We continue travelling down the side of Lake Malawi which incidentally has waves you could surf on, looking for our Utopian Camp Site where we can spend a week or so.
So far there is always something that is not quite right, and most of the camps are through long unmade roads through local villages so we are really getting some of the real culture of Malawi.
At last we have found a place called Cool Running which meets all our criteria, and surprise surprise the Kiwis were here waiting for us. Since Gary is a bit of a woodsman he decided to treat us to a Barbie on which we grilled the local lake fish....gutted but with scales on ...the New Zealand way. It was delicious.
Next day a new couple turned up and Janet greeted them right royally. She said she remembered them from a previous camp in Tanzania. After exchanging half an hour of chat we realised they were people we had quickly consigned to the trash can in Dar Es Salaam because they were complete .**** ***** (censored by Janet) We now had made friends with them again....c’est la vie.
THERE IS A GOD AND HE LIVES IN LILONGWE
A bit of action followed the next day as our gas canister malfunctioned and caught fire. Like a true hero I screamed for help and threw the canister now looking like an oxy-acetylene torch into the middle of some campers. We tried blankets, water and our pathetic fire extinguisher and nothing seemed to have any effect. It looked like a major explosion was due and just as I was about to call Red Adair a kindly old lady put it out for us.
While all the fuss and panic was going on the camp dog pinched Janet’s breakfast which I had lovingly cooked. The lady owner insisted Janet’s breakfast was replaced by the camp chef.
It was about time we left Cool Runnings and we made the short hop to the capital of Malawi.....Lilongwe. The first night was spent in a very popular camp site (Mabuko formerly known as Kiboko). It is run by an English couple who toured Africa in a Yellow Mog and who we met in Morocco on our first trip. They were, in fact responsible for our trip down to Timbuktu as they gave us lots of tips and encouragement. Their camp however was crowded with teenagers doing Wilderness Challenges etc. They were all very pleasant people but we’d have had more space camping on the kop at Hillsborough during a local derby.
A quick walk into town, next day brought us to the gates of the Lilongwe Golf Club....home of the Malawi Open, won last year, I think, by Bob Derbyshire. A small sign underneath the main gates said ‘Camping Available’ so we had a quick look.
For $5 per night we get honorary membership, use of all the facilities including swimming pool squash, tennis, and bar and restaurants. We can have 18 holes as well but this will be an extra $10 (including caddie). They were most impressed with my Blackmoor Golf Membership card, which I think has reciprocal rights with the Lilongwe Club if anyone fancies a round. We are parked next to the 16th tee and the 17th and 18th triangulate around us. The van has officially been declared part of the course so there is no relief if we are in the way.
I could stay here for a very long time...and Janet loves it too....thank you God.
As we update the blog we can now report 2 rounds on the Championship Course. Janet shot a creditable 132 and 134, and I a 94 and 101. It has to be said though that my performance was with only 3 clubs a 3 iron, a 6 iron and a putter, since this was all the club had as apparently all left handed kids are strangled at birth in Malawi.
Talking of customs, the first day of August marks the start of the circumcision season in Malawi....and yes it is called the circumcision season, and yes it is the time when circumcisions are carried out en masse, a little bit like we had polio injections at school. Not the start of a season I would particularly look forward to but it brings it home that we are really living in an African culture.
Another thing that struck both Janet and I, is the huge numbers of mobile phones in what is classed as a very poor country.
Doctors have told us that working here has its own moral crises as badly malnourished children are brought to their clinic, and as the child is being examined Mums mobile will go off.
Employers also tell us that their workers invariably run out of money a few days after pay day, and ask for an advance. The first thing the employers do is to check the balance on their mobile as on a par with drink, this is where the money goes.
Wonderful though the Golf Club is we leave on Monday to go into Zambia, to, where we have been told, is the best Game Park in the world, and we also intend to visit the Victoria Falls from both the Zambian side and the Zimbabwean side.
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