We had been told of a great curios market on the way to Mzuzu, and after our quashed attempt to send some carvings home from Monkey Bay, we seized the opportunity to purchase this time round. Malawi was famous for its Makonde carvings, especially their chairs and Karen and I had been on the lookout for some souvenirs for some time. We ran around the market, bargaining prices and searching for our favourite piece and eventually walked away with a nice wooden bowl,...

When we arrived at Nkhata Bay it was still dark and raining but with the Ilala docking for a couple of hours and us a little uncomfortable about finding our lodge in the dark, we stayed put and waited for the sun to come up. Whilst waiting we discovered a number of crates filled with bags of live fish, and as we were watching them being unloaded we probed as to their destination. Apparently they were endemic Malawian cichlids bound for the European market, and th...

We needed to be up shortly after dawn to make the crossing across to Chizimulu. The winds had been unpredictable of late and we did not want to get stuck in the middle of the channel if the weather turned.We packed up our tent and loaded into the old wooden boat, it was similar in size to our old fishing tinny but unfortunately much slower. We putted our way across the channel as the sun poked its head above the silhouetted Likoma Island. The waters were calm and...

It was raining again when we pulled up at the top of the hill above Mango. We had a 10 min walk in the rain ahead of us, and usually we would have been bummed, but being late we were simply focused on getting to our destination and bed. Loaded up, we descended down a small and slippery mud track towards the shore. It was pitch black, but luckily Karen and I had our head-torches and could see the small patch in front of us. We made it to shore and trudged our way ...

The MV Ilala II has been chugging up and down the lake for the last 50years, replacing the original vessel which unfortunately sank. Leaving weekly from the southern end of the lake, the ageing cargo vessel heads north, stopping along the way at designated ports along the Malawian and Mozambican lake coast.For us, the Ilala was more about the journey than the destination, it was never going to be luxurious, but we had imagined the amazing sunsets and relaxing day...