Malawi

 

DAY THIRTY – 24th October 2010

Chitemba Town Camp

Happy Birthday Kate! 

Kate and Rory are an Aussie couple who we have become good friends with, it was Kate’s birthday today and to make the day even more of a celebration, Rory proposed! 

We left the camp at 7am and hit the road for yet another long day in the truck.  We crossed the boarder into Malawi, no visa required.  Once we had made it through the boarder crossing it was time to start celebrating!!  The last two hours of the trip flew by as everyone had a drink in their hand made water bottle cups – kiwi ingenuity shines again!

 

We arrived at Sunset Chitemba camp at about 4pm which was right on Lake Malawi, a beautiful spot.  Everyone put up their tent and then continued to celebrate at the bar.  We had a birthday dinner with caramel chocolate cake for desert – yummy!

 

DAY THIRTY-ONE – 25th October 2010

Kande Camp

Up and away by 8am.  Our clocks went backwards an hour when we reached Malawi so we got an extra hour sleep.  We stopped at markets on the way were we could trade items of clothing and other bits and pieces we had collected on the way.  We ended up getting a little carried away, there is just so much cool stuff!!

We got:

A wooden bowl – pink shirt, pens and 2000 Kawcha

Two Noahs Arch sets – B & H photo bag which we had picked up for free in New York on our way, pens and $30 USD

Chess table and pieces – two pairs Qantas socks, plastic forks from Europe, grey pants from gorilla trek and $60 USD

The young man who we bought the Chess set from

Not sure how we will get it all home – oh well!

We then stopped at the clothing markets (this is were all our old clothes come to from the clothing bins).  We had to get an outfit for a person of the group to wear which we had drawn out of a hat.  Yes imagine the worst clothes you have ever seen – these were at the top of everyone's list to get!

We arrived at Kande Camp at 4pm, this camp too is right on the lake.  Chris and Sean the two boys from England cooked us fajitas for dinner – there were so so good, Trace is missing her Mexican!

DAY THIRTY-TWO – 26th October 2010

Kande Beach Camp

We couldn’t sleep in – typical! When you have the opportunity to, you can’t!

The sun rises at some ridiculous hour here and then the tent gets hotter and hotter!!

After breakfast we walked down the beach to a kindergarten  which was run by an Australian lady.  The kids were so happy to see us and sang and danced for us.  They were served a massive plate of plain porridge for their meal while we were there, and ate most of it.  Seeing the children like this makes us appreciate home that much more!

It was decided that we would have a wedding celebration tonight with a roast pig for dinner (We hired a guy called Christopher Columbus 2nd (they all have strange names around here some of the others we meet were Donald Duck, Cheese on Toast, Superman and Mr Giraffe) to source, kill, prepare and roast on a spit over some coals. 

The rest of our day was spent reading, soaking up the sun and swimming – tough day at the office!

At 6pm we swapped outfits, Trace ended up with a lovely salmon pink African dress and Mike got a blue jumpsuit with a leopard print skirt – everyone loved his butt in this!!

We held a wedding ceremony for Rory and Kate, with wedding cake and speech – African style.  A fun night was had by all!

     

DAY THIRTY-THREE – 27th October 2010

Kande Beach Camp

Relaxing day . . .  did a bit of washing and updated the blog page. 

In the afternoon we hired a local boat for 500 Kwacha (about $3USD) each (Rory, Kate, Jewels, Tom and Claire).  We all paddled out to the island, the paddles were so small it took us a while to get out there.

We all swum and snorkelled around the island, there were so many pretty fish, Lake Malawi is said to have over 400 species of fish.

For dinner we went to Christopher Columbus 2nd’s house, his wife cooked a local meal of maize, rice, beef stew and beans.  We took a tour around his house and also meet his family along with a bunch of kids from the village who had gathered to see the Mozungos (white tourists).

 

DAY THIRTY-FOUR – 28th October 2010

Steps Beach Camp

Up to see the sunrise, it was so beautiful!  Then back to bed for a few hours before we packed up the tent and had breakfast. 

We left the camp at 8am stopping at the supermarket (very small) on the way.  We arrived at Steps Beach Camp at 1.30pm.  That afternoon we went for a swim and played frizbie, the water was so nice.