15: Zomba Plateau - Senga Bay (Malawi)

Malawi Pictures Here

Week 15 Update:

Day 99:

I was woken up by the sunshine flooding into the open window. It was warm and pretty outside and the plan for some hiking was appealing to all. I was really keen on trying my fly rod in the Trout Farm pond seeing as I had only used it twice since the purchase in week 3 and I still owed Catt the purchase price in fish. This plan was cancelled fairly quickly as the manager told me that it was hatching season and no fishing was allowed. This did not only count for their dam, but included all the Zomba’s streams and ponds. The disappointed in me was HUGE! Fly Fishing on the Zomba Plateau had been one of my great ambitions on this trip and a played a big role in me buying the gear…

Once everyone was awake and ready we decided to take a walk to a viewpoint. We had a choice of two: Queens View, named for Queen Elisabeth who came to visit and Emperor’s view, named for the Emperor of Ethiopia who came to visit as well. The route took us passed William’s fall which was named for…. A William I suspect… The Bradt Guide’s map was fairly basic and useless and although the Lonely Planet had a nice detailed map, the book was too big to carry. We left with a small GPS in hand, relying on a sense of direction, a sense of adventure and dumb luck.

The trail took us from the cottage passed the camp site and along a mountain stream. The indigenous forest around the area was wildly impressive and the breathtakingly beautiful. The latter resulting in a slower than usual pace and lots of appreciation of our environment. We came upon a place we thought was William’s falls, paused for some photographs and with the help of the GPS found a road which headed in the general direction we wanted to go. Before long we found a well worn footpath which looked like a short cut so ventured onto that, keeping an eye on the GPS and the general direction of travel.

Before long we realized that the whole mountain was a labyrinth of well worn footpaths, but as it only had ne road, we were confident that we would not get too lost. Besides, a circumnavigation of the plateau seemed possible in a full day, and we could not see ourselves doing that by accident. We often saw and greeted some local people gathering wood. I remembered being told that a plantation forest needs pruning every once in a while to ensure that the trees grow straight and high and this seemed to be exactly what these guys were up to. They were not cutting down trees as such, but the lowest branches of the pine trees. This would then be tied in bundles measuring 3 meters in lengths and carried on their heads up or down the paths we were walking on. It was unbelievable how many logs and how much weight these men and woman managed to carry on their heads!

After a few hours hiking and seemingly no closer to any marked viewpoint, we found the road and decided to turn back for lunch. This was fairly easy going and as we chatted our way down the hill we were met by hikers gong the opposite way. This definitely seemed the preferred way to find the viewpoints, but we were confident that we had a far superior experience taking the scenic route. Around one bend we saw a worn wooden sign which marked the William’s Falls. We had left the road a couple of hundred meters before that earlier and completely missed it. Oops… The falls themselves were small and unimpressive in my mind. I could not even see that they would be of more interest in the wettest season. I did feel that the world should have a standard as to when a sight should be allowed to be called a “waterfall” and when it should be called “Rapids”. William’s falls fell into the “Rapids” category for me.

No fishing meant no fish for lunch, so instead we cooked a mountain of pork sausages and finished off the loaf of bread and the cheese we bought the previous day. It felt like comfort food and I liked it. Even though I had vowed not to base our travels on chasing internet connections, it had been more than 2 weeks since our last connection. After pigging out on pork Catt and I set off in search of Wi-Fi.

The Ku Chawe Inn provided a Hotspot connection and offered a one hour, unlimited bandwidth card at MK600. Their coffee price increased from MK300 the previous day to an unexplainable MK450 over night, so we stayed thirsty while doing admin. We did manage to get our money’s worth by using two computers on the same card though.

By late afternoon the parents made their appearance which meant a little more walking. This time we walked passed the Zomba stables, the big and impressive Mulunguzi Dam, back past the Mandala falls (Rapids) and on to the comfortable cottage at the trout farm. We managed a respectable 16.2km of walking in the mountains for the day.

The fireplace was lit without delay, the G&T’s poured and we all sat with our feet up, relaxing until way after sunset. The Cobb was employed to cook dinner in front of the fireplace with. That is a feature of the thing that I really appreciated as it meant that no one needed to stand outside in the cold to get dinner ready. Before long the day grew to an abrupt end with four tired hikers hitting their individual pillows like sledge hammers.

Day 100: (WOW! We made it to 100!!!)

I woke up early congratulation myself and Catt for being on the road for 100 days. The showers were hot and the coffee ready by the time we got up and after spending a good hour packing the cars we set off down the mountain. We needed to buy food for three days, get some fuel, some money and drive a measly 80km on a Saturday. I was convinced we were in for an easy day…

I dropped Catt off at the Metro as we had established their meat was of good quality and about half the price of Li8longwe’s Foodworths. Pete and I visited the bank and managed to get some cash out without issue. I went to the fuel station next to the bank for fuel and… Well… there was none. Africa had different plans for us on day number 100. At least the Metro provided the things we needed and the market we visited after was impressively clean and cheap.

On the way out of town we stopped at every fuel station only to be told the same story: No Diesel… At least Pete managed to fill up the rental with Petrol, so one of us was OK. Zomba used to be the capitol of Malawi so I was amazed that their pumps would be dry but as we were heading to Liwonde I wasn’t too worried about the situation… Until we reached Liwonde and could not find fuel there either. We had enough to make Mvuu Camp, our planned place of residence for the next three days. We even had enough fuel to get back into town after the three days. The frustrating thing was that we were paying to be in a wildlife reserve for three days without the ability of going on game drives. We had booked and paid to ensure that we had space with the parents and could not make another plan. We had the option to pay the expensive game drive fee, or spend our time in camp, waiting to get word on the fuel situation, hopping for a delivery before we had to leave. That really pissed me off!

We reluctantly made camp by lunch time. Riaan, the new general manager showed us to a really nice site in their camp ground and after mentioning “echo lodge” for the fifth time, told us that he would get us a tiny bundle of fire wood which was most certainly not enough to cook on. This fortunately was completely unnecessary as we were yet to make a dent in the mountain range of charcoal we acquired a week or two previous.

I was a little irritated by Wilderness Safaris Malawi though. Firstly, the guy in Lilongwe should have told us that there was a massive fuel problem in Malawi. We discussed our complete itinerary with him to make sure that we could drive a sedan where we wanted to go. Secondly, if we did not have charcoal and needed wood to cook on, we would have been stuffed.

In the afternoon I called Tim, who we had met on the Ilala the previous week. Tim worked in Liwonde town and could let us know when the fuel came in. We had just enough to get us to town, but not enough to get back and out again, so we could only start the engine when we were 100% sure of supply. Riaan was unable to help us as they get only one fuel delivery a year and they often struggle to make ends meet. Needless to say that we spent the rest of the afternoon in camp… relaxing in our trusty hammocks.

Day 101:

We had established that the park’s roads were passable by normal car, so the four of us piled into the sedan and went for a game drive. The park didn’t seem to have that many roads, so we followed the river north from camp. It was a cloudless day and the low sun provided brilliant lighting on the many animals we saw. Warthog was “gardening” in big numbers and Waterbuck was in abundance. There were many Hippos along the river’s edge and even though it was not prime birding season, the water birds were plentiful.

Within an hour and a half we had reached the edge of the park. This was marked by a huge Baobab tree and an informal ferry port. The small boats were stacked high with bicycles and people and were being rowed across the expanse of water. I did not envy the passengers or crew who had to make the crossings. Our sightings dwindled slightly on the return trip to camp, so we made it back by mid morning to commence operation hammock once again. Even through it was mid winter in Malawi; the day grew hot and dry. The swimming pool in camp offered a welcome refuge from the heat though.

Around 15:00 we received word from Tim that one of the fuel stations in town had a diesel delivery and started pumping to customers. Catt and I packed down the tent, jumped into Maggie, fired up the trusty 1HZ engine and set off on a trot after sharing this valuable information with another camper with a diesel Land Cruiser. The speculated one hour drive took us 45 minutes. To our utter astonishment there was no cue at the pumps and the supply was holding. We also found out that they were not rationing the volume per customer. To ad to our fortune, we had enough cash to fill our tanks, so the pumping commenced.

It takes about twenty minutes or so to fill the 256l we can carry and in that time I usually chat to the attendant, or help him by pumping myself. This was no different. We chatted about football teams and country politics mostly. He told me that he had been pumping diesel non stop for the preceding 4 hours and was getting tired, so I took over the control of the nozzle for a while. I asked him how safe he felt with the massive wad of cash in his pockets. He smiled and said: “This is Malawi my friend. I feel perfectly safe.” We agreed that we would have felt a whole heap different had he been in South Africa with a mountain of cash in his pocket. With 245 litres filled up we came to the end of our chat. We paid him just over MK55 000 in crispy notes, got some advice as to where to buy Tonic and set off down the road.

Malawi is supposedly known for the Gin they produce. I’m not sure what they usually drink it with, but Tonic is fairly challenging to get hold of. The small Superette around the corner had a fresh supply though, so we managed to swop our empty crate for a full one. It was just past 16:30 by the time we re entered the park. This meant that we could slow our pace dramatically and actually have a game drive. The main track to camp follows the river, so the sightings were as good as the morning’s drive. In addition to the normal plains game we expected, we also saw three different herds of elephant crossing the road. We were amazed by the amount of small calves in the herds and not surprised by the aggression of the young males or the shyness of the maternal females.

We reached our camp site just after dark and a few minutes before Pete and Annie would have started to worry. Catt and I pitched the tent and prepared dinner in the fast and efficient way we can and had a fresh G&T in hand in now time. It was also the night of the Football World Cup Final, so after dinner we walked over to the lodge’s conference centre and joined the staff and other guests in front of the massive projector screen. I was slightly disappointed when the game went into extra time and almost relieved when it finished. It was past 23:00 by the time we made it back to out tent which was waaayyyy later than we had been going to bed, so falling asleep was not exactly difficult.

Day 102:

The one activity we had decided to do was a boat cruise with the lodge. Although the cost was $30 per person, it offered a rare opportunity to see a huge amount of bird life and some animals on the river banks. The cruises started at 8am because the animals apparently don’t congregate by the river earlier than that. After the late night that suited us perfectly.

David, our guide was excellent! He managed to get us really close to many birds and even within a few meters of a Malachite Kingfisher. His knowledge was vast, his manner excellent and his stories entertaining and informative. In addition to the common game we were used to seeing in the park we saw the biggest Crocodiles you can imagine and even a big male Bushbuck in the open. The concentration of Hippo in the river is quite high, so we were never too far away from a pod cooling themselves in the water. On the way back to the lodge he spotted some Elephant in the reeds on the far bank and ventured in their direction. One of the big males was completely open, belly deep in the water and feasting on the succulent reeds while David expertly manoeuvred the boat to within ten meters from him. He recognised this male as one that had charged him before and explained his caution to us with a colourful recount of their previous meeting. After a good twenty minutes by the elephants we headed back to the lodge which marked the end of the best boat safari I had ever been on. I felt that the $30 fee was a bargain for the experience.

Back in camp we dealt with an early lunch followed by some quality hammock time in the heat of the day. The lodge had solar geysers for shower water which meant that the only time you could expect reasonable heat from the spout above was between 13:00 and 16:00. You’d think that a place with that kind of reputation would do better. By 16:00 however, we had all had our daily wash with hot water and was ready again to on our second game activity. We piled back into the sedan and ventured south from camp. The perfect afternoon light danced on the water and trees around the river’s bends and offered many stunning photographic opportunities of the plains game we had grown accustomed to seeing. Liwonde is also not a big park by any standard and the roads are fairly limited. This meant that we managed close to all the places south of camp in just over an hour and made it back to our comfortable retreat before the sun was down.

Day 103:

It was time to move on and we had to leave early! We were packed up and in the cars with engines purring down the road by 6:15. Within twenty minutes our journey came to an abrupt halt. There was a breeding herd of Elephant in the middle of the road and they showed zero intention of moving on or letting us past. Pete was leading our two vehicle convoy in the sedan which did not seem to register as anything significant with the herd. I squeezed past with Maggie to see if I could coach them to move on, but this was met with some aggression and a hasty retreat. There was nothing we could do apart from waiting patiently for them to decide to move on by themselves. I tried to push past one or two more times but eventually had to concede that we were in for a long wait. Not that watching the interactions and daily life of a four or five generation strong breeding herd of the largest land animal was a great hardship.

Half an hour later we were let past one by one and resumed our journey out of the park. About five kilometres or so before the gate Catt spotted some Bush Pig. That was the second time in my life that I had seen them and the second time on the trip. They were pretty skittish and did not hang around for unprepared photographers to get their gear in hand. The lesson was obviously to keep my camera on my lap and this was rewarded within minutes when we spotted two Sable Antelope less than 50m off the road. The cloudy morning did not offer any significant photographic opportunity, but it was still fantastic to see these rare antelope in their natural environment. Our arrival at the gate, half an hour behind schedule marked the end of our morning’s game drive and our wildlife experience while the parentals were with us. I could not help but smile at the fact that our sightings that morning could easily satisfy someone’s life long ambition to see rare species of African wildlife.

Our journey took us north along a good tar road and on to the very bottom of Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and then Cape Maclear, bypassing the hectic and non recommended craziness of Monkey Bay. Our mission for the day was to reach the base of Kayak Africa by 10:30 to be transported to their Mombo Island camp by boat. With our Elephant roadblock and the difficult driving through millions of villages and thousands of schools we still manage to arrive before the deadline.

Mombo Island is 10km off the main land and small enough to Kayak around in less than an hour. You can walk all the paths and criss-cross it in about an hour an a half and if they are full, it is inhabited by 12 guests and 8 staff. That is it! No fishing is allowed within a kilometre of the island which theoretically means that no fisherman would be allowed to be in the area. Kayak Africa was historically one of the companies I did photography for in Malawi. This enabled me to negotiate a trade exchange and lower rate for the four of us for two nights stay. They had become very expensive, so if it was not for this rare opportunity, we would have never been able to go there.

The friendly and efficient staff signed us in, helped us load our luggage, SCUBA gear included, onto their boat and served us a well deserved mug of filter coffee on their deck. This was the site of my very first SCUBA dive seven years earlier. Jury, the co-owner who lives on site came to great me and we had a short reminiscing of the way things used to be. I had been there seven years earlier when Jury and Marzi, his wife was running the place and they did most of the work themselves. In my seven year absence Jury had lost his leg after breaking it on an island and not getting medical help for three days. Marzi had passed away after falling of a boat somewhere on the lake and apparently drowning. She was never recovered. This served as a stark reminder that not even life in paradise was all it was said to be.

The adventure of the green wooden boat taking us to our island retreat lasted at least 45 minutes. The locally made boat was seemingly reliable, but shockingly unstable and the minimalistic diesel engine provided very little in the way of powerful propulsion. As we were approaching the island I pointed out our humble accommodations on the big rocks facing the sunrise. It was a phenomenal site to behold and the speechlessness of everyone on board testified to its grandeur. We docked onto a pier and after spilling out onto the wooden walk way was welcomed by Tanya, our friendly Malawian hostess.

Tanya explained the lay of the land and the workings of the island to us before showing us to our beds. The accommodation consists of permanent Safari tents on wooden decks with a thatch roof over head. Every tent sleeps two people, has a hammock swinging on the patio and can not be seen by any other tent on the small island. Every patio has a panoramic view of the lake and ours was to be the first one to get warmed by the sun in the morning. All tents had en suite, dry compost long drop loos and bucket showers. The accommodation is on a small rocky outcrop joined to the main island by a wooden walk way bridge. The main island hosts the kitchen, dining room/bar and a living room area all with comfortable sitting places and the obligatory Bawo boards dotted around. The private and secluded beach had a few kayaks, a heap of snorkelling gear and a beach attendant to see to your every need. This was NOT our typical budget accommodation or activity provider. We felt terribly spoilt and strangely privileged.

A buffet lunch was served promptly at 13:00 and announced by the croaking of a carved wooden frog. Pete and I dug in and to the embarrassment of Catt and Annie managed to stuff ourselves with three helpings. The food was fantastic! The weather on the lake was strangely cloudy and a little cold on that day and we made use of that phenomena by hiking all the little forest paths marked our by the lodge’s staff. The weather was quite good for that activity as the humidity in the forest was very high even with the clouds. The high winds meant that the sunset cruise on a little wooden boat with 15hp engine was cancelled. This meant a relaxing late afternoon in front of the Bawo boards while patiently awaiting the dinner frog.

Dinner frog croaked at 19:00 sharp and prompted the appearance of beef fillet and some other bits, also in a buffet form. This meant that Pete and I could really get stuck into the food once again. None of us thought it possible, but we even put our significant lunch time efforts to shame and the girls were not too impressed. The other guests didn’t seem to mind though and the kitchen seemed to have an unlimited supply as they re stocked the dishes every time we manage to empty them. I was impressed! By 20:00 the other two guests had gone to bed and we were the only ones left in the dining room. We were working hard at over indulging in the wine we had brought on the theory that it would make the food we ate seem normal. It didn’t. Food comas set in just before 23:00 and I instantly fell asleep on the comfortable bed in the comfortable tent on the magnificent rock with a panoramic view.

Day 104:

The brightness of the sun rising over the flat lake woke us up around 6:30. We had decided not to be lazy and get up to take some photos to justify our stay and with the perfect light and the morning sun the hammock was employed to portrait the relaxing environment future clients could expect. As if by magic, coffee arrived by waiter within 15 minutes of us getting up. We “ordered” our hot shower and commenced operation photography until another man arrived with a bucket of hot water for our simple bucket shower. For this shower water we were asked if we wanted it warm, medium or hot and if we wanted one or two showers. The water then gets heated on a fire by the kitchen to the desired temperature before being carried in a bucket to your en suite shower for your utter enjoyment. Oh the decadence of it all!

The breakfast frog croaked at 8am but by that time the clouds had rolled in and the temperature had dropped significantly. Although a little disappointed in the weather, the food more than made up for it and the weight in my stomach made the decision to return to life in the hammock quite easy and acceptable. I almost found it strange that we could adapt to being spoilt so incredibly much so easy after having to be self sufficie3nt for so long. I did not mind any of it though.

By 9:30 the clouds started parting and the sun came out. The temperature increased exponentially and half an hour later it was hot enough for us to venture into the world of water sports. Kayaking was first on the list. The beach guys helped us prep and pushed us into the water with some warnings about the winds. Catt and I had a quick paddle around the small tented island to test the waters. The waves were surprisingly high and the steering surprisingly tough and going into the wind was surprisingly hard. We still decided to go around the main island and set of with Pete on our heels. Behind the island we found a wind shadow which made the workload almost non existent and the general environment relaxing and fun. While enjoying the easiness of transport we did prepare ourselves for the onslaught of the waves and wind on the last bit of our row. When we hit it, the fun dialled down, the work increased and the adrenalin started pumping. It was full on work to keep the boat upright and pointed in the right direction while still making headway. I had the advantage of remembering the lay of the land and knowing where the finish line was before the others, so when the last rock we needed to pass came into view I was excited and relieved to be close to home. Back at the beach we were helped from our boats and congratulated each other on our conquest.

The lunch frog announced the arrival of the next expertly prepared buffet and by this time the girls had given up on trying to get us not to pig out. We were served Catfish, a first for me and it was delicious! This time I did not overdo it though as we had a plan to go scuba diving in the afternoon. Lewis, our dive master arrived on the afternoon boat with full cylinders and within twenty minutes of his arrival we set off on the small green boat to the back of the island where the wind could not get to us. I was a little apprehensive when I saw Lewis putting on a hoodie as well as his 5mm wetsuit, but thought he was just used to much warmed water in the summer. The preparations on the boat were insanely easy in the perfectly still water. It was as if we were on dry land and after getting ready and doing checks Catt and I rolled into the water followed by Lewis. This moment marked the full circle in my Scuba diving career. We descended quickly and found the water very cold indeed. The visibility was terrible, but the cichlids plenty and the geography underwater fascinating. I also had a bread roll in my BCD pocket and at the perfect moment I took that out and presented it as food for the millions of little tropical fish around us. 20 minutes into the dive we were starting to get cold and already anticipating the end of diving. We rounded a big rock, went through a few swim through and under some overhangs and Lewis expertly had us back at the boat on our safety stop at 45 minutes, as he had said he would.

Once we were all on the boat again, the skipper radioed the kitchen asking for two very hot showers to be ready and waiting for us. I thought that was an incredibly insightful thing to do. The ten minute boat ride back was easy and as the diving was in fresh water, we did not have to wash our gear. We simply hung it up on the dive deck and by the time we reached our tent, the piping hot shower was ready and waiting.

Our last night on the island was very similar to our first night. Pete and I totally over indulged in the expertly prepared buffet dinner and while playing cards after dinner we also made a decent dent in our wine supplies. It had been a long busy and exciting day so it was once again no real hardship to fall asleep in the comforts of our tents.

Day 105:

Catt and I woke up long before the sun’s first rays hit the tent. The skies were clear, the wind still and with zero light pollution, the stars were incredibly bright. The best part was that we did not need to move from our bed to appreciate the stars as the netting in front of the door was so big that we had a near perfect view. The clouds started building as the sun tried to heat up the rock in front of our palace. We tried to encourage it by moving to the hammock, duvet and all. Once again, as if by magic, morning coffee arrived within 15 minutes. I was relieved that we had decided to through some clothes on before moving to the hammock.

The breakfast frog called us to the restaurant and by this time the clouds started parting. The welcoming heat from the morning sun made it a pleasant last few hours on the island. I even made Catt and Pete go for a swim with snorkelling gear so I could take some photos. By 9:30 we had had our fill of food, our very hot showers, packed our clean and dry dive gear away and were ready to leave. The green boat was bobbing around against the jetty and after a last chat to Tanya, we climbed aboard. The ride back to the mainland was smooth and easy. The wind seemed a little calmer, but the instability of the wooden boat was still surprisingly apparent.

After settling the bill and packing the cars we sourced some bread and tomatoes for lunch and set down the bumpy road back towards Monkey bay. Catt and I stopped in at the local clinic to have a look. This clinic was established by the mother of a boy who drowned in the lake some years previous. It is staffed by Scottish volunteers and local nurses and offers very decent medical care for the local village. Non locals pay a little more and non Malawians pay a reasonable fee to help fund the clinic and subsidise the locals. We found this a great project, expertly run and impressively professional.

On our way out of the area we popped into the Pumulani Boutique Hotel. This was managed by Luke and Betty who we had met in Zambia at Mukambi a few weeks before. We were just nosy to see the place really as they charge over $500 a night a person it wasn’t like we were going to stay. The place was strangely minimalistic with massive villas hidden on a hill side next to the lake. They have a Dhow which they sail with, a private beach, a speed boat and offer a range of activities on the water. We stayed long enough to have a coffee, get the grand tour from Luke, and chat about the challenges of running a fancy hotel in an African country and set off before the lunch hour.

Our destination for the day was Senga Bay and the recommended accommodation there was Cool Runnings. By this time we had found that driving in Malawi always takes longer than the estimated GPS times and always requires 100% concentration 100% of the time. The sheer number of small children on the roads is mind boggling and the way the Malawians manage to load up their bicycles with an insane amount of wide cargo completely defies any logic.

Arriving in Senga Bay we followed the yellow smiley faces to Cool Runnings. I laughed at the fact that it was no longer strange to drive through a typical African Village to get to your lodge. It was no surprise to find a high fence and closed gate which was opened by some village kids who promptly get shouted at by the manager to leave the wazungu alone.

Cool Runnings was run by a crazy hippy chick who did a heap of work in the local community. The place itself was a typical African backpackers and house with big gardens and lush green lawn. It was, once again, like camping in someone’s back yard for hardy any money at all. After checking in and ordering dinner we pitched camp and headed for the beach. My word that was a disappointment and a subtle shock!

The beach was filthy! It was littered with plastic and stained by fuel and oil from boats in the area. The busy fishing community was busy going by their daily lives which included mending nets, bathing in the lake and washing clothes. The air reeked of rotten fish and the general feel of the place was hostile. This all was accentuated by the presence of fences and burglar bars on every beach side property. We strolled into another lodge, advertising Scuba diving, Wi-Fi and pancakes only to find out, for the hundredth time in Malawi that the advertising boards had very little to do with the actual reality of what you would find. It seemed that Malawi was the home of false advertising.

Back on the lawn of Cool Runnings was a different story altogether. The atmosphere was friendly, the staff courteous and efficient and the general feel was close to relaxing island life. I much preferred that to the bad world outside of their fence. With dinner imminent we were summoned to our table. Three orders of Rump steak and one order of Chicken arrived. My jaw dropped! The chef expertly stacked the plates high enough to feed an average African state from and the taste was simply out of this world! The prices were quite high, comparing to a South African average, but the quality was phenomenal! With full bellies and a few games of cards over a few glasses of vino we came to the end of our 105th day on the road… and liking it all!

If I had to do it again:

You’d think that by now I would have had enough experience to always make a plan to fill up my fuel tanks when I can. The curve ball in Malawi is that you are very limited to the amount of money you can get from a cash machine. What I should have known is that you can use the same card twice in the same machine, doubling your daily allowance. With the two cards that we have, and employing this technique, we could have managed to get enough money out to fill the tank and avoid the fuel crisis. So we learn…

Zomba was fantastic and the trout farm a good choice. Mvuu was great and the only real option in the park, although I do believe that two nights would have been sufficient with a boat ride on the full day that you spend in the park.

Mombo Island and Kayak Africa was once again a rewarding and fantastic experience. There is honestly nothing negative I can find to say about our time on the island. They are pricey though! For the budget traveller, you can visit their Dombwe Island camp; self cater and spend a lot less money, so it’s worth investigating. If budget allows though, Mombo Island is an absolute must!

Senga bay is simply not worth the trouble. It’s not even really a suitable stop over as the only way to reach it is from Salima and it will take you 45 minutes each way by car. There are many more and better places and ways to visit the lake.