IT'S NOT ABOUT THE FISH! Whilst camping at Nkata Bay we met up with a lovely South African couple travelling in a Land Cruiser from Jo'burg to Nairobi and back. John and Cathy have spent eight years living in London and are finally moving back to S.Africa to build a life there. Very few white South Africans venture further north than Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique but they are keen to experience and learn about the complexities of the continent that they...

WHAT'S IN A NAME? We have found an interesting aspect of Malawian culture to be people's names. We have met 'Happy Coconut' (who looked a bit miserable), 'Brown Bread' (who was albino), 'Starter Motor' (who knew nothing about cars), 'Innocent (who incidentally stole our washing line!), 'Ariston' (named after his parents' fridge), Gift (working for the Malawi Revenue Authority) and 'Trouble' (who we decided to stay clear of!). You would be forgiven to think ...

WHAT'S IN A NAME? We have found an interesting aspect of Malawian culture to be people's names. We have met 'Happy Coconut' (who looked a bit miserable), 'Brown Bread' (who was albino), 'Starter Motor' (who knew nothing about cars), 'Innocent (who incidentally stole our washing line!), 'Ariston' (named after his parents' fridge), Gift (working for the Malawi Revenue Authority) and 'Trouble' (who we decided to stay clear of!). You would be forgiven to think ...

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF DR. LIVINGSTONE Never ones to heed too much attention towards signs in Africa we were bemused to see the sign 'Road closed' on a steep, single lane path up an escarpment to the famous town of Livingstonia. As it was the only road up we were keen to give it a go. We drove past a barrier with a policeman waving frantically at us and bumped along the steep track thinking "Biggles can cope with anything". Even when workmen told us we couldn...

WET, WET, WET If Tanzania had been hot, then Malawi was simply wet! By simply crossing the border into Malawi we had entered into a new season, where heavy down pours of rain would become an everyday occurrence. The sky was filled with incredible rain clouds, the sort a child would draw a sheet of water coming out of a single cloud. The mornings were often hot followed by a 3-4 hour burst of rain leaving everything damp and clammy. On driving throug...