Blogs from Northern, Malawi, Africa - page 4

After checking out of our rooms In morning, we stayed most of the day laying in the sun on the floating platform on the lake. After noon we had to catch a mini bus leaving for Mzuzu, ‘Blackie’ the dog from the previous day followed us all the way to the bus bay. We embarqued on our minibus, this one I named the ‘mini bus that could’. This beat up hunk of junk was a 16 passenger van filled with 21 adults plus a kid in it. The back door had to be tied down in order to be kept shut and the side door fell off when we arrived in Mzuzu. Going up the mountains it had to be put into first gear and it climbed at about a speed of 5km/h. Going up the ... read more

The following morning we walked into town for some breakfast near the market. After fueling up mike and I decided to go for a hiked up a mountain dirt road that continued past the Mayoka lodge. As we gained elevation the gradient steepened and the view below of the bay got better and better. We got escorted to the top by a local who we met as we were passing him on the road. He lead us to a small village at the top where he left us to continue his daily errands. Soon enough we were accompanied by a black dog who the locals called “Blackie”. The dog led us through the trails up and around the hills. After about 1 ½ hr we decided to head back to the lodge for some lunch, ... read more

Our first two weeks in Mzuzu allowed us time to get settled in, familiarize ourselves with the surrounding areas and start our work at the university. On the third night, our supervisor and head of the Land Management department, ‘Lucky’ had invited us all to his house for a big feast. The table held a buffet of delicious traditional Malawian food. The following days, we got our work figured out for the remainder of the school semester, I am teaching an introductory course in hydrography (aka ocean mapping) and geodesy. The first weekend we spent in here in Mzuzu to organize our lectures and lesson plans. I also went for my first trail run, were I escaped outside the campus gates to explore the surrounding areas. I made my way down a secondary school campus and ... read more

This morning I woke up to the heavy rainfall, I was a little disappointed because I had hoped to take my first swim in the lake. After breakfast we headed towards the pottery shop down the road. Here we got to witness the local artist and potters at work. We latter embarked in our passenger van to continue our drive to Mzuzu.On our way to Mzuzu the scenery just got better and better as our van made its way up the mountain passes. Near the top we drove beside a “rubber tree” forest, where the rubber is made. The people on the side of the road where selling soccer- sized rubber balls. Before arriving to Mzuzu we took a detour and lunch into Nakhata bay, a beautiful beach town along Lake Malawi. Our final drive to ... read more

One of our interns met a local worker from Ireland who invited us to a full moon party at a nearby village where Madonna supposedly does some of her volunteer work. On our way there we passed by Malawi’s president’s house and soon after the pavement ended and we had to ‘off road ‘ our way through the rough terrain to arrive at our destination. The party took place in a ‘middle of nowhere’ area where a camp fire, a liquor bar and barbeque under straw huts we set up. At the barbeque hut, a Japanese family prepared some sushi for the occasion. I could tell after my first bite into my sushi roll, my night was off to a good start. A local Malawian band consisting or three acoustic guitars, an electric base, a couple ... read more