Advertisement
Published: July 21st 2013
Saturday Leaving our ‘love boat’ we travelled further down into Malawi, stopping at a place called Zoozoo where we purchased some of the most beautiful wooden carvings I have ever seen (hoping I can get them into Australia – we have bought quite a bit of stuff already so when we get to the UK we are going to get it shipped over.)
Arriving at a place called Kande Beach we stayed in a little bamboo shack which steps literally right down onto the beach – perfect location (we have found on this trip that often we are driving through the most random village in the middle of nowhere and then suddenly we come across a beautiful place to camp or sleep.) We met many travellers from around the world also staying at the same place and sat around the campfire with them during the evening. What I just love about travelling is the fact that everyone is ultra friendly as you are all in the same boat and it is very easy to make friends.
The following day after a jog on the beach we went on a village tour. It is difficult
in 3
rd world countries because everyone is out to make some money but not always in the best way. We walked through the village, which we were told was very poor. Having spent quite some time working in the poor areas of Cambodia we found we became quite cynical. Although it was not to western standards the houses were double bricked and had tin roofs, the chief had a house bigger than ours and lives in it with his 2 wives (when we went to visit a Masai tribe village we were told the chief there had 15 wives! Imagine that!) Anyway then we went to visit a school and also a hospital. The whole thing was basically set up and we were continually given a guilt trip about giving money (the hospital had 3 wards of 8 beds each just for births – there is only 4,500 people in the village?!) There was a lady there whom we were told had just given birth that day and we were very lucky to see her (the previous day I met some travellers whom told us that on their village tour they met a lady who apparently had just given birth
with a baby called William – it was the same one!) The school had boxes and boxes of resources covered in dust (there were no children there!? It’s terrible because it reflects badly on the real schools and hospitals in need. The other annoying thing was the way that we were constantly hassled by people trying to sell us stuff (and I mean really hassled – 3 locals to each tourist following us the entire tour getting in our personal space.)
In the afternoon we chilled out on the beach which was lovely and played volleyball with some others. Feeling thirsty I went to a little café to get a bottle of water. After handing my money over, the lady behind the counter started groping her boob and then stuck her hand under her top trying to get some change...no luck…this then happened with the other boob. Calling her friend over she then started groping her boob to feel for change and was poking around under her top…no luck…so she then pulled her whole boob out from her dress…feeling very awkward by this point and not really knowing where to look I just said
“Yeah…don’t worry
about the change...you just keep the money…”
I ended up paying 4 times over what it cost for the water all because I was feeling uncomfortable.
Tonight we have a pig on a spit for dinner. Although the thought of it is delicious unfortunately we were subject to seeing the pig squealing prior to its death and seeing its neck being slit….I almost feel like becoming a vegetarian…
Everyone on our trip appears to becoming sick – they are dropping like flies…I am hoping that we wont be next…
Sunday Last night after eating 2 helpings of the pig (turns out I can eat an animal I have seen alive if I pretend it is 2 different things!) we were told a local choir wanted to sing to us. Immediately a rabble of 11 locals appeared and stood in 4 lines, they began swaying side to side and then they began singing without even a note given to them. Wow… I was actually moved to tears. Here we were in Malawi with 11 people from the local church choir singing their hearts out. None of them had received any musical training at all and yet they hit every harmony, every pitch perfectly and they volume they created was so loud! I was blown away at such beautiful music. To top it off it turned out that one of the singers – a 19 year old man had composed all of the songs they had sung – some in English and some in the local language. The choir mistresses was in the front row singing with a spectacular voice and on her back strapped with a piece of fabric was her baby. It was just gorgeous. Whilst she sang and danced to the music the baby just sat there bobbing up and down and taking it all in. It was such a highlight.
Unfortunately I was the 8
th person on our 18-group tour that caught the dreaded illness. Waking up at 1am I opened the shack door and threw up on the beach. Although we were staying in a beautiful little shack there was no toilet in it and I was forced to spend half the night being sick on the beach and the other half running up the beach and through the campsite to get to the toilet block which proved a bit of a trek. This morning we left camp at 7am and spent the majority of the day driving in the truck on bumpy roads to the Malawi capital Luangwa. All I can say is thank God I married a pharmacist because I have been pumping down the pills today (driving on a bad road with only bushes to use instead of a toilet is not a great option when you are sick.) I swear we have lost weight on this trip! Arriving at our accommodation for the night we found all the chalets were booked and we had to stay in a large old house in the converted bedrooms.
We just had some bad news about a tour guide we had earlier in our trip to the Serengeti National Park. He has just emailed Tim to say he has been fired because the truck he drove kept braking down (we had to keep starting it by having another truck ram into the back of it.) Its really sad because he saved his money up to buy the truck so he could get the job and it wasn’t his fault that it kept braking down. He is a great guy with a family to support and it is sad that he can just be dropped so easily.
Anyway hope you are all well. Tomorrow we are going to South Luangwa National Park where we will be back to camping for a couple of nights (apparently there is a fence though to stop the hippos coming round the tents which is excellent news after my 3 nights in Serengeti National Park led awake listening to elephants, hyenas and warthogs.) Keep the comments and messages coming, its great to hear how you are all doing. Xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.135s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0648s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sam
non-member comment
15 wives - now that's what I call a handfull!
Great post! Hope you feel better soon, your gonna sleep like a log by the time you get here - 8 days to go :D !