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MALAWI
The Warm Heart of Africa.
9th September
We left our friends Torsten and Christina in Mozambique as they wanted to spend a little longer by the beach there with Sylvie but we will meet up with them later in Malawi.
On the way to the border crossing at Milanje, we stopped at a tiny village to buy 8 bread rolls where the man behind the stall, carefully placed them on two dishes, 4 on each, before handing them to me. Local boys were trying to sell me palm woven baskets so I bought one for only 15 metical, it will be useful when shopping in the markets. More friendly people gathered round to see what we were buying and to make sure that we were heading the right way for Milanje.
A new, tarred road was very welcome after the dusty, sand track that began in Namacurra. We passed more damaged and blackened buildings, sad reminders of the war. We have passed many of these on our journey through Mozambique, some boarded up but never inhabited, for fear of landmines.
The tar road finally gave up altogether and the last 200 kilometres was on another long and winding, sandy track that seemed to go on forever, past numerous thatched huts and fields of crops. The mountain range ahead of us in Malawi loomed larger, with Mount Mulanje ahead of us in a haze. Formalities at both borders went very smoothly, with more polite, smiling and helpful Malawian people welcoming us into their country.
One of the smallest countries in Africa, Malawi is tucked between three giants, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. It is a poor country, having one of the highest population densities per sq. kilometre in Africa. Tobacco, sugar and tea are the main exports with some coffee also grown.
There was a thriving market just over the border into Malawi and then emerald fields of tea plantations with low, leafy bushes stretched away on both sides of the road with the backdrop of Mount Mulanje on our right. The small town of Milanje is the centre of Malawi's tea growing industry.
We stopped at the Mulanje Golf Club for camping and parked on their large, front lawn amongst the blossom trees. We had a view of the mountains in front of us, turning pink in the sunset. We decided to eat in the bar/restaurant of the club house and our meal was wheeled in on a trolley and then served by a friendly waiter with impeccable manners. It had been another long day of driving from 7.30 a.m. to almost 5.30 p.m. by the time we arrived at the Golf Club. Tomorrow will be a busy day (although not for us), as a golfing tournament will be taking place in the grounds.
10th September
Wonderful showers this morning in the main clubhouse with a bathroom that was so large, there was room for easy chairs and even a bed!
We opted for tea and toast afterwards, served up once again from a trolley in the big hall. One of the local boys asked if he could do our washing, every little bit of extra cash helps these guys and so I handed it over gratefully. People had been arriving here soon after daylight to put the finishing touches to the golf course before the big tournament.
We however, spent a relaxing day, catching up on jobs and meeting with Joseph, a local boy who called in with the hope that we would like to take him as a guide and visit the waterfall on Mulanje and maybe continue to hike higher up the mountain. Anything that Joseph earns, helps him to continue his secondary schooling that has to be paid for in Malawi. Many young people find it really hard to finish their education because of this and then are unable to find work. Malawians put great importance on their education.
11th September
We left about 7.30 a.m. with Joseph but had to stop first and buy some food for lunch, as we would be out for most of the day. This was not easy at the sparsely stocked shops and I trekked around quite a few with him until we eventually found some bread and plain cakes and some very expensive cheese. We then went behind the shops to a small market where we found bananas and tomatoes.
We drove the 10 kilometres to Likabulah Forestry Camp where we could leave the Land Rover in a secure parking area. More local guys wanted to wash it and sell us carved walking sticks and pens. We bought a pen and agreed on a price for Moby to be washed.
Mulanje Mountain is a granite inselberg, in fact it is one of the largest inselbergs in the world at just over 3000 metres, as well as the tallest peak in south-central Africa. It dates back some 130 million years and dominates the plains of southern Malawi with its precipitous cliffs. It has a variety of animals and plants, many of which are unique and habitats range from woodland, evergreen forest, grassland, marsh and river. One plant has special and symbolic significance, the Mulanje Cedar, designated Malawi's national tree in 1984. Felling over many decades however, has sadly reduced the once extensive cedar forests. The 3002 metre summit known as Sapitwa, can be hiked to and there are several huts, originally built by the forestry department to house visiting officers, that can now offer basic facilities for climbers.
Joseph was an excellent guide pointing out many different trees, birds and butterflies and waiting patiently whilst we had frequent stops to get our breath. The climb was very steep and our shopping had delayed our start, so by the time we got to the point where we should either turn off to visit the waterfall or continue up the Chambe Plateau path, that could take another 2-4 hours, it was obvious we were not going to make the latter plus a descent, within a reasonable time. We chose to visit the waterfall, a pretty area with a wooden deck to sit on and where we shared lunch and chatted with other hikers.
We returned to a very clean Land Rover and found our travelling companions Torsten, Christina and Sylvie, also at the Golf Club when we got back.
12th September
We got chatting to Rob this morning who had left Zimbabwe for a safer home in Malawi, until he is able to return. He was a manager at the Lujeri Tea Estates at Sayama and kindly invited us all for a tour around the factory before we left. Tea is Malawi's second biggest export crop after tobacco and is grown mostly in Thyolo and the Mulanje areas.
We spent a very interesting time following the whole process, starting from where the tractors were unloading sacks of freshly picked leaves from their trailers, to where we could taste the graded tea before it was packed into large, specially lined, brown, paper sacks. The entire process, using lots of sophisticated machinery, was to extract moisture from the leaves. Many thanks Rob and also for the tea. We must now buy a teapot and strainer to enjoy it!
We drove to Blantyre that stretched for about 20 kilometres merging into Limbe, its sister city. We found Doogles for camping. Very friendly people but not somewhere we would return to, after discovering that the camping area was really just the very small and crowded car park which became even busier as the evening progressed, with people arriving for the popular bar and restaurant.
13th September
We decided to head out of the centre of town and try camping at the Country Club at Limbe, where we were told we could camp on the edge of the playing fields and enjoy space, green fields and trees and watch the locals (if they could afford the annual membership fee), go through their training sessions for football and hockey.
The outside toilets were spruced up for us and when the water quickly ran out in the shower rooms in the old clubhouse (which had obviously seen better days), we were given the use of the showers in the new clubhouse where it was like entering another world! There, we had the luxury of carpets, colour co-ordinated curtains, fluffy roller towels and even 3 moth balls in each plughole in the wash basins, to prevent nasty smells! It was a long walk from our camping area but worth it!
14th September
We returned to Blantyre today on our own but will meet up with Torsten and family again later. We visited the church of St. Michael and All Angels. Built in 1891 by Scottish Missionaries using timber and local, handmade bricks, it had a basilica dome, arches, pillars, towers and beautiful windows and doorways. Although it has received some renovation, today it is very much how it looked when it was first completed. It was certainly a magnificent building from whichever side you looked.
We also visited PAMET (Paper Making Education Trust) in Chilembwe Road and made a tour of the workshop. This was a very interesting project set up to provide communities with income generating activities, through paper making and recycling.
It was fascinating to see how the local people made such beautiful papers using banana leaves, baobab bark, hessian fibres and even elephant dung collected from Liwonde National Park! They then used these materials to make a lovely range of papers, cards and albums that were for sale in their little shop. Paper not good enough for the above, was made into firebricks. A very inspiring project!
15th September
We planned to drive to the Zomba Plateau today, Malawi's oldest forest reserve. We stopped in the town of Zomba, once the capital of Malawi until the mid-1970s, and bought some strawberries from a roadside seller that were wonderfully sweet. As we drove up the steep, winding road, there were many such sellers with bowls of other various soft fruit, gooseberries, raspberries and loganberries as well as strawberries.
We somehow managed to take the old road during this steep climb, which we discovered, on reaching the other end, was now closed to traffic. It had certainly been a bit hair-raising at times with the narrow, rough track crumbling at the edges in many places and falling away to precipitous drops on our right! We stopped at the Ku Chawe Hotel, a really beautiful place, set in lovely gardens on the edge of the plateau. Built from brick and heavy timbers, we walked through the cool interior and sat on an outside terrace to have apple pie and cream, tea and coffee....what a treat!
After our little bit of luxury, we drove on to the Trout Farm for camping. It was a beautiful setting in a field by a stream lined with lush, green ferns, woodland with large tree ferns on one side and pine forests on the other. There were thatched lapas with tables and chairs and wood-fired showers and we were given an interesting tour of the trout farm by Kingsley, who had been working there for a number of years.
16th September
We went for a hike with Kingsley today but it soon became clear that deforestation was sadly a major problem here. Large areas containing the beautiful indigenous cedar trees had been cleared, creating huge, bare areas on the hillsides. We very soon had to leave the woodland path that we started out on because of massive cedar trees laying across it. We took a detour to see a small waterfall and then climbed higher to the Queen's View. This would have been wonderful had it not been so hazy, as on a clear day, you can look across the plains to the mountains of Mulanje. We walked back through pine forests where these trees are being planted to replace the cedar trees. The Trout Farm had hundreds of tiny seedlings in black, plastic pots to be planted out when bigger. On our return, we discovered that Torsten, Christina and Sylvie had arrived at the campsite.
17th September
We drove to Liwonde National Park, leaving Torsten and family to enjoy another day at the Trout Farm. A sand track took us the 28 kilometres from the Park gate to the Mvuu Wilderness Lodge and campsite.
Whilst having lunch in our camping area, we had to leap from our chairs as a snake moved towards us very quickly across the open sand. It made straight for our chairs and wound itself around one of the legs! Once it had moved well away, we showed photos of it to one of the Park guides and were assured that it had not been poisonous!
Mvuu has been built on the banks of the River Shire, looking across to tall reed beds where hippos were honking and fish eagles calling. This river is the focus of the park, cutting through its western edge and providing green flood plains and forage for the park's animals in the dry season but making roads impassable in the wet. The woodland and thicket behind the lodge was full of beautiful baobabs, milk bush (a tall succulent) and the Borassus Palms with their large, fan-shaped leaves, a very different environment to other parks that we had been in. It was extremely hot however and the tsetse flies were a real nuisance as soon as we opened windows. We went for a drive late afternoon, along tracks following the northern route by the river. We saw many different antelope, warthogs grazing, numerous hippos in the shallows and crocodiles sunning themselves on the sandbanks. Over 400 species of birds have been recorded in the park, so it is a popular place for bird enthusiasts. A few black rhino are also protected in a separate area of the park. There was a beautiful sunset over the river but we didn't see elephants, although we knew there were many in the park.
18th September
The tsetse flies were really unpleasant again in the morning, so we left the park and took the road out of Liwonde toward Mangochi, at the southern end of the lake. Huge baobabs continued each side of the road, low hills on our left and Lake Malombe on our right sparkling in the sunshine. We passed many stalls at the sides of the road selling baskets and large mats woven from palm leaves.
We stopped at Nkhudzi Lodge on the way to Monkey Bay and camped on the green lawns of Pam and Amilcare Cominetti's lovely garden, with our first views of beautiful Lake Malawi. Steps led down to a narrow strip of sandy beach with palm trees and thatched sunshades. There was a thatched bar and restaurant next to the beach and we enjoyed an excellent meal there in the evening. A cool breeze blew in from the lake and lights way out on the water indicated fishermen in their boats. Pam and Amilcare and their friendly staff, made sure we felt very much at home.
Malawi was previously known as Nyasaland which means 'Land of the Lake', the name given by Dr Livingstone in 1859. With independence in 1964 Nyasaland became Malawi.
When Livingstone first saw Lake Nyasa (as it was then called), he thought it so beautiful that he called it 'A Lake of Stars'.
Lake Malawi is the 3rd largest lake in Africa and it resembles an inland sea, covering one-fifth of the country, 500 kilometres long and varying in width from 60-80 kilometres. It lies at the southern tip of the Great Rift Valley that created the low depression that filled with water to become the lake. Brightly coloured cichlid fish abound in the southern part of the lake.
We followed Pam's directions to make a visit to Utaweleza Farm, a thriving, church industry where local people grow vegetables, bake bread, make biscuits and pizzas and also make crafts in a workshop and everything is for sale. The fresh basil was a real find and we had it with some of their tomatoes and hot bread rolls for our lunch.... wonderful!
20th September
We retraced our journey to pick up the M10, a sandy, stony and corrugated track that finally changed to tar just before the M5 for Salima, which turned out to be a fairly big and busy town, with wide, tree-lined streets.
Salima was our main destination in Malawi where we were looking forward to contacting and meeting Pastor Bob Mapemba on our arrival. A few years back, Bob's church group had been meeting in a very dilapidated school building and he needed help for this to change. From his many letters to other Christians in the UK and USA, only one person became involved, Chris Knott from Kent, now Chairman of the charity Starfish Malawi. Since then, many people have become involved, ourselves included, other individuals, businesses, churches and many schools, all contributing generously in different ways to help a whole community that had been suffering from poverty. Many thanks to Pluckley School where I taught for many years, for your continued support with Starfish, your help is still needed badly.
We were excited at the prospects of seeing for ourselves, the many projects that have been achieved by Starfish, meeting many of the people from the community and hopefully helping in some ways ourselves. Chris Knott and a small team were also arriving in Salima on 5th October for a Pastors Conference and so we were looking forward to meeting up with them in between their busy schedule.
We continued from Salima about 20 kilometres out to Senga Bay where we camped at the Steps Campsite belonging to the very attractive Livingstonia Beach Hotel, set amidst lovely gardens and right on the sandy shore of the lake. The adjoining campsite was set in a spacious, grassed area with many trees for shade, excellent ablutions and also right on the edge of the lake. Bob Mapemba and Emmanuel (the financial controller and school co-ordinator), joined us later for a drink and we arranged to visit both of the schools that Starfish have helped.
21st September
Very windy today and the usually calm and blue Lake Malawi, has shown just how quickly it can change with the weather and how true is its description of an 'inland sea', as today huge, grey waves were crashing on to the shore.
We met Emmanuel in town and visited Kaputu School with him first. Starfish has made a huge difference there, by financing the building of a new office block, new brick classrooms and toilet facilities and housing accommodation for some of the teaching staff. Starfish has also funded an extra teacher also called Rosemary and I just loved her colourful, African clothes! Many children arrive at school without any breakfast and would therefore be without food until the evening. Starfish has made sure that all children now get a full bowl of hot, maize meal porridge at their different break times. This is either cooked outside in huge pots on an open fire with big logs delivered by two boys in an ox cart, or if the weather is not so good, the 'kitchen' is moved to a small, corrugated iron hut. One last, very old building remains which was part of the original school and this needs to be demolished. It is hoped that in its place, a kitchen with an adjoining room will be built, so that the children will have somewhere to eat inside in bad weather, particularly when the rainy season arrives.
We were taken around all the classrooms by the Deputy Head Teacher and gradually introduced to all the children and the rest of the teachers. Most classes had between 60-80 children and it was great to see all the unwanted school furniture that Chris has had forwarded from various schools in the UK. However, many children were still sharing 3, 4 or 5 to a desk or table. Many were still without exercise books in which to write, or had only one in which all subjects had to be written. The Government has not supplied these and textbooks were also being shared again with 4 or more children to one book but amazingly without any problem! The children put great importance upon their learning and showed great respect for their teachers. They always stood when we entered and greeted us in unison!
The improved facilities from Starfish for both children and teachers left us feeling truly inspired and humbled. These children have so little compared with what we take for granted in the UK. No crayons or felt pens, no paints or paper. I am sure the paintings that these children would produce would be wonderful and would certainly brighten up the bare walls in their classrooms.
Because of the lack of resources, most lessons are 'speaking and listening' centred around the blackboard and a few textbooks. Discipline is not a problem however, as schooling is so important to their lives. We were full of admiration for the wonderful teaching staff! They were very keen for Bill and I to take a lesson each the following week and so I was handed a Teacher's book for an English lesson with a Standard 6 class of approx. 80 children aged between 9 and 13 years and Bill chose an athletics lesson with two Standard 5 classes, so that would be more than 100 children!! As Emmanuel was waiting to take us to visit Simayiwa Junior School, we promised to arrive on Monday at 8 a.m. for the lessons.
Simayiwa School is a completely new school and once again funded by Starfish. Building started in January of this year, with 3 new classroom blocks completed and a 4th presently under construction. Another wonderful achievement!
22nd September
Today, Emmanuel is taking us to visit the Glad Tidings Orphan Care (GTOC) at the church gathering hall. Most of the children were at school when we arrived but a nursery teacher had a group of all pre-school children, apart from two boys who had been sent home from school because they did not have a uniform. Some of the children were shy and just watched silently with large eyes, whilst others quickly became confident and held on to our hands with big smiles. There was little Frank, who loved to be the centre of attention and who obviously had an excellent memory and absorbed things well. He was the leader for most of the songs that they performed for us and couldn't be caught in the circle game of chase that they played. He was a quick thinker with a cheeky grin and quickly latched on to me and followed me everywhere.
Some of these children have one parent but many have neither and are looked after by relatives, who may already have a large family of their own that they are struggling to feed and clothe.
We saw another line of fresh leaves today across one of the paths near the orphanage and were told they indicated another death in the village. The average life expectancy in Malawi is sadly only about 38 years. Most die from AIDS and also malaria.
I think the photos on our website of these children, say it all.
We promised we would be back tomorrow for their special Saturday morning gathering with more children from the nearby villages.
We left with Emmanuel, as he wanted to show us a 5 acre piece of land bought by Starfish, a little further back down the road at nearby Losiyati village. Three acres of this land is being used to grow mainly maize and cassava for the Orphan Care and there are also a few banana and mango trees. Two, hand dug wells supply water and at present, water is pumped from these using a small petrol pump and a treadle pump that needs a lot of man power! A new and properly constructed well, is desperately needed. We were introduced to William (Chairman of GTOC) and Levi, a retired teacher there.
23rd September
We have been travelling now for 1 year and it was lovely to celebrate by returning to the Orphan Care and spend the morning with all the children and ten, wonderful ladies from nearby villages, who have volunteered to help regularly at the centre.
We were guests of honour, given chairs at the front with William and Emmanuel and joined in prayers and hymns that were sung with much rhythm, clapping, drumming and body movement! All the children then had a bowl of porridge made with maize flour, water, sugar and salt with groundnuts added for protein. The women made this in huge, black pots over wood fires. Skipping games and a tug of war were then organised and prayers ended the morning's activities. Little Frank was by our sides whenever he could but we discovered that he was not old enough to start school yet, so our plans to get him a uniform sadly could not take place. However, quiet little Michael who had been sent home from school yesterday did need help, so we got permission to take him into town with Emmanuel to buy material for a school shirt. We found this in a shop near the market, where the dark interior was full of lengths of beautiful, African cloth hanging from the walls and ceiling, as well as rolls of green and orange needed for Michael's shirt. One of the tailors sitting outside with his sewing machine took a few measurements and told us to come back in about an hour. We spent this time visiting the market where Michael chose himself a T-shirt and shorts and after a hard search, we finally found him some well-made sandals. We returned to our tailor and waited whilst he sewed on the buttons, then a final press with a large, old iron full of hot coals, dipped into a bowl of water every now and then to make sure it didn't burn the cloth! Michael was very different to Frank but we did manage a few, quiet words from him and a couple of smiles. However, I'm sure he felt very pleased with himself and he can now attend school on Monday.
24th September
We had a relaxing day today at the campsite catching up on jobs. We bought a fish from a local guy by the lake and were given some sweet bread by a Chinese family from Lilongwe, who had come for a picnic. Sadly however, there was a very tragic ending to the day. An Indian man drowned near the large rocks at one end of the lake. He was pulled from the water but could not be revived.
25th September
Up soon after 5:30 a.m. as we needed to get to Kaputu School for our lessons. Normally this would be a daunting task with such large classes but the children were all so eager to learn that I thoroughly enjoyed my English lesson and the athletics lesson that I joined in with was just as much fun! We took all the children on to a patch of dry, dusty ground to practise sprinting and passing batons for a relay race. It was amazing how fast they could run whether barefoot or in their flip-flops! We both had great admiration for the staff who teach under such difficult conditions without resources, apart from a blackboard and chalks and a few text books. The children were all so well-behaved and appreciative.
26th September
Our Carnet for the Land Rover runs out on the 8th October and although Chris Knott will be kindly bringing out our new one when he arrives here on the 5th of October, we needed to leave Malawi before the expiry date and get our old one stamped. In order to do this, we decided to drive back into Zambia and visit South Luangwa National Park and then return to Malawi on a Temporary Import Permit and use this when we finally leave again.
We left for Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi where we camped for a couple of days at the Golf Club. Very hot there but the streets lined with purple Jacaranda trees, looked beautiful. Lilongwe has 2 centres, city centre with its many impressive, modern buildings and the old town with its busy market and many craft stalls, along with big, new supermarkets.
Other overlanders arrived for camping, Eike and Eckhard from Germany and Bob and Baukje from Holland who had all driven down the east coast. We had many interesting conversations and shared good camping sites and advice. We wish you all safe travelling.
28th September - 1st October
We left for the border, crossing into Zambia at Mchinji. Elections were also being held in Zambia today but we didn't anticipate any problems, as we would not be heading for any major towns.
The Zambian border was quite busy however and the officials seemed to have lost their welcoming smiles and sense of humour, perhaps it was the thought of the election results!
We decided to camp overnight in Chapata at Mama Rula, where we parked under large, shady trees and met Ida and Pieter from Holland. A great couple with so many wonderful stories to tell of their many travels in Africa over the last 30 years!
The tarmac soon ran out after leaving Chapata and a dirt road full of pot holes, stones and corrugations made sure that we were shaken, rattled and rolled for the next 3 hours until the tarmac returned, shortly before all the lodges and campsites for the park.
We camped on the edge of the Luangwa River at the Wildlife Camp, a lovely, quiet location where we could watch the hippos and elephants and listen once more to the fish eagles. The wide Luangwa River is the focus of this very beautiful park, but being the dry season it was very low, exposing large sandbanks. It was also very hot and we were glad of the thatched lapa that was provided with our camping area.
The scenery in this park was lovely and included dense woodland, open, grassy plains, oxbow lakes and abandoned water courses. It also, we discovered, had a great variety of animals. We left at 6 a.m. to enter the park gates and in our first hour we had seen a lot of wildlife, very quietly and just on our own. Later in the morning, we came across two, parked, safari jeeps with the passengers pointing massive lenses toward a large, leafy tree next to the track. Their interest was focused on a female lion draped over the branches, eyes closed but not asleep! It was obviously much cooler up there and as grass was sparse she was also well hidden! The insect life was also plentiful however and the tsetse flies were once again, a real nuisance.
I would not have wanted to miss a visit to this park and our photos of the animals can be seen under South Luangwa, Zambia.
The border crossings leaving Zambia and back into Malawi were very laid back being a Sunday and we returned to camp at the Lilongwe Golf Club once more. We had a lovely surprise on finding Torsten and family there but still waiting for a parcel to arrive from Germany with parts needed to repair their trailer.
6th October
Returning to Salima again, it was lovely to meet up with Chris Knott at Kaputu School and colleagues Derek and John, both accompanying him for the Pastor's Conference.
Back at Senga Bay, Jeff and Jean arrived at the Steps Campsite whom we had met earlier in Lilongwe and also Françoise and Jim in a Series 2 Land Rover that they were driving from Nairobi to Cape Town for a friend. We wish you all safe travels and to Jean and Jeff a great Christmas in Australia and safe shipping!
7th October
We enjoyed another morning at the Glad Tidings Orphan Care with everyone and joined in with all the fun of songs and games and breakfast bowls of porridge for the children! It was lovely to be with all the children again and even more rewarding to see the change in little Michael. He came up to us with all the other children when we arrived, he was still wearing his Superman T- shirt and his sandals and now also a little blue cap, but most of all he was laughing and talking and joining in with everything, instead of just silently sitting there.... wonderful! The photo says it all I think.
8th October
Happy Wedding Anniversary to Debbie and Jonathan!
In the afternoon we attended one of Pastor Bob Mpemba's church gatherings, now held in one of the new classrooms at Kaputu School. There were a number of visitors from overseas as well as many local people from nearby villages. Lots of rhythm, movement and singing accompanied by a keyboard, brought in for the occasion.
9th October
'Mothers Day' in Malawi and a public holiday. The campsite is full to bursting with ex-pats, local people and travellers like ourselves enjoying picnics and braais, the lake and the sunshine. Christian groups arrived for the day in mini-buses, mainly from Lilongwe and held open-air services, sang hymns and danced to loud music!
Torsten, Christina and Sylvie all arrived from Lilongwe and it was nice to have their company again.
10th October
We went into town today to buy some equipment for the orphanage, cups and bowls for the children's porridge, a large bowl for washing up, a bucket and a water container with a tap.
We then visited Ngolwindo School across the road from the orphanage, where we had a long chat with the headteacher. His school has over 1000 pupils and only 10 teachers, so everyone is struggling. The government has not provided exercise or text books and many children have to go without. Whilst there, we met one of the pupils, Amina, who lives with her grandfather as she has no mother or father. She was one of many needing a school uniform, sandals and a new dress. We hope that tomorrow we can ask her grandfather's permission and help her out with these.
11th October
I gave another English lesson with Standard 6 again this morning at Kaputu School and then watched an interesting lesson given by the Head Teacher, thinking once again, how hard everyone worked here in the intense heat, no electricity and few resources.
Once the Headmaster from Ngolowindo School had finished his duties for the day, we went with him to collect Amina from her house. With permission from her grandfather, we all drove into town, let her choose a new dress, found her some shoes, bought material for her school dress and waited for the tailor to make it for us. She looked a happy little girl!
We drove to Kaputu School today to say our goodbyes to everyone and our thanks for such kindness and hospitality from everyone on our visits, as tomorrow we would be moving on. We handed over some exercise books that we had been able to find in town and then took more along to Ngolowindo School opposite the Orphan Care.
It was a sad occasion to be saying goodbye to all the wonderful helpers and children at the orphanage and to Levi and William, who also work so hard for the Orphan care.
12th October
We had also said our goodbyes to Bob Mpemba and so we all left Senga Bay and Salima today to return to Lilongwe Golf Club.
Our zip on our tent cover had been getting difficult to do up, probably because of all the dust and now had finally, completely gone. We had been trying to find some straps to hold it down but without any luck. By chance, we met Andrew Barr at a petrol station with his Land Rover. We had met and chatted once before with him at Senga Bay and after asking him if he knew where we could get any straps for our roof tent, he kindly handed us over two from the back of his Landy. Many thanks Andrew, we really appreciated your help there and they are still strapped round the tent cover to this day. We don't know how we would have managed without them!
14th October
Back to the early morning call from the mosques in Lilongwe, instead of the cries from the fish eagles that frequented Senga Bay!
We said goodbye to Torsten and family this morning as they also want to visit the South Luangwa Park in Zambia but we hope to meet up again in Tanzania.
We headed north for Kasungu with endless, rolling grassland and scattered villages and then toward Mzuzu where we planned to stop at Luwawa Forest Lodge for camping, an area consisting of rolling hills between 1500 and 1800 metres with some outcrops even higher. We drove through pine forests and fields of cotton grass before coming to Luwawa Dam and the campsite by the lake. The English owner was very welcoming, there was a friendly bar and in the evening a big, log fire was lit in the living/dining area to enjoy an excellent meal.
15th October
We went for a walk through pine forests and Blue Gum plantations at Luwawa and then followed the indigenous woodland trail. The Blue Gums were introduced as a fast growing timber species but locals have found another use for the leaves. Because they are packed with menthol, they give relief from coughs and colds when smoked!
The untouched, indigenous woodland area was very interesting with such a variety of beautiful trees. Many were draped in a type of Old Man's Beard. This primitive and amazing plant absorbs everything it needs from the atmosphere, so are very good indicators of a clean and unpolluted area.There were flowers everywhere and also many Protea bushes that must look lovely when they are also in flower.
16th October
We took the scenic road from Luwawa to Muzuzu today and met 3 guys there at a filling station on BMW bikes and travelling the world. Two English guys from Kent (small world) and one from USA. They began in Alaska and drove down through the Americas. They then flew the bikes to Cape Town where they plan to travel up the east coast to Egypt, then Syria, Iran, India and Pakistan and Asia before flying to Australia and then New Zealand. What a trip, makes ours look very small!
We continued to Rumphi where we took the long, dirt road to Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve at the foot of the Nyika Plateau and stayed at the Kazuni campsite just inside the main gate. All the campsites and lodges were deserted but the people were most welcoming and helpful, bringing us wood for a braai and starting up a wood fire for a hot shower later. A paraffin lamp lit the ablution block after dark but the showers were also home to large frogs and spiders, so we decided to leave our showers until the morning, as there were too many dark corners at night! The water we hoped, would still be hot!
17th October
Our camp overlooked Lake Kazuni, still plenty of water and home to lots of hippos. Most trees were dry and leafless and the elephants, of which we were told are numbering about 400 plus, many with new young, were mainly in a greener area near the main gate and our camping spot. Returning to this after an early morning drive, we found our track blocked by a large group of elephants of various sizes but also with some young. We were very cautious about driving forward with so many and so we had to sit and wait for quite some time, as they moved slowly from one side of the track to the other browsing on a few branches. There were more standing under the shade of a tree as we eventually, slowly passed by and another group down by the river amongst the reeds. It was lovely to think that their numbers are now increasing.
Once out of the park, we headed north to visit Livingstonia. Near Chiweta, Lake Malawi came into view, a calm and brilliant blue that matched the cloudless sky.
At Chitimba, we turned off the main road for Livingstonia. The rough, steep and densely wooded track took us to the top of the escarpment. It followed a series of acute, hairpin bends for approx. 20 kilometres providing wonderful views down to the lake. After the final bend, we found the Lukwe Permaculture Camp, a quiet and relaxing place with only the motorbike boys there that we had met in Mzuzu. The views were beautiful and we could hear the sound of the Manchewe Falls not far away. There were wood-fired, hot showers again and compost toilets, 1 spoonful of ash and 2 of wood shavings down the hole to help the composting! Paraffin lamps were placed around the campsite, as there was no electricity.
18th October
We drove into Livingstonia where we called at the Mission House (Stone House) built by missionary Dr Robert Laws and his 2 African companions in 1894. They chose to build on the high ground of the eastern escarpment, away from the malarial areas of the lakeside. He lived there for many years and it still has its attractive, wooden balcony catching a welcome breeze and providing wonderful views. We then visited the church that had a beautiful, stained glass window showing David Livingstone with his sextant and medicine chest on the ground, his 2 companions and Lake Malawi in the background.
We returned down and around all the hairpin bends once more, driving in low range nearly all the way, marvelling at the views again and then took the road to Karonga, the last town before the border with Tanzania.
Malawi has been a country of real contrasts with its beautiful, diverse landscapes and we are both feeling very sad to be leaving. Welcoming people wherever we have travelled, have made Malawi a very special place to have visited. We have some wonderful memories to take away with us, particularly of the children at the Orphan Care and the schools helped by Starfish. It is a country that we would both like to be able to visit again.
We hope the many photographs of the Glad Tidings Orphan Care children and those of the schools will be enjoyed by everyone and help to convey an understanding of their poverty and how much help is still needed there.
If you feel you could manage to donate an amount, however small (you would be amazed at what £5 can buy), then please send it to Chris Knott Chairman of Starfish, his address and more details can be found on the following website:
www.starfish-malawi.org.uk
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