Beach children

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Back on the mainland, we drive through Tanzania to our next destination - Malawi, one of the poorest countries in Africa. Our main port of call is Lake Malawi, the vast body of water which accounts for 30% of the country’s land area. Driving into Malawi, we immediately notice a difference to the other African nations to the north - most houses are traditional mud and straw huts, and there are few large settlements.

After passing through stunning, rugged scenery, we stop first at Chitimba, a campsite on the shores of Lake Malawi, before heading further south to Kande Beach, where we’re to spend 3 nights. Compared to the golden but bare sands of Zanzibar, Kande Beach has much more character, but our stay there quickly comes to be characterised by the people of Malawi rather than the place. Everywhere we’ve been so far, people have waved and shouted as we’ve passed - often using the term ‘mzungu’ (white person), and invariably followed by ‘give me money’. My first conversation with a Malawian is a child on the beach, who introduces himself and tells me that he has been tought not to beg as it encourages laziness, and so he wishes to earn money to fund his education by making bracelets and other curios. It makes a refreshing change, but comes to typify all the Malawi people we meet.

We walk up to Kande village on our first day, accompanied by a gaggle of tradesmen keen to sell us their wares - mainly the famous Malawi chairs. Sporting names like Puff Daddy, Winston Churchill and Superman, they’re entertaining and introduce us to the locally-brewed banana beer - a bit strong at 10am, but we give it a bash anyway. We ride back to camp on a tractor and head to their workshops, where they teach us the African stone game, and I order a Malawi chair from Black Rhino for $25 and ‘learn Swahili’ t-shirt - a good deal I think!

Walking along the beach in the evening, hordes of children run along swinging carrier bags of rubbish... each day they visit the camp site’s bins to see what can be salvaged for toys. Plastic bottles, bits of wire and old clothes all make the grade, and they sport some of the widest smiles I’ve ever seen, posing for photos and begging to be picked up or swung in the air. I also have a long chat with a local boy, Fish, who is keen to learn about my trip and life outside Malawi. He wants to become a plumber and move to the capital Lilongwe, and leaves me asking for any spare English books might have. I sneak a world atlas and a novel from the truck, and am rewarded with yet another a huge smile.

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Photos

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Clouds rolling in across at Chitimba Beach

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A young girl displays her booty from the campsite bins

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Kids jostle for camera time

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One more photo of me!

Comments

[TinNiE]

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Johannesburg :) reminded me of District 9(film) ... nice pics