Day 284 – 292 Malawi 13/08/2011 - 21/08/2011, Kande Beach. Resting, relaxing, horse riding and socialising.

Just one blog entry to cover our stay in 'Kande Beach', mainly because we have done very little. Despite the constant stream of overland trucks we have stuck it out and met some great people along the way. Richard and Rachel arrived on our first full day here, in their rather smart Land Rover complete with mobile-home style back. They are travelling north back to England assuming they can get out of Egypt. It seems that ferry from Egypt to Italy is no longer running and the continuing situation in Syria makes getting back to Europe difficult. To make matters tougher for anyone headed north it seems that getting an Ethiopian visa has become all but impossible, short of sending your passport home to your own country. Travel difficulties aside, they are a lovely couple who very kindly gave us their excellent Malawi and Mozambique map, which will be invaluable as we head south. We wish them a safe and a hopefully trouble free journey.

Aside from watching the rest of the cricket and some rugby, I have contented myself with laying in a hammock and reading.

There have been a constant stream of trucks in and out, but never as many as when we first arrived. For the main part the atmosphere hear as been fairly subdued, not all of the trucks are party trucks it seems. Debs meanwhile has been working on her tan, although any attempts to get rid of the cycle tan lines have been largely ineffective. It seems we will be both stuck with them for the duration of our trip!

Since arriving the weather has remained warm but a strong wind has got up making the lake quite rough. Looking at the waves, beach and no visible sign of the other side it is easy to think that you are looking at a sea. Not having to wash off the salt water is a pleasant reminder though.

Seeking excitement Debs booked to go on a two hour horse ride with the local stables. Having been met by Sophia from 'Kande Horse' at 2pm, Debs and another rider Jess set off to the stables to meet their horses. Meanwhile, I chatted with a group who are driving a fire engine from Cape town to Germany. They were an interesting bunch having made the trip once before in the 1960s, although that time not in an old fire engine! For details of Debs' horse ride I will pass the blogging duties over to her:

Arriving at Kande Horse stables, we were issued with helmets and half-chaps and were then introduced to our mounts. My horse was a beautiful grey 16.2hh mare called Clover. With Sophia leading the way, we set off into the forest for the start of a wonderful ride. It was a great way to see the scenery with the track taking us through farmland, forests, open grassland, villages and finally along the wide beach. The reaction we got when we rode through the villages was much akin to when Matt and I cycle through them, with the kids becoming totally overexcited. However, on this occasion they were much more interested in the horses than in us!

We finished the ride back at Kande Beach resort where we un-tacked the horses and changed into our swimwear. Riding the horses bareback we headed to the beach and into Lake Malawi. Clover was very glad to have a drink and to cool off in the waves. It was an amazing experience and a fantastic memory to take away from Malawi. Kande Horse is a very professionally run stables with well-kept, happy horses and Sophia was a brilliant, friendly guide.

Having got on very well with Sophia from the stables, Debs and I were invited down to join her and Johnny (the owner) and his wife for a coffee. It was good to get away from the site for a while and have a chat with some lovely people. It was also very generous of them all, to let us have some fresh vegetables and salad from their well stocked garden. Getting fresh vegetables, at least of any great variety, has been a challenge in Malawi. For two days we were able to make a delicious salad for lunch which has been a nice change to the soup or noodles. The camp-site's restaurant is unfortunately rather expensive, in fairness food in Malawi has been dearer than in Tanzania, and not really that good. We have had a few meals there but, I would suggest that self catering is a better option! On the way back from the stables we stopped in the village and bought a few supplies. Heading back to the camp we had a lot of fun giving the local children rides on our bikes. By way of thanks they helped us push our bikes through the thick sand. The village children have been great and we have given several rides to them, during our trips to get supplies. For once we have been largely free of the requests for money, in fact the worst that has happened; is that occasionally the kids have got a little boisterous and started fighting over who gets to ride next. We have managed to quickly quash most fights, but three children per bike is all we can push. Fortunately one of the older children normally comes to the rescue when it gets a bit much!

Back at the camp Debs got to have another horse experience when Sophia asked her to lead one of the horses into the lake, while she took another rider in. This time the lake was quite rough and it looked like all she could do to stop from being submerged. The grin never faded though, another time and she may have found her dream job!

It is amazing how quick the time has passed, we had planned to leave yesterday but Debs has been suffering with a cold that seems a little better today. From a less than auspicious start, we have had a pretty good time here, but the road once again beckons. Let's hope the kids are available to help us push the bikes tomorrow morning, otherwise we may well be worn out before we make it to the road!

Another day has passed and we are still here. We ended up having a drink or two with Sophia last night, which added to the ones I had while watching South Africa beat New Zealand in the 'Tri Nations', meant that we weren't in much of a state to move on. Still, some good has come out of it, Debs has another day to get over her cold and we have managed to fill up our petrol bottles thanks to the local dive school. We are definitely off tomorrow, it will be an early night tonight!

Just a quick addition: We had another great chat, plus a few too many beers, with Johnny and Sophia at the bar last night and thanks to Gary and Kirsty (who are running the camp while the owners are away) we have a better idea of where to go when we leave Malawi. We also, credit where it is due, had a lovely meal of sausages, mash, veggies and gravy from the restaurant last night. I won't go into the comedic struggle we went through to get the food, but cheers Owen for sorting it out. It rounded up what has been a very entertaining stay!

Day 283 Malawi 12/08/2011, Big Blue Star Backpackers, Nkhata Bay – Kande Beach. 37.66miles/60.88km, 4hrs09minutes, Av 9.0mph.

Back on the road today and heading for Kande Beach. The road leading from 'Big Blue Star' was surprisingly steep, as was the road out of Nkhata bay to join the main road. By the time we reached the main coast road our legs had had a good morning workout.

Far from being flat along the coast, the road weaves inland through rolling hills. The scenery was great, passing palm trees and rubber plantations.

The constant cry of 'give me money' was once again never far away, but we also encountered many friendly people along the road. It is just a shame that the demands for money are from the majority of the children that we encountered. Still it has got much easier for us to just ignore it.

Before reaching Kande beach, we stopped in the small town of Chinteche with a view to get some supplies for our stay at Kande. Unfortunately the normally reliable 'Peoples Supermarket' was pretty poor. We bought some eggs and bread from a small store instead and will have to hope that the restaurant is either good and reasonably priced, or that there are some supplies available nearby. As it was lunchtime we had some food at 'Mums restaurant' and then headed down the road towards our camp-site.

The last few kilometres of the ride was along an unsealed road to the camp. For the main part the going was ok, but the track soon turned to deep sand and as we neared Kande Beach we were forced to abandon any attempt at cycling. While I struggled to push my bike through the sand, I turned to see Debs surrounded by helpful local children all pushing her along! With a wave of thanks we entered the compound, straight into over-lander truck central!

There were at least three trucks here when we arrived, which were joined by three more as the day progressed. Fortunately there were also a few independent travellers as well, otherwise it could have been a lonely place to be. Breaking into already bonded groups of travellers can be a little challenging.

Aside from being very busy, our first impressions of Kande Beach is that it is very attractive. We are camped under a reed covered area, so the tent will remain pleasantly cool. We remain hopeful that the people in the surrounding tents will keep the noise down during the night.

Our last experience of an over-landers camp-site was that it was surprisingly quiet, but that time we weren't quite so surrounded. There is a beautiful stretch of beach and the lake looks quite inviting. I would have gone for a swim but there were more important things to do, like watch England destroying India in the cricket, whilst enjoying a cold beer.

We spent the evening talking to a nice British couple, Will and Jess, who have been on holiday in Malawi and later on two British Canoeists who have been rowing the length of the lake in their packable kayak. I have been quite impressed with the kayak; another trip perhaps?! Later this evening things got a lot rowdier at the bar. One of the trucks was having a fancy dress party which ended with the staff actively encouraging people to dance on the bar. It was good fun to watch for a while but eventually we headed back to the tent for the night.

We hadn't expected the music and partying to go on until 2am. So far it looks like it is definitely not going to be peaceful here. We will have to consider how long we are going to stay; still tomorrow is another day.

Day 282 Malawi, 11/08/2011, Big Blue Star Backpackers, Nkhata Bay. Blogging, shopping, a haircut and a swim.

We have had a quiet day today with the morning being spent getting the blog up-to-date, or at least written. We also said goodbye to Joseba and Corinne who are heading south. We may well bump into them in the next few days as everyone will be trying to avoid travelling on August 17^th.

Heading into town we had a look round the market, but couldn't find anywhere near the variety of fruit and vegetables that we had seen in Mzuzu, so we wish now that we had bought more there. However, we would still have the problem that we have encountered in all of the warmer climates, which is how to keep things fresh while we are on the bikes. The plastic panniers tend to act like an oven when the sun is beating down on them. Fresh food is fine if you eat it within a couple of days, but after that not much survives. Self-catering is not easy in Africa!

The success story of the day has been my haircut! Despite a shaky looking start with the clipper guides not fitting the shaver he was using properly, I have ended up with a presentable haircut. Not much to get excited about you may say, but getting an even half decent haircut while travelling is always a struggle.

As it was lunchtime while we were in town, we went to the very nice 'Kaya Papaya' restaurant and had some delicious Thai food. I know we are in now in Malawi, but the standard fair of meat and rice etc hasn't changed since we left Kenya, so it has been great to be able to find a little variety.

Back at the guest-house I have been doing a bit more blogging while Debs had her first dip in the lake. I have now got everything up to date, so it is time for a dip myself!

Day 281 Malawi 10/08/2011, Big Blue Star Backpackers, Nkhata Bay. A trip to Mzuzu.

Having had a good nights sleep, I woke feeling a bit bad about the 'Thomas situation', so decided to get up and see him off. He had told us the night before that he would be leaving at about 7am.Obviously he hated the place so much that he went even earlier as his room was empty when I went to look. We later found out he left the key with the night watchman at 6am. Oh well, you can't be friendly with everyone!

After breakfast we headed to the minibus stand to catch a bus to Mzuzu. With some moving of passengers, they found space on the bus for us and we were on our way. We were only about 50km form Mzuzu, but the journey seemed to take ages. The constant stopping for passengers and the fairly steeply climbing road meant that we never really got going. When we eventually got to the city, it was a relief to get off the bus. Mzuzu is the main town in the area and one of few places in Malawi where we could supposedly sort out our internet issues. More recently and rather sadly it was also the scene of some heavy rioting during recent government protests, which resulted in the police killing several people. We have already been informed that more protests have been planned for August 17^th, so we have been told to not travel on that day. We will be keeping an eye on the situation, which will hopefully turn out to be relatively peaceful and confined to the major centres.

Leaving the bus station we asked some directions and found the Airtel office, where a helpful staff member soon had our internet up and running. There was nothing wrong with the sim, we just needed to tell the computer to dial the correct number. With the first task completed, we stopped in a few supermarkets, had a nice Indian lunch, withdrew some more money and went to have a look at the market. Mzuzu market is great! We found a huge amount of fresh fruit and vegetables and wandering through the narrow winding alleys between the stalls was fascinating.

Our brief visit to Mzuzu had been a successful one, but we were ready to get back to Nkhata Bay.

The return journey was in a more dilapidated minibus than we had arrived on, but this time we were sitting together. Having paid 400kwacha (£1:70) each on the way, when we were told 450kwacha for the way back we started to walk off until they agreed on 400kwacha. Unfortunately everyone else was told the fare was 450kwacha so oops, it looks like we haggled when we shouldn't have! As the road was mainly downhill we got back to Nkhata Bay much quicker than the outbound journey, although we were considerably more shaken up!

Back at 'Big Blue Star' we settled in for the afternoon, eventually deciding to eat at the restaurant as we really couldn't face going out again. The cycle tourists who we had met yesterday had moved to our guest-house so I had a brief chat with them. Joseba and Corinne started in Cairo and are heading south like us, but will be following a different route. We will stay in touch and hopefully bump into them again closer to Cape Town.

It has been a successful day and we will spend one more day here and then head onwards to 'Kande Beach'. It is a beautiful spot to while away some time and with our need to be settled somewhere by August 17^th, there really is no rush.

Day 280 Malawi 09/08/2011, Ilala Ferry to 'Big Blue Star Backpackers', Nkhata Bay. Slow boat to Nkhata Bay, a nice guest-house and a peculiar Austrian

It got really cold during the night, so we were glad of our sleeping bags. It was certainly peaceful though so we had a fairly restful sleep.

With sunrise came the first bit of entertainment on the boat; watching the life rafts being loaded with people, animals and cargo and then being ferried off to the shore. Many of the small villages are cut off from the road network and the water is too shallow for the boat to get close. The arrival of the ferry is obviously a big event as the beaches were lined with people ready to greet the new arrivals, and the goods that they bring, and more people waiting to board the boat. It is always entertaining to see a small boat with maximum 22 passengers written on the side, loaded with over 30 people and all their cargo.

The rest of the journey to Nkhata bay went slowly; the restaurant on board served surprisingly good food which was most welcome and the drinks from the bar were cold, if not served with any great enthusiasm. In the end though I would say that the journey we had taken was long enough. Taking the ferry all the way along the lake, for us at least, would have been too much. There is just too much hanging around involved, coupled with very little to do on the boat. A cabin would have been essential, but very expensive, as there is no real shade on the top deck other than around the bar.

Unloading our bikes from the ferry, followed much the same pattern as loading them. This time, working together, Thomas and I managed to unload the bikes onto the jetty with something approaching ease. If a tractor driver moving a trailer full of grain sacks hadn't been so hell bent on trying to ram us, loading and getting under way would have been pretty easy. Despite his shouting and revving of his engine, I held my ground and shouted back, refusing to move until I was ready. This didn't go down to well, but as the ferry was in port for at least 6 hours, we couldn't see what his rush was. Eventually with a scowl we pushed through the throngs of people desperate to board and manoeuvred past the tractor; we had arrived in Nkhata Bay.

As the port area and town seemed to be full of people we decided to push our bikes and head for a guest-house. Along the way we bumped into two more cycle tourists who had come to watch the ferry come in. We said hello and hoped to bump into them again. As we left the port, I was greeted by a staff member from 'Big Blue Star Backpackers', one of the guest-houses we had planned on looking at. As he was with us it seemed a good idea to go and have a look at what they were offering first. We are not sure whether this upset Thomas, but from then on he became somewhat strange. Meeting Kathy, a staff member, she showed us to a series of very nice rooms. Thomas meanwhile seemed somewhat agitated, bordering on rude. A beautiful reed hut, with a balcony overlooking the lake, had a lizard outside, was too near the water for Thomas and might have insects. The brick built hut that we had been offered was alright, but they didn't have another one for him. Once again being courteous we offered him the brick building and he seemed satisfied. To be honest the reed room was so nice that we really weren't that bothered.

So far, since meeting Thomas I have given up two rooms, a mosquito net and my bed sheets, because his were too dirty! Worse was yet to come when he realised that the guest-house didn't provide towels or soap. We have never met a traveller let alone a cycle tourist who doesn't travel with their own towel or soap. From seeming quite friendly, his behaviour was becoming stranger and stranger. After we had got settled, we helped Thomas to carry his luggage (no thanks were forthcoming) we sat down to have a drink. Thomas meanwhile wanted to go into town, so we lent him our guidebook as he wanted to do some photocopying. Thinking that we would be helpful, we asked the staff where a photocopying place was. They told us that it might be difficult to find, but one of the staff would explain to Thomas where it was. On hearing this, Thomas' response was 'I am not a child' and he stormed off to the somewhat startled look of the helpful staff. We can't be certain what we did to offend him, but aside from the return of our book and a guarded 'I do not like it here!' we haven't heard anything else from him.

That said we did have a small moan at him when he returned with a bag of sweets for the kids. We had always wondered who the people were who were stupid enough to hand out sweets to street children, and now we know. Knowing how uncomfortable he was around the children outside the ferry port, we can only assume he is going to use them to ward off the kids by throwing them at them; a bit like meat thrown to an aggressive dog. We look forward to following him down the road and having children demanding sweets from us! It is unbelievable how irresponsible some supposedly educated and travelled people can be!

By the time we had had dinner and a few beers, we decided to call it a night. The ferry experience over the last few days had caught up with us. Tomorrow we plan to go to Mzuzu and hopefully get our internet sorted.