In the last few days we have covered ALOT of miles on the truck after a rather horrendous choppy journey back from Zanzibar, so not too much to update you on. We've had some truck mechanical issues along the way where we had to stop for some long periods and left the men to do their thing, we chilled out in the shaded bar so Hakuna Matata it could have been worse. We got to our campsite, Tan-Swiss, late after dark so we had a nice beef stroganoff cooked for us.

Yesterday we drove towards Chitimba, on the way we stopped to have a closer look at some Boboa trees and a quick wee stop in the bush this was right next to a river which was known to be home to crocodiles so it was a very anxious loo stop for me as i kept expecting a croc to come lurking up behind me! That afternoon we stopped at Neema centre which was a local charity craft centre for disabled people. There were lots of African people here making all sorts of amazing crafty gifts, we had a tour around the factory and got to see how these things came together. Items ranged from clothes to notebooks, paper jewellery, and stuffed toys, very impressive.

It was pretty hot and sticky yesterday afternoon so after some egg salad sarnies we hit the road again...Just to run into some trouble again. We came across a massive truck over turned on its side, this caused major problems as a tiny crane was trying to assist in tipping the truck back up. Traffic backed up and there was absolutely no emergency services at all to be seen! After a few failed attempts they got the truck up and the police finally showed up but as there was absolutely no order to the proceedings. Trucks, buses and cars pulled onto the other side of the road beeping horns, everyone trying to get through one lane and eventually everyone was jammed in, it was craaazy! T.I.A! We got out of it in about an hour and were still at our campsite on a farm early before dark which was nice.

Today was another early rise, up and tent down before breakfast at 3:30 (2:30 Malawi time!) we got back on the road and after some dirty diesel problems we headed to the border. We had been warned it could take ages but it wasn't too bad sorting out exit/ entry visa info and crossing. It was extremely hot though as it was midday.

We were all granted entry and moved forward towards Lake Malawi and Chitimba beach, our campsite. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa with a high HIV and AIDS rate- 10/15% of the large population. The have a big hierarchy of respect with White men on top followed by white women, older African men, men, older women then younger women. Alot of the women do everything, even construction and heavy lifting while the men do nothing. The life expectancy of people living in Malawi is 48years, which I found very shocking.

Once again our campsite at Chitimba was very nice right on the beach to the lake which is miles and miles across so it just feels like your looking out to sea. The water isn't great at this part though so we didnt swim. It's known as the lake of stars as the night sky is very clear and with the fishing boats on the river at night it's hard to tell where the stars end and the lake begins. We chatted to some children on the beach from a local village, they were primary school students but their English was surprisingly good! We bought a few handcrafted wooden souvenirs before sitting down to tea and a bonfire on the beach. We had upgraded to beach huts for $5 extra as a treat away from getting up early to put down the tent before breakfast but we did have a cockroach related incident in the room + frog, crickets and bug related commotion in the toilet block!
Lots of bugs around the lake!