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Well, Africa was amazing, I am doing today's blog update on Malawi as there is just too much for each place to stick it all into one entry!
Mark and I arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi after our 8 hour flight from London to Nairobi, layover for a couple hours in the AM and then 2.5 hours flight from Nairobi to Lilongwe. We were met by our driver/guide Henry and cook Raphael. We didn't yet realize that they were booked just for us for the first 5 days of our holiday. Henry was quite friendly and informed us about various things in their culture.
We took a few different roads to check out things such as the tobacco farming, etc. It would take us a few hours to get from the airport to Mua Mission where we were destined and in that time saw some of the expected sights like women carrying water/food on their heads, babies tied onto a mom or older child's back with a sarong type of fabric, bathing and clothes washing in the river, etc. It was amazing to see the real life Africa. We saw a few schools that were teaching the children
outside (possibly for a lack of shelter/housing for education) but one group in particular were fascinated by our drive by and decided that they had enough learning. They then followed us and ran alongside our vehicle for what felt like ages, all excited and crazy. It was pretty cool. The downside to a few experiences like that was some felt that we had loads of money so that was their greeting - "Money". It was rather uncomfortable but we were well looked after by our 2 local guys (H and R) and they weren't about to get us in a bad situation.
I learned very quickly that YOU DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE POLICE IN MALAWI WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION. There are a lot of police stop points for reasons such as inspecting the insurance, checking contents of vehicle, targetting speeding, etc. I was quite amused by the one stop because you could see the police stop line well in advance but there were no police officers in sight! When we finally stopped, they all came out from the shade of the tree on the opposite side of the road. I thought, "This is definately one for the photo
Kungoni Art Gallery
One of the interesting carvings I liked...lots of locals at work in this gallery. album". Well, they didn't approve and the picture didn't turn out so I deleted it. The officer wanted to see the picture but I had already deleted it because it was all fuzzy. He walked away with my camera and asked Henry to have me get out of the vehicle and show him the picture. I kept telling him the same thing and he looked all sternly and said - Don't you know that you can't take pictures of police in Malawi? You must at least ask for permission for the picture first. I said, I didn't know that but I wouldn't do it again (especially after that experience). I got off when I had shown him all the pictures on my camera and advised after his prying that we had only been in Malawi for 3 hours. Man, I have never felt so relieved to get away from a cop!
We arrived at Mua Mission in time to get our tent set up, Henry and Raphael looked after us well and did everything. It was a lazy feeling letting them do everything...just for us. We didn't do much the first day, walked to a little waterfall nearby and
Mua School for the Deaf
This was neat, met 2 boys from the school and learned a bit of sign language. mark and I bought a few things from the school that they made personally! WE even got a tour of the school and learned about their education. met a few of the village kids. I had a blast playing soccer with a recycled material ball that they made themselves, joined them barefoot and all! I made so many memories that I will always treasure, brought back an overwhelming feeling of desire for mission work. It surprised me a bit but all in all, I got to have a lot of fun with the kids learning Chichewa, the most commonly spoken language in Malawi. The boys even got me to sing!
Most of the villages I visited had someone that could sew, they had a little sewing machine in nearly every little village/town. I got some fabric and their was a guy who did the sewing at Mua. I managed to get a dress made especially for me for about US $7 including labour and fabric. Mark and I enjoyed a lot of cokes, didn't learn until later that they make the Coke in Malawi from Lake Malawi and it's known to be the best! The food we had was phenomenal, ate like royalty while camping out in Africa.
We visited the Kungoni Cultural & Art Centre, had a good tour and learned about the tribes
in Malawi. Malawi is one country in Africa that has never got involved in wars, the people are known to be extremely friendly. Also, I found that Malawi and Zambia were strongly rooted in Christian faith, most everyone was totally open about that which was absolutely refreshing!
After a time in Mua, we moved on to Lake Malawi - Chembe Eagles Nest. It was more of a tourist spot but it's off season so it wasn't really busy. The beaches were gorgeous, felt like paradise! It felt weird as I didn't expect that kind of beauty in Africa as I always just pictured the people and animals. Anyhow, we got to do a katamaron experience on the lake and went snorkeling. I ended up extremely burned and after a busy day doing a few things with Henry, I ended up getting sunstroke. It was a bit scary for everyone but I recovered after some time, ate dinner and ended up being crazy enough to hit the Gecko Lounge with a few locals. There was an African band playing and i was determined to try the new experiences there while I had a chance. The planned 30 minute stop turned
Lake Malawi Sunset
Gorgeous. Lots of boaters on this lake which makes it even more lovely. into several hours but it was a blast. The music wasn't what I had expected and I don't think the Africans would even claim it as their music but the instruments were quite interesting, made of whatever recycled items. There was a normal guitar being played though. It was a cool experience and then I tried to get a bit of sleep before the long day of driving that was ahead of us.
We left Lake Malawi for Lilongwe, stayed overnight at Lilongwe Sanctuary campsite. Mark was also very ill at this point so between the two of us, we made a terribly ill pair. He was having trouble breathing though so despite my feeling awfully burnt and suffering, his ailment was more concerning. He managed to contact a DR in the UK, got some advice he could follow and things got better from there on out. We had our first night camping with the animals - hyenas.
The next morning we got our stuff ready to be packed up and waited for our ride out. We were able to go to the Animal Sanctuary, they basically rescue animals that are reported/found to be in illegal captivity or
Boats made out of a carved tree!
I thought these boats were really interesting. cages that are too small. They have a cool looking animal hospital as well. We got to see a few cool animals (lioness/leopard/python/crocodile), of course - I was over the moon with the monkeys! After that tour, we hurried back to the campsite for breakfast and we left to meet the new group/guide for the Zambian part of our trip. I was really suffering from my sunburn, couldn't handle any sun at all so I wore my goofy hat and Mark switched the sunny side of the vehicle for me which was good. I couldn't sit with my back against the chair either...ouch. We would travel to Zambia with 3 people from Utah - Tenly (Peace Corps volunteer), Ted and Cynthia (her visiting parents) and a random guy from India, Anan. Our new guide was Ben. He advised us that he was the best driver in the world. INterestingly, he nearly got a speeding ticket about 1 hour into the drive, we had a short stop but he was able to get out of it because his wife is a cop. I suppose that comes in handy!
Well, that is some of what I experienced in Malawi, I will write more about Zambia in my next blog in a day or so. Hope you've enjoyed these stories. Hugs, C
I have updated my videos on www.youtube.com - search Wonstable and there are a few videos from AFrica. I will put more on during the week as well.
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