Malawi: Chitimba – Kande Beach

We departed Iringa in southern Tanzania and headed for the Malawi border, which took us about 1.5 hours to pass through, without any dramas. Apparently the foreign exchange bureaus are useless/non-existent in Malawi so our guide organised a money man to exchange our Tanzanian Shillings into Malawi Kwacha during our roadside lunch stop just before the border. The rest of our day was spent heading to our campsite at Chitimba, which we got to early evening. Amanda and I upgraded into a real room, as opposed to our tent, as Amanda wasn't feeling well.

The next day we packed up (in the rain) and headed further south into Malawi to our next campsite, at Kande Beach. Along the way we stopped at a town called Mzuzu to pick up some supplies. Here we found a coffee shop that did real coffee so most of us indulged in a cappacino. You would think with a lot of coffee sold around the world being African in origin, they would have great coffee over here but the reality is that coffee is a luxury that few can afford so (bad) instant is usually all that you find. On the way out of Mzuzu, we came to a bridge which seemed to be swarmed by locals. Which quickly discovered that the road leading up to the other side of the bridge had started to wash away with the flood waters. It was about ¼ gone. Our guide went and sussed out the remainder of the road and determined that we should try and pass. We all hopped off the truck (very quickly) and our driver crossed the bridge slowly and then gunned it over the remainder of the road leading off the bridge. I swear you could see the road dip a little and I wouldn't be surprised if that road didn't make the end of the day.

After the excitement with the road, the rest of the trip to Kande Beach was unevntful and we arrived early afternoon for a stay that would be over the next two nights. We all upgraded into private rooms, although none had en suites. The Kande Beach camp was right on the edge of Lake Malawi, which looked more like an ocean – it's huge, you can't see the other side, it takes up roughly 1/5^th of the whole country's area and the water was rough with swell, rips and waves. We chilled out for the rest of the day as it was blowing a gale so no good for swimming. Beers went for 400 Kwacha which is about 1 AUD and the “local” beer of choice is Carlsberg! That night, our guide organised a Karaoke session, and mixed up some very potent “punch” to help ease our stage fright. It was a great night with lots of laughs.

The next day Amanda was hoping to go diving in the Lake but the wind had not died down from the day before so it was still very rough and she couldn't go. Instead, she and I went for a walk to the local village. Being white people, we stood out and quickly found ourselves with a couple of local children (it was a Sunday so no school) who accompanied us on our walk, eager to practice their English and show us around. They spoke good English and were very helpful so we gave them a few dollars each for their efforts. The rest of the day was spent lazing in the hammocks, drinks in hand, chilling out before another day in the truck.

The next morning, we awoke early and got on the road again facing another 12 hour day, which included a border crossing into Zambia. As this is the end of my Malawi update, I'll stop this here and post again for Zambia. I should also point up that I've not had Wifi internet for about a week now so there will be multiple posts put up once I finally find some!