Easter in Malawi

Over Easter we added another country to our list and headed to Malawi which is another landlocked country to the East. Malawi has about the same population as Zambia (currently around 15million) but is one sixth the size (with a massive big lake taking up about one fifth of the country) so as soon as you cross the border it feels different as you need to actively dodge more people, more bikes, more goats, more pigs and more ox carts.

We found Malawi more picturesque than Zambia as there were more hills and of course the lake which despite not being the ocean is the next best thing for this family who are missing the water.

We travelled with the Thorntons and spent the first night at a small lodge in Chipata which is the border town in Zambia. The next day we drove to Lilongwe which is the capital and had a look around before the final push to Senga Bay on the lake. On arrival at our campground which was on Easter Sunday we were greeted with the news that the campground was very full but "people like us" were all in the overflow campground anyway. We quickly established that "people like us" meant the other Mzungu's or white people. Despite not being bothered about what side of the fence we slept on - we were pleasantly surprised to find that the overflow campground had clean toilets and was somewhat quieter with the same access to the amazing lake - the main purpose of our visit.

We set up our tents and quickly settled into camp life which consisted of cooking (Ian and Anne), cleaning (Narelle and James), reading, board games, swimming in the lake, swimming in the pool at the hotel next to the lake and sleeping. Although wary of swimming in the lake and catching bilharzia which is a is a parasitic infection, we quickly decided that it was to tempting not to swim and abandoned our idea of staying out of the water in exchange for precautionary antibiotics which would kill the infection before it took hold!

During the week we had a couple of adventures. On the Wednesday James, Anne, Helena and I headed down to Cape Maclear which was about 160km away at the south end of the lake. It was an eventful drive through the countryside passing through many villages and some very potholed roads. We were rewarded with some spectacular scenery and having the opportunity to meet some children who had great delight in singing to us with great gusto "Who let the dogs out?"

On the Friday we all went for a short boat ride along the lake where we were able to get a glimpse into a fishing village next to where we were staying. The fishing boats were very old and plenty in number and it was great to watch them about 4pm every afternoon head off towards the centre of the lake to fish for the night - often in very windy conditions.

Our trip back to Zambia provided the usual entertainment. We stopped and bought some bits and pieces as well as having a roadside picnic. When we got back into Zambia we stopped and to the delight of the local village restocked our tomatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins at a cost of about $7. They were so happy they even posed for photos which is not typical at a roadside stall.

3 Baobab Trees in a row

Helena picking up some bargains

Even the children have to help with the lifting

Women and girls fetching water at a well in a village

Passing through

There were cows everywhere

We crossed this big bridge in Zambia - but it was only allowed
to have one car on it at a time which given the size of it makes
one a little nervous about its structural integrity!

Lunch stop on the way home

This was the village matriach to whom we had to
make the payment for our purchases.

This is a typical roadside market in the country. This one was selling
groundnuts, pumpkins, tomatoes and a few other local vegetables.

This boy was selling charcoal which is what most people in Zambia use to cook.