Gecko Lounge Cape Maclear

OK, so the first entry was a little short on detail! So here's a bit more...<br><br>Lilongwe was some introduction to Africa, as as soon as I'd dumped my stuff at the campsite we went to a local market to get food for the evening BBQ. This was slightly off the main road and full of little stalls selling all sorts, clothes, knives, food, pots &amp; pans, etc. etc. As a Mzungu (European) you are immediately the focus of all attention and one guy who didn't have anything to ...

Moni! (That'll be 'hello' in Chichewa)<br><br>So here I am in Malawi, in Chembe at Cape Maclear on the shores of Lake Malawi. We're just relaxing on the beach today before starting the PADI Open Water course (scuba diving) that we've booked for the next few days. Had a bit of a practice with the snorkel this afternoon... it's a tough life!<br><br>My flights out here were OK and thankfully my luggage arrived in Lilongwe at the same ...

... straight to Monkey Bay regardless to chance our arms. After a 7 hour bus ride (with a live chicken 10cm away from Kirstys face, 5 wrecked guys behind us and a baby being passed by strangers up and down the packed aisle every 10 minutes) we arrived. It's a small and fairly standard Malawian town with a 200 metre stretch of road with small shops and a market, at the end of the road is the port where ferries leave for the north of the country and just off it is the beach. We went ...

... hour of being shouted at by a rival bus company we finally got on a Taqabal bus (for another 10 dollars each) and set off for Lilongwe at 7am.<br><br>By half past 9 we'd broken down twice. This wasn't shaping up to be a great trip.<br><br>The bus was cramped and sweaty (and we were promised luxury!) and we drove for about 12 hours to the Tanzania/Malawi border near Mbeya about 1 hour too late to cross, so we parked up and settled down for the night.<br><br>24 hours after ...

... me and I couldn't breath for a while. I thought I damaged a rib because of the pain and despite feeling as though I was going to pass out I soldiered on. <br><br>We got back and I could't move. i slept it off and I seem ok. It still hurts now (2 weeks later as I wirte this) but that is probably because we were jumping from a high rock into the Lake yesturday. Just bruised I think. <br><br>Oliver<br>

Allooo! Sorry haven't written for about three weeks...i've missed writing about...our visit to Liwonde national park...lots of fun saw warthogs waterbuck, etc and stayed at a very chilled lodge delaleo where i munched the most ammount ever and had preggers belly all evening...also everyone got nude in the rain after a game of ring of fire..(more of that later) so good weekend there. Also missed informing you all of trip to orphanage with our next door neighbor Rev ...

Aloha all, I hope everyone is having fun being snowed in and keeping toasty at home!! i hear some chap's made a massive hippo on a sofa in parliament square..which i am mui jelly bags that i have not seen it. Just got back from Cape Maclear which was awesome...stayed at kind of tent beach hut stylee place called Malabe's (i think) lots of fun proper beds in the tents which was handy and water was good and wet which is always a bonus! Lots of ...

... he passed away. On a more happy note, me, Claire, and Karen are at Lake Malawi now. We hitch hiked up here on Thursday and it took 2 days to get here. We took a boat over to Domwe Island on Friday and spent the night there. It's uninhabited and just has a tiny camp with no elctricity, but it is georous there. Out of a total of 6 people on the Island, I ran into 2 from ...

... some interesting people on the first class deck; travellers <br> who'd been on the road for months, some had pictures to show for it. Very <br> inspiring... <br><br> <br><br> Along the way we passed many small villages where people got off and on <br> the boat, most of the time using smaller boats as the ferry runs too deeply <br> to go ...

Monkey Bay turned out to be quite a bleak town with nothing much of interest <br> for tourists, so we continued on to Cape Mc Lear which is only a few kilometers <br> further down. The bumpy mud road there was a tough one for the car which <br> was definitely not a 4WD. The bottom of the car must have hit the ground <br> a hundred times and we were glad it ...