Spent four days in one place! Kande Beach campsite, on the shore of Lake Malawi, by the village of Mbambo. This has been a real highlight of the trip, due to plenty of (very enjoyable) interaction with the local villagers.
Just a couple of minutes' walk from the campsite there was a row of craft stalls where all sorts of things, but mostly Malawi chairs, were being carved and sold. Many of our group spent a long time negotiating prices (to their delight these often included items to barter - literally the shirt off your back), and specifying the designs they would like carved into their chairs. All of this business was conducted sitting in the craft huts, in between being taught to play bao. Since I wasn't buying chairs, I played a lot of bao and had the chance to talk to lots of people and photograph adorable children.
On our second day in Mbambo, we set off early to buy dinner. It was curled up cutely looking at us when we first met it, and tied to a huge stake by the time we eventually got it back to camp. The pig roasted slowly over the fire all day. I took a break or two from tending it (actually sitting around watching Chris do the man-with-big-fire thing) now and then for a swim in the lake. Bilharzia? We play with fear! As the afternoon wore on, it seemed appropriate to finish preparing the punch by chucking a few bottles of pop into the pot where the fruit had been soaking in spirits all day. Then it seemed appropriate to taste it... Suffice to say a good time and lots of pig was had by all. And a very revealing game of 'I have never'.
The lake is beautiful. The only problem was that I kept calling it the sea. It's huge. Waves lap up on the sandy beach... great for swimming and no sticky saltiness!
Another day we played a football match - our truck against the village. I explained that I can't play football, but that made no difference - I was there in the starting line-up. Successfully made contact with the ball, ooh, maybe once. My embarrassing uselessness didn't seem to matter and certainly didn't stop it being great fun. That evening we went for a meal at a villager's house - great to try some local food. After dinner the massed choir of Mbambo's children sang and danced for us and soon had us up dancing and singing too.
On our last night in that campsite I went off to my tent for an early night and a good read. Soon the wind was getting up so I went out to do some re-pegging as the tent started to shudder and sway - not easy to get a firm fix in the sand. Could hear distant thunder and rain was starting to spatter. Was back inside, firmly in the middle of the tent away from potential leaks when the storm hit. It felt tremendous - howling winds making the tent flap and billow and shake, drips coming in... began to wonder whether the tent would last the night - and whose I would run to when mine collapased!
Left that campsite this morning and drove all day to reach Blantyre.
Hope to add photos to this before you see it, but will publish anyway as after tomorrow there will be no internet again for a while.
Everything going pretty well. No bad side-effects from the larium (don't think erotic dreams about my fellow travellers count). Every day think to myself how pleased I am that I had my eyes done. Having clean clothes feels like a luxury... It's a good life.
Just a couple of minutes' walk from the campsite there was a row of craft stalls where all sorts of things, but mostly Malawi chairs, were being carved and sold. Many of our group spent a long time negotiating prices (to their delight these often included items to barter - literally the shirt off your back), and specifying the designs they would like carved into their chairs. All of this business was conducted sitting in the craft huts, in between being taught to play bao. Since I wasn't buying chairs, I played a lot of bao and had the chance to talk to lots of people and photograph adorable children.
On our second day in Mbambo, we set off early to buy dinner. It was curled up cutely looking at us when we first met it, and tied to a huge stake by the time we eventually got it back to camp. The pig roasted slowly over the fire all day. I took a break or two from tending it (actually sitting around watching Chris do the man-with-big-fire thing) now and then for a swim in the lake. Bilharzia? We play with fear! As the afternoon wore on, it seemed appropriate to finish preparing the punch by chucking a few bottles of pop into the pot where the fruit had been soaking in spirits all day. Then it seemed appropriate to taste it... Suffice to say a good time and lots of pig was had by all. And a very revealing game of 'I have never'.
The lake is beautiful. The only problem was that I kept calling it the sea. It's huge. Waves lap up on the sandy beach... great for swimming and no sticky saltiness!
Another day we played a football match - our truck against the village. I explained that I can't play football, but that made no difference - I was there in the starting line-up. Successfully made contact with the ball, ooh, maybe once. My embarrassing uselessness didn't seem to matter and certainly didn't stop it being great fun. That evening we went for a meal at a villager's house - great to try some local food. After dinner the massed choir of Mbambo's children sang and danced for us and soon had us up dancing and singing too.
On our last night in that campsite I went off to my tent for an early night and a good read. Soon the wind was getting up so I went out to do some re-pegging as the tent started to shudder and sway - not easy to get a firm fix in the sand. Could hear distant thunder and rain was starting to spatter. Was back inside, firmly in the middle of the tent away from potential leaks when the storm hit. It felt tremendous - howling winds making the tent flap and billow and shake, drips coming in... began to wonder whether the tent would last the night - and whose I would run to when mine collapased!
Left that campsite this morning and drove all day to reach Blantyre.
Hope to add photos to this before you see it, but will publish anyway as after tomorrow there will be no internet again for a while.
Everything going pretty well. No bad side-effects from the larium (don't think erotic dreams about my fellow travellers count). Every day think to myself how pleased I am that I had my eyes done. Having clean clothes feels like a luxury... It's a good life.
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3 comments:
Pity about your missing pics but your descriptive prose paints a very vivid picture. The quality is such that you should be writin for a travel mag ! seriously! Look ing forward to next instalment M&D
Den
i TOLD you that you should write professionally! Seriously Zoe, you write well - descriptive and funny. Loved the bit about the pig, oh and driving thru the Serengeti brought tears to my eyes. You lucky thing! Kate
Hi Zoe! What a time you are having. I'm envious! Tyson and I are so enjoying hearing all about it. You are a fabulous writer! Really you should submit this stuff to a travel mag. You have found your calling! Can't wait to hear more. We are all fine. Ty and I climbed Mount Kinabalu! Year six challenge nearly done! Yes!! Hugs,Sally and Ty
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