Hopping on to the Monkey Bay-bound minibus I made my way to Cape MacClear, a standard stop on the backpacking circuit along the shore of Lake Malawi. After waiting an hour for the minibus to fill up, I got to Cape Mac at it's most beautiful time: just before sunset. Checking in at the backpackers, I settled on to a beachside lounger and watched as the sun sank behind Thumbi West island. I was sharing my dorm with a Japanese Medecins Sans Frontiers voluntee...

Back in Lilongwe and feeling 100% again, there was nothing stopping me from playing some rugby! Oh, except that I didn't know where they trained or how to get there, and the phone number I had found wasn't working... But I wasn't about to let these details get in my way. After work on Tuesday, I headed with my colleague Eric to the minibus station where he put me on the bus going in vaguely the right direction (again, I wasn't exactly sure where I was going). Get...

On Monday morning, I woke up ready to meet my new colleagues, home, and office for the coming month: travelling is tiring (first world problem, I'm aware) and the mere thought of unpacking filled me with a sense of comfort. I was welcomed by Heather and Ida, the founder and the country manager, and introduced to the team who I would be sitting around the table in the small office with. Straight afterwards, I met with Ida and Lusungu, who I would be working closel...

I stepped off the over-night ferry into Dar Es Salaam with Esther at 6am, bleary-eyed and lost, and we started off oh so sensibly by walking aimlessly in a random direction of our choice. Once our brains kicked in and woke up, we realised we should probably head back to the port where all the taxis were and get one to the Tazara train station so we could get our tickets for later that day: my "booking" had been made by sending a text to the friend of the bartende...

Having taken the 11-hour bus ride from Arusha to Dar es Salaam, I got into a cab to Bobby's place. Who is Bobby? Well, to back-track slightly, remember Jodi, who I met in Moshi and ran the first chunk of the half marathon? Well, we had established that she was staying in Dar with a guy named Bobby and I would be able to couch-surf there if I wanted as there was plenty of space. After struggling to find it (it turns out "Bobby's place" is not known to taxi drivers...