Tanzania to Malawi

Other than a fearsome haircut from the butcher of Zanzibar, left the island without incident. Next time I'll swot up on the Swahili for "Just a trim" - luckily I managed to remember and sputter out the word for stop - simama! simama! - while I still had a little stubble. Oh yes, one other incident - an internet cafe wiped out my memory card with a virus, losing me 1kb of photos. Hey ho.

So instead of risking card again have burned a cd - only to find myself in a place where the computers have no cd drives. So you'll just have to look back for the photos when I add them.

After Zanzibar and one night back near Dar es Salaam, we headed South through Tanzania. First through a lush tropical landscape and then as the road climbed the land became drier and scrubbier again. Climbing more, the air started to feel cold and fresh and there were stunning views. We drove for some time through a rocky alpine area where sunflowers were being grown along with some more wild looking white-flowered plants. All very Swiss Alpish. Half expected Julie Andrews to come skipping down the hillside to freedom.

From there we descended into an absolutely stunning valley, bordering Udzangwa National Park, where the road snaked along above the river. On either side scrubby trees grew, and between them, dwarfing them, bizarrely grandiose leafless baobab trees rose. Their twisted, bulbuous trunks were topped with ever decreasing branches and they looked like large vegetable roots growing upside down out of the ground. We camped amongst all this - possibly the most beautiful campsite I have ever seen. I could happily have stayed there a month. It was nothing but a space between the trees with a shower and candlelit toilet, and it was perfect. We watched the sun go down and the clear sky fill with millions of stars. A sight which may have been made even more mind-boggling by the consumption of a quantity of Zimbabwean cane spirit.

In the morning we drove to Iringe, then on through Mbeya, and a small town which I suspect may be the banana capital of Tanzania. Again, the scenery stunned at every turn. Gaining altititude once more, we were shrouded in a very wet mist, then descended through the rain to find a bush camp site, just short of the Malawi border.

Within minutes of arriving, we had been joined by dozens of children who had a great time playing with a football Chris gave them and generally running round in a state of high excitement trying to steal cutlery while we tried to put up tents, cook, erect a tarp for cooking under in the pouring rain and dark. The kids were great fun but somewhat exuberant - somewhere in the course of all this, my tent was knocked down. Yes, I had put it up properly! By the time I found it (hard in the dark when you are looking for what you expect to be a vaguely vertical structure), it contained three inches of water and a couple of frogs so I opted to sleep in the truck. Hopping out for a pee, I found myself calf-deep in a puddle and loved it. There was a real scooby-doo thunderstorm - you know, where the lightning is coming so thick and fast that it's never quite dark, and the thunder rumbles and grumbles and growls incessantly. The rain drumme on the roof, even drowning out the sound of the frogs and I fell asleep damp and blissfully happy.

The next morning was a stunning one. The sun beat down as we crossed the border into Malawi. Sitting up front in the cab I enjoyed even more wonderful views. Malawi is quite heart-achingly beautiful. Chris pumped up the music - some fabulous African stuff - and the whole world seemed to smile. People here seem friendlier than anywhere, smiling, waving, calling welcomes. The sun, the people, the music, the landscape... sounds naff, but it made my heart sing. Lake Malawi appeared before us - the far side not visible 40km away. We crawled up a steep and winding road, round potholes and sleeping cows, and eventually in the early evening we reached our campsite on the shore of Lake Malawi, at Mbambo, about 50k south of Nkhata Bay.

I thought that the driving might be tiresome, but the three driving days from Dar to Mbambo have been fantastic.

Will backdate this (it's actually the 19th today) and write some more catch-up soon. And go back and add photos. Thanks for your lovely comments, Kate. And for the wide african skies.