Jan 15, 2012 - Kande Beach Malawi

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Masvingo – Great Zimbabwe Ruins Left early from Bulawayo/Matopos Hills area and dropped off the cook who lives in Harare. He will join us again tomorrow. We headed towards Masvingo arriving mid afternoon and reached our camp high above a beautiful lake, before setting up our tents on a thick grassed area next to a very nice covered cement kitchen area. The bathrooms are modern and clean. We then headed off again to see the Great Zimbabwe Monument. We arrived there and with our guide Phillip we climbed up to the top...

Oct 21, 2011 - Final Day - Nkhata Bay

Thanks to our night watchman we were awake again at five. Thank goodness the power came on during the night to start up the fan again. Unfortunately the lights we had left on as when we first arrived home also came on so Al had to get out, risking mosquito bites, to turn them off.  The morning breakfast routine remained the same. A bit of laundry, writing journals and reading on the deck took the rest of the morning. Our daily walk into town included a visit to Deb, Patrick's wife at her salon. We paid her for one more night stay and find...

Oct 20, 2011 - Nkhata Bay at Famous Lake Malawi

The heat in this little dusty valley makes it difficult to get a good sleep. Thank goodness we had a fan. The fan in our room was one of those rotating ones so about every five seconds I would anxiously await the brief cooling breeze. Then back to stillness.  Our night watchman apparently is finished his shift at day break so wakes us by calling into our window to let us know he is leaving. We say good bye and try to go back to sleep. People get up early here too so they can beat the heat and when darkness arrives everything is very quiet...

Oct 19, 2011 - Lilongwe to Nkhata Bay via Mzuzu

Seven thirty turned into about nine since Patrick was having some unexpected issues with his newly purchased used Landcruiser. He felt bad but we didn't really care. It had been another steamy night but we were in an upgraded end room so windows across from each other gave a bit of cross breeze at times. It sure doesn't cool down much at night. Once on the road we stopped to pick up his Malawan wife, Deb, before leaving Lilongwe. Andrew, his mechanic from Nkhata, was with him as well to give him advice about the purchase and to trouble...

Apr 16, 2011 - Nkhata Bay, Malawi

After ! night in this hilarious hostel called 'The Zoo' in Mzuzu (near the Tanzanian Border in Northern Malawi) we headed to Nkhata Bay on the Lake. It is an awesome place set near the northern end of the Lake, so beautiful and such a good fun place to be. We stayed at 2 awesome hostels there and had such a good time which ended up in us spending 8 nights there rather than the 3 or 4 we originally anticipated! We did so much there including a brilliant boat trip with our hostel that took us down the lake and involved fish eagles, a huge...

Oct 14, 2010 - Malawi | Vrije dag aan Kande beach

Visit the locals Heerlijk om te ontwaken langs Lake Malawi. Voor het ontbijt besluiten we even de plaatselijke vissersbevolking te bezoeken. De mannen komen net terug van een nachtje vissen. Ze verkopen hun vissen aan de vrouwen die hun al staan op te wachten. Emmers vol kleine visjes komen aan land. Vanavond eten we varken aan spit. Benoit neemt het slachten van het varken op zich. Niet iedereen voelt zich goed bij het gebeuren. Bij het verlaten van de campground staan 14 locals ons op te wachten om een village-tour te maken. Ze leiden...

Oct 13, 2010 - Malawi | Chipata naar Nkhata bay

Candy? beach Vroeg opstaan, inpakken en wegwezen. We zijn het ondertussen al wat gewoon. Er resten ons 4 uur rijden alvorens we aan de grens van Zambia en Malawi komen. Onze eerste grenscontrole loopt behoorlijk vlot. De Zuid-Afrikanen dienen nog een "auto"-verzekering te regelen, en al snel lopen we 2u vertraging op. In één van de dorpjes die we voorbijrijden stoppen we voor de lunch. We doen er ook de inkopen voor de komende dagen. Nico wijst er ons op dat we minstens 3 liter water per dag moeten drinken om niet uit te drogen. Wanneer...

Jan 27, 2009 - Nkhata Bay – a chalet for the price of a dorm

We saved 37800 Malawian KW!!! And even though it is less than it sounds, it is actually quite a bit of money. We stayed in a place in Nkhata Bay that’s called Mayoka Village: An amazing place. We asked for a dorm room, but for some reason we ended up in a private chalet with own bathroom and bath tub and free use of coffee and tea – FOR THEE PRICE OF A DORM. This is the place where all tourists go, so even though it is rainy season – and therefore low season – they were often fully booked. That is in no way fair to all other guesthouses in...

Apr 8, 2008 - Nkhala Bay

Heading here today but as of now (2:30 pm) we are still at the internet, ha!! And it is costly, $3.20 US per hour, but we doubt we will find any connection in Nkhala that will be cheaper and maybe none at all! Apr 8 After reading a Steve Martin book I realize I’ve let myself get too serious. Like holding back a sneeze, I read the stories and because it was 6:15 am in a dorm room I had to stifle my laughter. This, I find not only very difficult but wholly unsatisfying, like stopping a hiccup but realizing how good it felt to let it go on…a...

Apr 7, 2008 - Nkhata Bay, Malawi

Hello! I'm sorry that I have not written in so long. Sophie and I are in Malawi, currently, more specifically, Nkhata Bay, at a little hotel thing called Myoka Village, which is really more of a commune in which people stay from 1 night to four months, depending on if they have plans or not. It is nice and we have been here about a week. It's been a good area to relax a bit, though we went on a kayak overnight from Saturday to Sunday, though the last time I kataked was at camp in 8th grade. It was fun, we were in a two person kayak, and had...

Apr 22, 2007 - Nkhata Bay

Partimos de Lilongwe rumbo a Mzuzu con los irlandeses despues de esperar 3 horas sentados en el bus. El viaje duro como 10 horas y despues alquilamos un taxi que nos llevara a Nkhata Bay. El camino fue de terror, pero valio la pena. Fuimos al Mayoka Village, EL hostal, en un risco frente al Lago Malawi, en un sitio muy bonito. Costaba $4 la noche, y podias hacer snorkelling, kayaking, canoeing, etc, todo gratis. Pero principalmente era un sitio para NO HACER NADA. El horario diario era despertarse, tomar desayuno, vagar, banharse, almorzar,...

Nov 12, 2006 - Kande Beach - 'Official fancy dress'

Awoke at 6am after a blinding 2hrs sleep. Went for a swim to freshen up and managed to buy some bracelets all before 6:30am. Those Africans seem to sell at what ever time of day. The lad came swimming out to me!. Got on the truck and headed for Kande Beach and Overland mecca. We drove for a few hours and stopped at a market that sold Malawi wood products. Brought my first present. Finally. After the market we went to the clothing market where I had to buy for Matt. Matt is quite a well dressed man so had to try and get a bad set of clothes....