Relaxing in Malawi

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We are in a campsite now on the edge of lake Malawi, in a place called Kande Beach. The lake takes up 20% of the country - it looks like a sea as it has waves in, but it's lovely freshwater and we get to bath in it as it's nicer than the showers in the campsite! We are here for 3 days and then we travel down to Lilongwe, the capital for a night. We then head to Mozambique for a couple of nights, so that we can organise our visas for Zimbabwe.

Some of us went on a village walk to see what life was really like for the local people. I wasn't sure if to go at first as I thought it might be a bit "staged" but I'm really pleased that I did as it certainly opened my eyes to what life is really like outside of our protected campsites. Our guide for the few hours was “Harry Potter”, we’d learnt previously that many of the guys who own stalls change their names to make it easier for the tourists to understand & remember them, we’d already met Donald Duck, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Happy Coconut and a guy who wasn’t allowed to change his name otherwise his mum said that she would thrown him out, so he was just “Peter”-bless! We went to the church as it was Sunday and joined in with congregation who were clapping and dancing - we then went to the hospital, where they only have 1 doctor and two nurses - they see on average 150 outpatients every day, as well as having 50 in-patients as well. The nurse we spoke to hated her job - they had no supplies, no antibiotics, and little equipment - we went into a ward - it was like stepping back in time, to something like we had in the UK about 50 years ago. The local school was a similar story - they have 1,500 pupils and only 9 teachers - but the children are so eager to learn that they have a 95% attendance rate - not like the UK at all! We went into a couple of the houses which were so basic, Harry Potter explained that in this particular village they have 15 orphans, the orphans are moved out to the villages from nearby towns so that they can be looked after by families, most of the young parents either die from HIV or malaria.

Whilst I was doing this Sam was away on a catamaran with the boys - although by the time I came back (3 hours later) they looked as though they hadn't moved an inch (apparently this was deliberate)!

We had a couple of nights in Lilongwe. The wooden souvenirs are supposed to be the best quality here in Malawi so everyone was purchasing bowls, tables, animals etc - I’m not sure how some people are going to get everything home! In the meantime our visas came through, although when we got to the Mozambique border we were baffled as to why we needed them, as most people were walking through the border with something that resembles an old school exercise book to get stamped and not a passport in sight!

We were driving along the “tete corridor” in Mozambique which used to be the old gun run route, really just cutting through the top corner so we didn’t really see much of the country, from what we did see though it looks like a very hard existence. We bush camped for a night before heading off to Zimbabwe. I can't wait for Zimbabwe, we've heard so many amazing things about it since we have been on the trip - I think it is somewhere that we really overlooked before starting, but I think it might turn out to be a favourite….

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Photos

Very dapper
The vicar on his way to church

Harry Potter
Cooking up a potion - in the form of home brew, which he says is usually all gone in 2 days!

Our beds for the next 8 weeks
They are actually very comfy!

We are sailing
Sam and Rich on their slow boat!

Bush camping
It's a bit of a competition to see who can get the biggest fire!