Malawi
Chitimba - after a leisurely breakfast of French toast and poached eggs we decided to walk up the mountain to Livingstonia, a town set up by missionaries in 1884. In the intense heat we set out to walk the 17km up hill, along a dusty russet red road.
The directions we'd been given suggested we'd pass 20 bends in the steep winding road and we'd reach the town. Not so. Feeling hot and hungry we reached bend 20 and felt a little lost, stopping to ask where we would find the church. We were told if we took the short cut through the fields , climbing steeply up the rest of the mountain we could get there in an hour. Great. Thankfully, although a long and hot ascent, the scenery was gorgeous and aided us along, stopping every so often to take photos of the lake and villages below.
After 4 hours and feeling a little bit jaded we arrived, with dreams of iced coffee and cake. We actually had to make do with sprite, a snickers and a plate of chips to share. We had 4 hours until sun set and therefore didn't have time to hunt out the tea room which allegedly looks like it could have been lifted out of Edinburgh, serving scones too. Gutted. Instead we rushed through the village, visiting the church built by Livingstone, the craft shop which supported the orphanage and a little lodging place where we only had time for chips....and that was preordering them en route to the church, returning 25 minutes later to find they were still cooking. We have come to learn that everything in Africa takes quite a while!
After scoffing the chips we marched down the wide tree lined road that is quite unlike anything else we have seen on our journey, children mocking our walk, storming along, swinging their arms looking like a sergeant major. Rather funny really and we laughed along with them.
We reached the bottom of the mountain and walked through the village, local people stopping to ask where we had been and when we explained we had been to Livingstonia and back, they looked shocked and said we were mad. Yep, I had to agree. Back home I'm sure we wouldn't contemplate setting out on a 21mile walk up hill in blistering sun.
We arrived at our campsite bang on 6pm, 8 hours and 35km later, looking orange from the dust and almost limping along, feeling utterly drained. Glad we had headed out though, as the scenery really was stunning and the people we met along the way so friendly.
We went to a village persons house for dinner, eating rice, beans, cassava chips and pumpkin leaves. Time for a quick beer in the bar and asleep in the tent by 9.45.

Kande
A new campsite a few hours drive further down the lake. Michal, Brad, Jack and I headed into the local village, a mile or so away from the camp. We decided to head to a local bar- a shack with a tiny TV blaring out very loud African music at 11.30am and it was already busy. The beers, which are disappointing in Malawi, mainly being Carlsberg or the very watery Kuche Kuche, were freezing cold and at 60p, appreciated after our hot dusty walk.
One of the locals came up and took our photo, we guessed they don't get many foreigners visiting the village or stepping foot in their bar. We laughed saying they would be using us in an advertising campaign showing that 'muzungus welcome here'.
We had quite an interesting experience in the bar with an old man gyrating and thrusting in front of us in time to the music, we weren't quite sure where to look! Walking around the village we discovered a new variation of doughnut and 1L bottles of Malawi gin for £2.70-3/4 of which was drank by Tony and I that night after the hog roast.
The next day was a chilled one, relaxing on the beach, doing laundry, walking up along the lake, seeing naked men, women and children washing themselves, their clothes and playing in the water. I'm sure I'd react slightly differently if naked children ran up to me in the UK wanting to hold my hand!
An early start the next day getting up to take the tent down at 4am! We've spent two days in Lilongwe, the capital city where there is very little to do. We spent a day wandering the dusty red roads, my feet absolutely filthy and never getting clean despite daily scrubbing.
The Grammy award winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo from South Africa are playing tonight at the conference centre so 6 of us have bought tickets.

The concert was great! We'd bought VIP tickets as we weren't sure what to expect, we needn't have bothered paying the extra £10 for this as the only extra we got was a pen... Although these do come in very handy, especially when completing lots of useless paperwork at border crossings.
We ordered a 6 seater taxi and sat drinking, us back on the Malawi gin and Brad and Michal indulging in their latest alcoholic bargain.... 5L of pineapple gin for £5!! The label on the front of the plastic container says 200ml! I'll see if they still have their eyesight in the morning before accepting any. A small car turned up as our taxi, 30 mins late. When we took the decision to all squeeze in so that we wouldn't be late he asked if it was possible to do it in 2 trips, which was met by a rousing 'no, we're late'. We did agree to increasing the fare from 3000MK to 4000MK.
The gig was very sedate, attended in the main by well heeled Malawians and South Africans. The normal ticket price of £15 would be too expensive for the majority of Malawians so I'm not sure why we thought it would be heaving. Everyone had a comfy chair in the auditorium, and we were sat 4 rows from the front. They were supported by the gospel choir of Malawi who were also very good, and who included preaching during their 45 minute set. First time I've experienced this! The gig started at 8 and was finished by 10, quite a bit earlier than both us and our taxi driver had anticipated so we asked a kind usher to phone him for us. He turned up shortly later and the 6 of us, plus driver, proceeded to squeeze into the 5 seater car. Michal and Brad in the front seat and the 4 of us in the back, me sat on Tony's knee. Ten minutes later we were pulled by the police, which in the midst of wondering how on earth we'd get home and getting ready to run if it all kicked off, we started laughing. We had our story sorted, it may look as though 2 people were in the front seat but actually Brad and Michal were co-joined Siamese twins. I was trying to sink myself to the floor to try and hide. The driver said he was being fined for being over capacity but I also think his license may have expired. If they did fine him for being over capacity, they didn't stop him from carrying on driving so clearly safety wasn't that high on the agenda. As we drove along in silence, I could feel Tony's head butting against my back and I knew he was trying to stifle his laughs, which obviously then set me off. Five minutes later we were back at the campsite, still giggling like naughty little school kids. We paid the driver more than was originally quoted so at least he was still making profit.

There is at present little to do in Malawi but it is a beautiful, laid back and friendly country. Slowly the tourist infrastructure is improving and more visitors are coming to the country to partake in safaris and relax at the new hotels which are springing up along the lake shore.
Next we head to Zimbabwe & Zambia for lots of activities, including walking with lions, a walking safari to track rhinos, visiting the great Zimbabwe ruins, kayaking down the Zambezi and spending 4 days at Victoria Falls-fun filled and action packed!