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Published: June 18th 2019
Sunset in Cape Maclear
We experienced wonderful sunsets in Cape MaclearColourful fish, rock paintings and more
We continued our vacation in Malawi by going to
Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi has clear water, lots of colourful fish and bilharzia. If you don't swim in the lake you miss out on a great experience, seeing thousands of Malawi cichlids in their right environment, and if you do swim you might get a nasty parasite infection. From what we understand, even if you swim in Lake Malawi the risk of catching bilharzia is actually quite small. Although it is a serious infection it can be treated and the treatment is safe and straightforward. So we decided to swim in the lake and make sure to take bilharzia pills afterwards just to be on the safe side.
Swimming in Lake Malawi was one of the highlights of this trip. Without a doubt it is worth the small risk of getting bilharzia. On top of that we experienced wonderful sunsets and got to see the fishing village Cape Maclear while we were at the lake. The days we spent there is one of those things we will remember for a long time.
From Lake Malawi we went inland
Cape Maclear
Kids playing volleyball in Cape Maclear to the town Dedza. In central Malawi there are more than one hundred sites where they have found old
rock or cave paintings. The oldest of these paintings are believed to be 2000 years or more. Many of them have been damaged by sun, wind and rainwater and it is hard to see what the paintings are supposed to show. But where the paintings have been protected from the environment it is easy to see what is depicted. Usually the paintings show animals such as lizards or giraffes, but some show spears and other tools.
The last days of our trip in Malawi we spent in first Lilongwe, the capital of and the largest city in Malawi, and then in Blantyre, Malawi's second largest city. To be honest, the cities are not very interesting. To go to Malawi and see only these cities, or any other town or city for that matter, would not be worth it. They are useful for practical purposes, such as getting to and from the country. But other than that there strictly isn't much to see. We have posted some photos at the end of this blog entry to give you an idea of what
Bird of pray
A bird of pray in flight. Possibly an osprey we did see there.
As we said, the cities and towns are not very interesting. We of course ended up in them simply because that is where the accommodation, restaurants and other facilities are. But none of the main sights, at least none that we know of, can be found in any city. The highlights in Malawi are all in the countryside and in the national parks.
In the week we had in Malawi we managed to see pretty much everything we wanted to see. Well, there is one more thing that we would have liked to do. That is to take the
ferry on Lake Malawi. It is slow, difficult to make reservations to and supposedly not the most reliable transport you can find. Having said that, if you have the time taking that ferry is probably both really fun and something of an adventure. We would have loved to try it so it is a pity that we didn't have the time. Other than that we feel that we saw what there is to see in Malawi. There are some more national parks and there are some places in the north of Malawi we didn't
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi has clear water, lots of colourful fish and bilharzia. We decided to swim in the lake and make sure to take bilharzia pills afterwards go to. But none of those places really appealed to us.
We had a great time in Malawi and we hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures there.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Love this shot!
You've highlighted a country I knew nothing about - thanks for sharing your trip! You guys are brave swimming in the lake with a known bilharzia risk, but I suppose you have to do what you have to do to get those travel experiences we cherish so much :)