Despite what sounded like a nearby nightclub trying to keep us awake last night (music from 8pm to 5am), we slept the sleep of the exhausted. The water shortage had obviously ended during the night, so thankfully we were able to have a shower. It may have been cold but it was extremely welcome. Freshly showered, we were ready to find out what our first Malawian breakfast would be. Egg, chips, bread and coffee, not the healthiest of starts to the day but better than the last few breakfasts we have had.
With no other sizeable towns in the north of Malawi, at least not along the lake, we planned to go into town to stock up on food and get out some money. By all accounts Malawi is not blessed with ATMs and ones that accept Mastercard even less so. The other reason for our visit was to see the town's museum and its 'Malawisaurus'. Enquiring as to the direction of the town centre, the staff told us that their boss was going to the bank so he would give us a lift. About 10 minutes later and we were squeezed into his pick-up and heading into town. The manager has lived in various parts of the UK and was interested in our trip, if like many before him slightly amused!
Dropping us outside the bank we went to get some cash from the ATM. The process took quite a long time as the maximum you can draw out in one transaction is 20,000MK (approx £80). As we were trying to get out enough money for our stay here, this involved several transactions. The other issue is that Malawian money is quite big and the ATMs give out 500MK notes, which means you have quite a thick bundle of them. Fitting them in an ordinary wallet is a bit of a struggle.
With our pockets and bag full of cash we headed to the museum. It may not go down as one of the all time great museums, but the small building holds an interesting collection of fossils and artefacts from Malawi's history. The highlight is obviously the life-size reconstruction of the Malawisaurus skeleton. The bones were discovered in the Karonga region about 45km south of the town.
Having taken care of our cultural welfare, we went to try and take care of our food requirements. The town is fortunately blessed with a few small supermarkets, none of which are brilliant but we have been able to pick up a few supplies. We haven't bought any yet, but a freezer full of pork sausages was a particularly good find! Passing an Airtel office we stopped in to try and get some credit on our sim card, so that we can once again access the internet. The staff really didn't understand what we needed for internet access, so we added a small amount of credit and will hopefully be able to sort it out later. The lodge manager has offered to help us if he can. Otherwise we may have to wait until Lilongwe before we can get connected.
Back at the hotel we ordered some lunch and spent the rest of the day reading and blogging. We are still undecided about our next move, we can either take the ferry past a mountain or ride over the top. Both have their pros and cons, the main one against the ferry being that it only goes once a week (fortunately on Monday) at 1am. On the other hand, we are quite concerned about Debs' hip pain and don't wish to aggravate it with yet another climb.
It looks like the sensible option will be to take the ferry from Chilumba to Nkata Bay, in which case we will spend another night in Karonga and then ride the 70km to the ferry port on Sunday. We could go to a beach resort past the ferry tomorrow, but for the sake of an afternoon and morning on the beach it seems a bit pointless. Let's hope the night club isn't so loud tonight!
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