31st - 3rd May/June 2009 – Mzuzu, Malawi

We can't believe that June is already here! Time is passing so quickly!

Again the border crossing was trouble free, they seem to be getting quicker and quicker! We were heading south towards Mzuzu, the drive was beautiful, and Lake Malawi is huge, I would have sworn it was the ocean if I hadn't known!

We found Mzoozoozoo camp, about 2 quid a night each! Again there was a bar there so you can imagine the next few days were mostly spent in there!!.......We did manage to visit a charity and a school though!

After spending a few nights in Mzuzu and partying every night! ( I'll avoid putting any of those pictures on the site!) We decided to head to the quieter camp on Nkhata Bay, Big Blue Star Camp again costing 2 quid a night each, a really peaceful camp right on the beautiful Lake Malawi.

4th - 7th June 2009, Nkhata Bay, Lake Malawi

After a couple of days at the atmosphere less Big Blue, we decided to move onto the Butterfly Space, owned by two British girls Josie and AJ. The place had a much nicer feel, and was on a more beautiful spot on the lake, so we settled into a couple of Dorm rooms. Later on we went to the resort next door and indulged in an all you can eat BBQ buffet.

We managed to spend the next couple of days doing bugger all and just relaxing on the lake and doing a bit of snorkelling. We made a couple of attempts to get out onto the Lake, the first was hugely unsuccessful and highly embarrassing as we tried to stay upright in a dug out canoe used daily by the locals. The record after an hour or so of trying was about ten seconds, so after that we decided to rent a Canadian Canoe for a couple of hours, and actually made it out onto the Lake with some great views of the shore.

8th - 9th June 2009, Kande Beach, Lake Malawi

We finally found the energy to leave the super-relaxed Butterfly Space, only to drive an hour futher south to Kande Beach, reportedly the most beautiful spot on the Lake. Needless to say we spent another couple of days catching up on some chores, and playing in the Lake.

 
  Unbelivably, this is the moon!

10th - 11th June 2009, Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi

We left Kande beach after a late breakfast, and set off on the 6 hour drive south along the Lake toward Monkey Bay. The drive was a beautiful one taking us on dusty roads through remote villages.

After reaching Monkey Bay, and unable to agree on a price with any of the locals for a room, we drove a further 20km to a small village called Cape Maclear, right on the Southern tip of the Lake and settled at a place called Fat Monkeys, popular with Overlanders. The camp was lovely but within minutes of arriving we managed to upset a very highly strung South African Pensioner who moaned we had parked the Landy too close to theirs, and even though we moved it and tried to make peace we got that attitude from him for the rest of the night. Hannah managed to dedicate two whole pages of her diary to this Guy.

The Football Africa guys had gone further South to Blantyre, so we decided to stay a couple more days on the beach reading, and enjoying the amazing sunsets.

12th - 13th June 2009, Zomba Plateau, Malawi

After spending more than a week on the Lakes various beaches we felt that was enough R&R and that it was time to do something active, so we decided to drive three hours south to the Zomba Plateau which supposedly had some decent Hiking. We passed throgh many town on the way, the women here carry their babies in pouches on their backs, it seems that 80% of the women here have a baby strapped to them....or balancing something hugly heavy on their heads! Or both!

Arriving in the small town of Zomba we quickly drove up to around 2000m, and found a nice camp site called the Trout Farm, deep in the huge Pine forest. After a quick lunch we set off on a 3 hour round trip to a spot called Williams Falls. It felt good to be out in the open air being active, and before long we spotted the biggest line of Ants either of us had EVER seen. Literately millions of Ants going about their business, so we stopped to take a few pictures of the spectacle, then a few minutes further up the track we both could feel strange biting sensations all in our shoes, up our legs, into our pants, these were'nt ants as we lnow them either, they were huge red ants with a nasty nip! Anybody looking on would have seen me and Han with our trousers round our ankles brushing these little biting Ants from our bodies.

We eventually reached the Waterfalls, took our photos and headed back to the camp. Due to the altitude the temperature quickly dropped, so as Han made the classic Baked Beans for tea I made a Fire and we sat out under the spectacular display of stars.

Our final day in the beautiful country of Malawi, we made the 4 hour drive up to the Capital, Lilongwe, where we would stay the night before making the move for the border tomorrow.