet be the only back-and-front-packer in Africa! Tomorrow I am going out for dinner with walking friends in Leicester, a curry to see me on my way! Then I have two days to do all the things I have forgotten to do before I go. This is my first independent journey of this length of time so I am excited but also apprehensive. I shall try to write this blog everytime I find an internet cafe and in between I shall keep a diary. So, let's travel! http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_2rl.html... read more

hi all I am alive & well... We just left Zambia this morning and have arrived for a short stop in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital. From here we head to Livingstonia Beach for the night then to Kande Beach on Lake Malawi for the next few days. After that, one day in the north of Malawi is followed by Dar es Salaam Tanzania and then Zanzibar for 4 days or so. On to Arusha after that & a 3 day adventure in the Serengeti then back to Arusha, onward to Nairobi Kenya & it's done!!!! This last leg of the trip is going to be over in a flash!! Most of our old 'crew' (save 4 of us) left us... either stopping their trips in Livingstone Zambia or continuing back down to Joburg in SA. 19 new ... read more