Crossing the border from Zambia to Malawi went very smoothly. Our first place to stay was Kasito rest house #2 (#1 was full), a former rest house for the ministry of forestry, but now turned into a lodge. The place was very run-down, but breathed a pleasant atmosphere. It had something English or colonial about it, the way the garden was designed and kept, the heating system for hot water, and, of course, the manager Joseph, who had been serving the English as a cook and sort of butler. The first night we ate in the dark as there was a general power failure. Quit romantic. Cooking was done on fire; the guard outside always had a fire going, and the inside of his hut was pitch-black. When Lasse wanted to burn his used-up notepad, the guard quickly took it from the fire and explained he would use the leaves to roll cigarettes! The next morning we noticed the guard had washed our 4WD, which was a nice surprise. Joseph's son Devlin took us on a walk in the area and showed us some nice places in the area. Together with Devlin we visited the local primary school and managed to completely ruin their schedule for the morning, as we were - again - quit the attraction. But the head teacher spoke proudly about her school and appreciated our visit and our interest in their school very much.

On our way up to Livingstonia, our most northern point in Africa, we gave Devlin a lift to his school in Mzuzu. The last stretch of road to Livingstonia was a very steep and rough, uphill road for about 15 km, which took more than an hour to drive. Our Disco once more proved its worth. Livingstonia is a missionary settlement and we stayed in the Stone House lodge, once the house of the Scottish missionary Mr. Laws. Needless to say that with so many religious people around, we felt at ease immediately! Lasse and Sil really enjoyed it here, as there were many kids to play with. Language was no barrier, and at one time they sat with a bunch of local kids on our veranda making the most beautiful drawings. We visited Machewe falls - the highest in Malawi - with a local ‘guide', but both the falls and the guide were not spectacular. After three nights we had enough of the place and the people there, we suddenly felt a bit of a culture-clash and needed to move on. It's difficult to really get in contact with the local people, and if there is contact, almost always they want something from you, nothing goes for free. Although understandably, sometimes it gets on your nerves.

Next stop was the Big Blue Star lodge in Nkata Bay. Life on the lodge turned out to be like in a parallel universe, as the lodge was only frequented by people from outside Malawi, so no culture-clash here. There was free Internet and the television was always running, showing all the soaps you could watch in Europe too. Once you stepped through the gate you entered the real Malawi. Our first visit to the village of Nkata Bay, was on the day that the weekly ferry stopped there. This is usually a very busy day, as everybody tries to sell something to the passengers of the ferry. A very lively village indeed, but again, hard to get into contact with the local people, who mostly stared at us. Sometimes even a bit hostile. Most contact made was about selling us something. The first night in Nkata Bay we suffered heavy rain during the night, but luckily both our tents held up quite good. We only had some water leaking into the rack sacks on our Disco, so we put an extra tarpaulin over them to solve this. Lasse and Sil enjoyed swimming in Lake Malawi (no Bilharzia here) and played a long time with a canoe and snorkeling gear.

Our next goal was Cape Maclear, but we made a stopover in Senga Bay at the Wamwai Beach lodge, as Cape Maclear proved too far away to travel in one day. Although the tar roads are generally very good in Malawi, the going is slow because the road follows the lakeshore and everywhere people are walking and bicycling along the road, so you have to be very careful and drive slowly. It was not possible to find a quiet place along the way to have some lunch; within minutes a small crowd of hungry-looking children gathered around us. When two drunken men joined the group, the atmosphere turned sour and we decided to finish our lunch in the car. Senga Bay itself was a nice stopover; the boys were swimming and played soccer with the locals on the beach, while we were relaxing and reading a bit. We were, however, touched by the poverty of the people and the fact that most people did not seem to have the will to improve their own situation.

After 2 nights we moved on to Cape Maclear. We took Belle en Jessica from Australia with us, as they would otherwise have to spend about 10 hours in various minibuses to get there. Lasse en Sil enjoyed this a lot, as they had to sit on the laps of Belle and Jessica, which the very much liked to do. This also gave them ample opportunity to share their experiences with new, fresh adults and they did not stop talking during the 5-hours ride. Belle and Jessica worked on a 2-year contract as teachers on a primary school in Tanzania, for the children from rich Tanzanians and expats. The too, liked it to spend some time with us and we did some things together over the next days, while we were staying in Cape Maclear.

We stayed at Fat Monkeys in Cape Maclear, an average, backpacker-style lodge and campsite. Luckily, it was not too busy when we were there, but on our last day 3 groups, each of about 20 youngsters had arrived, immediately turning the place into a more funky, nightlife type of place. We camped right at the beach, which provided for nice views of the setting sun. We did not swim because of Bilharzia, and this was at times frustrating as the water looked very inviting..... We had 2 long walks along the beach. During the first we witnessed people pulling our large fishing nets out of the sea. Lasse was asked to help pulling, which turned into a hilarious moment. The next day we walked up to the town and witnessed a carpenter mending an old fisher boat and saw an old man skillfully carving out a mokoro, a traditional canoe. On our way back we were followed by a large group of children, who did not want to let go, which made us feel uneasy. Very hard to block out 25 loud kids following you over the beach!

Last stop in Malawi was Ku Chawe Trout Farm, near Zomba, the former capital of Malawi (in the seventies Lilonge was made capital). We again gave Belle and Jessica a lift until Blantyre, where they would catch a bus going north, back to Tanzania again. The trout farm was a very run-down place, but again breathing a very pleasant atmosphere, built amidst a beautiful (rain) forest by Indian people in the mid-seventies. Regrettably it was breeding season, so we were not allowed to fish in the trout farm's ponds (much to Lasse's disappointment), nor could we buy a trout from the farm. We went out on a long hike on our first day with Stanley, the manager of the farm and Peter made a long hike with Stanley the next day to climb Mulonge Mountain, 2.800 m above sea level. Again we were confronted with great poverty; women carrying large bundles of wood on their heads to earn some 1,5 to 2, 5 euro and people begging for food and money. We bought large quantities of fresh fruit (raspberries, go-berries and strawberries) from people selling along the road, a health-peak in our diet! On our last day we met Francois and Nick, two men from Cape Town travelling on their motor bikes. Very friendly, open hearted and open minded, they were two very a-typical South Africans and a relief for us to meet up with.

So this was Malawi, a beautiful but very poor country. We left it with mixed feelings, anxious about what Mozambique would bring us.