Blogs from Malawi, Africa - page 82

Hi No photos today but just a quick update Life has been great. I have been working hard but playing equally hard, although I am glad I had my own holiday first beacuse it is hard work learning to be a tour guide with so much to remember. So far I have travelled from Jo berg via the okavango delta in Botswana. It was cool because we went out to an island in traditional dug out canoes (mokoros) and bush camped under the stars. We had elephants arount our campsite at night and in the morning one charged our campsite while we were having breakfast and we had to throw a burning stick at it scare it away. After that cool couple of days we went to the Chobe National Park for some game drives and ... read more

Jeudi 27 octobre - Iringa to Chitimba (Malawi) Ce matin nous nous levons avant les oiseaux et bien avant le soleil. Il est 4h30. Nous avons une très longue journée de route à faire. Les gens marchent le long de la route et marchent et marchent. Hommes, femmes, enfants. C’est une procession sans fin de marcheurs, souvent pieds nus, qui défilent devant la fenêtre du camion. Les hommes se déplacent aussi à vélo. De vieux machins tout défraîchis, rouillés mais robustes. Parfois ils poussent des brouettes remplies de marchandises. Les femmes portent des bidons remplis d’eau sur la tête et un enfant attaché dans leur dos dans une couverture. La vie passe. Lorsqu’on arrête sur le bord de la route pour installer nos tables et chaises à pique-nique, les enfants du coin arrivent en courant, comme ... read more

Malawi's markets mean potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and most importantly....fish! Piles and piles of fish! That's enough words for this one.... (But click on Full Text for more pictures) ... read more

25 in 30 minutes. 25 four wheel drive pickups and range rovers emblazoned with UNICEF, DFID, USAID, JICA, UNFPA, PACT, World Vision . . . Even the Icelandic Development Agency has two trucks in Lilongwe, and we saw a few in Monkey Bay as well. That means nearly a dollar from each of the 280,000 Icelanders just for the their country's truck stock in Malawi. OK, so maybe I cheated a little by planting myself at the corner of the South Africa headquartered shop-'til-you-drop superstore, Shoptrite, with a selection to dazzle any development worker, and prices to keep all but the top income decile of Malawians far far away. But sketchy sampling aside, this place is overrun with development trucks. They wind their way around Lilongwe, and from headquarters to home. Every once in a while, ... read more

After another long day in the truck and laborious border crossing we arrived at the first transit campsite en-route to Livingstone. This site was covered in lovely grass making a change from the usual dustbowls we stay in. The only notable moment of our stay here was the whole group playing with the totally crazy resident Jack Russell. This dog would fly headlong at anything he fancied chewing, like a snarling, tooth filled missile.... read more