Lake Malawi- not lake of the stars, more like lake of the moons!

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We were overjoyed to finally reach lake Malawi- after a long day on the road, this place looked like heaven. If I'm honest I didn't see the lake until the next morning as I was to preoccupied with pitching the tent and having a much needed shower. That evening we were dinner guests to our hosts at Kande beach. We had a lovely dinner in a local home before we were treated to the local children singing and dancing for us- we of course ended up joining in! If it wasn't illegal I think I may have stolen one to bring home!
The next morning we were up and ready for our walk around the local village. As soon as we left the compound we were staying in we were literally run at by local guys- all wanting to be our tour guides/ body guards/ friends for life/ boyfriends and dads. It's a good job we don't find it overwhelming. I ended up with a young guy calling himself brown bread (yes you have read correctly) who unfortunately had a stutter but still spoke beautiful English. I had also ended up with another guy called Andy candy ( I think he has Miss understood Andy Pandy). Still they were exceptionally friendly and really keen to talk and I actually feel like I got a glimpse of real African life- not tourist Africa speaking with them. Jo ended up with a chap called Jack Sparrow- who was pleasant enough and another called Roger- he decided he quite liked Jo and wondered out loud if she liked brown or white sugar more! It took Jo a while to realise he didn't mean sugar, he meant men! During our tour we visited the chief of the villages house, the well where everyone came to get water, a school and a hospital/health centre.
Through out Africa it's been really difficult to tell if giving money or items to people and charities is actually beneficial. You can't help but feel some things aren't genuine. If you give money it might end up in someone else's pocket, or if you give clothes they could be sold rather than used. I think this was particularly true when we visited the local hospital and school here. It's obvious these places need help and money, but it's extremely questionable where this money and help goes.
By the end of the tour we were hot and exhausted- Malawi is a beautiful place but god is it hot in the midday sun! So there was only one solution- swimming in the lake!!!
We went down on mass to chill out, cool off and unwind. Some of the guys got paddle boards, some of us swam and snorkelled, Jo decided to swim across to an island (lunatic!). It was a lovely way to finish the day. That evening we were having a fancy dress and punch party, so we could bond a bit more as a group. In short all of the boys ended up in women's clothing, we married off two of them (they were friends but are now travel husbands), drank far to much punch and wine, played a lot of pool and went to bed very late!!
Hangovers were everywhere the next day and the bus to our next stop on lake Malawi was rather quiet for some reason!
Once we arrived at Chitimba and pitched the tents we all thought it would be a good idea to freshen up in the lake.
Little did we know that we would literally be surrounded by naked children (100% naked) and men (some naked!). Some of us thought we could escape into the water- wrong. Within seconds I had turned into a human climbing frame- being splashed and crawled on by naked children- mostly boys! It wouldn't have been so bad if they just wore some clothes! But they were so excited to see you it was rather endearing. Once I had nearly drowned and lost my bikini several times- it was time to get out. So much for a relaxing swim! Next up it was Jo's turn. She had the children climbing all over her on land, playing with her hair and drawing tattoos on her. Some of them were rather good! My favourite was 'Jesus is god'. We stayed on the beach for a while but to be honest in the end it got a bit much, not so much from the children but more from the men. One guy was trying to talk to me as I led down sleeping literally 10cm from my face.
This changed our plans for the next day, as we decided to sunbathe and chill out closer to the camp rather than on the beach. Lake Malawi is beautiful and so much bigger than I thought. It's used for a lot of things in Africa such as washing clothes and people- this is why we saw so many naked people!! We're off to Tanzania in the next few days so will catch you all up then!
Off to join a naked tribe- Jo and Lauren x

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