MALAWI
Days 73 & 74
Sunday - Monday: We spent two glorious rest days at Chitimba Beach Camp on the shores of Lake Malawi, in a truly beautiful setting looking out over the Lake, hemmed in to the West by the mountains of the Rift Valley.Being a rest day, breakfast & lunch were for our account, mainly eaten at the camp's Bar Area, but suppers were supplied by TDA at the Main Truck. On the second night, this consisted of Goat and Pork, which was cooked "spit style" by the locals under the supervision of the TDA Staff - delicious!
On the evening of our first rest day, we held a "Cocktail Party" organised by Rupert , the Chairman of the Entertainment Committee, and a great time was had by all. Most of the Riders were then introduced to their first "Springbokkies" - a green & caramel colored cocktail consisting of Peppermint Liquor & Amarula Cream; also popular shooter back in South Africa.
Judith and I took a leisurely walk on the beach and included a visit to the Hakuna Matata Camp (situated next door to our Camp). It is run by Willie, a South African who had been in Malawi for the past twelve years.
Lunch Truck driver, Wynand, organised for us to meet up with a local called Hudson, who was a contact for sourcing rocks and minerals. He took us on a wild goose chase looking for a dealer in a nearby village, to no avail. But at least we did meet up with some locals who explained the whole growth and harvest cycle of cassava to us!
A dealer finally came to Camp and he brought some specimens with him which were utter rubbish (poor pyrope garnet crystals and calcite crystals) a total waste of time.
Hudson then promised to bring a dealer who had "Blue Sky" gemstones. A guy arrived the next day, not with any blue stones but with some very red looking gemstones, which I quickly determined to be broken glass!! What is it with these Malawian gem "dealers", do they take all visitors to be complete idiots??
Lunch on day two was at a local village house, where a big group of us sampled the local Chombo (fish) Dish. It was very tasty, but true to form, we were mainly dished up fish heads and tails, with the locals having taken the fillets for themselves (can only be Malawi).
Chitimba Beach was a great place to rest up, and the only negative aspect of it was that we would need to climb out of the Lake Area and up over the mountains to the West, on our way to the capital city of Lilongwe.
Till then...
Cheers,
Mike T
 |
| Selfie of Team Treloar :) |
 | ||
Chitimba Beach Camp - Lake Malawi
|
 |
| In my opinion Malawi's best beer |
 |
| "Springbokkies" with Rupert |
 |
| Magical Malawian flowers |
 |
| Cape to Kili Route |
 |
| Met up with a Father and his two Sons who were cycling from Cape Town to Kilimanjaro |
 |
| The Farrow's enjoying some quality time |
 |
| Eating out at one of the Local Houses |
 |
Eating local Malawian "Chombo"
|
 |
| Rest days should be spent resting! |
_
I was there 2 years ago. Great views, great atmoshphere, great trip!
ReplyDelete