Girassol Lichinga

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 ...

... example of this was when we were half way through a difficult c-section with the baby out and the inside part of the stitching up done leaving the abdomen still completely open. . . . when the mother woke up! Obviously she started screaming and grabbing for her stomach while James tried to finish up quickly as possible and I held her arms away from the wound with my elbows and tried to help him with the stitching. The anaesthetist sauntered back in quite calmly and immediately did ...

So it's been a while since our last blog but basically a number of things have happened.<br><br>1. We were scammed! I guess it's like a rite of passage but we made the mistake of trusting people at Dar Es Salaam bus station (they had their own office!) and ended up paying nearly 100 dollars each for imaginary bus tickets to Lilongwe. We found out they were imaginary when we arrived at the bus station at 4.30 am the next day and there was no bus.<br>After a very hectic ...

Malawi<br><br>South Luangwa to Senga bay, Steps rest campground<br><br>18/10/09<br><br>394ks <br><br>I did not have to pay for a visa, I thought it was going to cost another $50. the whole leaving Zambia and entering Malawi was the simplest yet. We had to buy $20 worth of insurance (toilet paper) and that was that. <br>No hippos last night because i shifted the tent. Thomas the barman said the elephants also use the same route where my tent was, i ...

... aroma came through the window and filled our cabin. The train went so slowly and stopped at all the small stations along the way. The local people would wait for the train and sell us their produce through the windows. You could buy anything from fruit and veg, to clothes, spoons and even these small cooked birds that looked like some kind of finch - nice. We travelled through Selous national park so managed to see a giraffe and elephant and plenty of wildebeast. There ...

Our last night on Lake Malawi we spent at Senga Bay. We did some shopping for some traditional woodcarvings (if anyone wants something carved, Malawi is the place to get it). We picked up a hand-carved table and will be shipping it back to Canada (thanks mom and dad, love you!) The afternoon brought us ...

TIP: Bring your walking shoes for the walk to the villages. It may not be terribly strenuous but it is a 3 hour walk. You may have the option of riding bikes (this looked like a good option but after walking it, I think this might be a difficult option) or driving insteda of walking. I posed the option of walking there, driving back ...

Kande Beach is a beautiful camp on the shores of Lake Malawi. Diving in the lake was a unique experience. The next day we had a pig on a spit, local delicacy which the guys from the group cooked all day. There was a lot of empty beer bottles around the pig, and rumors are that it drank them all :-) We also went for a local dinner in the village on the third day and enjoyed and participated in singing and dancing with the local children.