LIWONDE TO ZOMBA PLATEAU As John was an experienced South African Ranger, working for the now legendary lodge called Mala Mala, it was time to hit a game park to benefit from his knowledge and experience. We headed for the Liwonde National Park in the South East of Malawi. Unlike Tanzania's expensive and overpriced parks, the entrance fee is only $5. This seemed a great deal although, as we were to realise, due to the rainy season only 10% of the park was open, the roads were waterlogged and many impassable and it was difficult to see the game. Undeterred we decided to see the park another way, taking a canoe trip on the river to see a huge pod of hippos, crocs, an array of bird life and elephants wondering through the marsh. Guided by a switched-on guide called Stamford, who told us he was 'born, bred and buttered in Zimbabwe', we were able to get a more personal account on the troubles effecting Zimbabwe today. Our nights were plagued by squadrons of mosquitoes, but the bbq's, ammo box oven baked bread and cakes, banter and laughter made the evenings enjoyable. Camilla invariably woke up with over 50 bites, whilst Rich looked relieved to have his own personal mosquito repellent in the form of his wife. We had heard that the beautiful Zomba Plateau, rising high above the plains in southern Malawi, was a good place to go trout fishing. So armed with the new found zeal of a recent convert, Rich headed for the hills with John to do some more fishing. Firstly, there was no trout to be found at the 'Trout Farm' (apparently the staff had all eaten them) and secondly the dam that is supposedly stuffed full of bass was rather barren. Rich's fishing luck seemed to be eerily absent, but he remained confident that it was more about the 'fishing' than 'catching the fish'. On the way back from the plateau, we bought some beautifully carved chairs to take back with us as souvenirs from our trip. We asked the carvers to polish them up and were rather surprised to see that they use Kiwi boot polish for the purpose! No doubt we'll have to re-polish them with something else before actually sitting on them...