Zikomo!

Lake Malawi

Lunch at the camp

Rob, Matt and I were invited to the house of Papa (top right, orange shirt) to eat lunch. Papa and the guy in the red shirt, Justin took the video class that Matt taught to the group of 10 refugees. Papa lives at the camp with his wife and four children, and amongst other jobs also broadcasts the camp radio station from his house.

Mice on sticks....yummy!

Liwonde National Park

It's not all work, work, work!
Just got back from a lovely weekend in Liwonde, about a four hour drive south of the capital. We stayed overnight at the Mvuu Camp, overlooking the Shire River in a beautiful tent type chalet. We took two safari excursions, one on land and one by boat. Both were wonderful and we got to see dozens of elephants and hippo, some zebra, kudu, water buffalo, crocodiles, wart hogs, sabel, impala, baboon and so many more birds and wildlife I can't remember all their names...
To top it all off was an enormous frog outside my chalet later in the evening...needless to say I didn't stay around long enough to take a picture of that!

Learning how to play the game Bao

Not an easy game to learn!
I sat in the market for about half an hour being very patiently taught by the market stall holder. I did win two games, but I'm pretty sure that had little to do with my expertise!
After some skillful bartering I bought the game from him, and have checked on the internet to find some step by step instructions....phew...otherwise i just spent £10 on a nice wooden box with beans in.

Hiking in the Dezda mountains

Yesterday, we went to Dezda, a small town about an hour and half drive away from Lilongwe to take a hike in the mountains.
We drove for a while up half the mountain on unmade rocky roads and then climbed the rest of the way. Amazed at how lush the vegetation was with lots of fir trees.
It was great to get out of the city and see some scenery, and get some much needed exercise!
Although I felt ashamedly unfit and lazy when I saw groups of women walking down the mountain carrying huge piles of wood on their head, most barefoot and some carrying babies on their backs. Never again will I moan about the walk up Gipsy Hill!
We finished the day off by visiting a place where they make and sell pottery and then sat down in the restaurant to devour a huge piece of well deserved chocolate cake!