24.11.06 South Luangwa (Zambia), Liwonde and Senga Bay (Malawi) Hi there to you all! How’s things? Sorry it’s been a long time since our last entry, but the internet is not very reliable here in Malawi, and we’ve had a bit of trouble getting access to the weblog site. As I began uploading this blog I was shocked to realise that we are already almost in to December. It’s difficult to imagine you are probably getting in to Christmas mode, whether you want to or not, with xmas music, decorations appearing and all the rest of it. Out here there’s not a sniff of the festive season, which, along with the increasing heat, ensures that we have almost completely forgotten about what time of year it is! Once we get back in to SA I’m sure the Christmas preparations will be well under way, and we’ll get in to the swing of it a bit, although it will feel a little odd having Santa come in the middle of the summer! Anyway Santa thoughts aside, we hope you are all very well and the shortening nights are not making you too depressed! So we were in Malawi spending for a couple of days by the lake before going back in to Zambia to pick up Kev and Zoe. We had also popped down to Liwonde NP for a few days beforehand, and while we were there we had a very lucky encounter with one of the rangers who worked in the rhino sanctuary there. Jas bumped in to Dzimba in the men’s loos and got chatting to him about the various joys of animal tracking. Jas asked what animals Dzimba spent most of his time tracking and he replied ‘Rhinos’! Obviously Jas was very impressed and couldn’t begin to hide his excitement. Dzimba was so delighted with Jas’s interest and enthusiasm about his job, that in no time at all Dzimba was inviting us to join him and his fellow ranger Christopher the following day for a trip in to the rhino sanctuary to track the black rhino, on foot!!! Well what a result! Not only do you normally have to pay to go in the rhino sanctuary and we were going in free, but more importantly, the general public can only drive around the sanctuary, and we were going to have our own personal walking safari to find the rhinos! We tried not to get too excited just in case it didn’t actually happen, after all Dzimba wasn’t supposed to take any old people in there. But when we bumped in to Christopher later on and he quite confidently said, ‘Ah you must be Jas and Kate, you are coming with us tomorrow, we will find some rhinos for you’, we started to get very excited! At 5.30 the next morning Dzimba and Christopher arrived in the campsite ready to set off in to the sanctuary. If there were any remaining doubts at all that we were going to be walking with rhinos, these were immediately dispelled by the presence of the assault rifles they were carrying with them! No messing about there, they were ready for any trouble the rhinos might throw at us. We found out later that the guns were also for use against poachers. The rhino sanctuary is dedicated to rearing black rhino, and other endangered species in Malawi, and the Malawian government is so dedicated to this mission that they will not tolerate poachers in there at all. Poachers are still a problem in Liwonde and if they are found in the rest of the park they are arrested and sent to jail. However, such is the concern that they will try to kill the rhino, that the rangers are given a ‘shoot to kill ‘ policy if they discover poachers inside the sanctuary. The hope being that the possibility of this drastic action will stop the poachers going in there. So in to the sanctuary we go, the back gate just to keep a slightly lower profile, with Christopher searching through the windscreen of the landy for any signs of the rhino. There are 7 rhinos in the sanctuary at the moment, 4 adults and 3 young. Dzimba and Christopher have over 38 years experience of rhino tracking between them and having worked at Liwonde for 23 and 15 years respectively, we had every faith that they new whereabouts they should be looking! It wasn’t long before Christopher had us park the landy and start walking through the bush. They gave us a little pep talk before we started so we knew how to conduct ourselves once on foot, and although I knew they knew exactly what they were doing, it was still a little nerve racking as well as being very exciting! It was fascinating how they tracked the rhino, following sounds, smells and tracks that half the time I couldn’t make out at all! They were always taking in to account which way the wind was blowing so that we were downwind of the rhino, and our smell didn’t give us away. We spent quite a long time walking around, but were steadily getting closer to one rhino and her calf, finding spots where they had slept the might before, stopped for a drink and even areas they had been playing. We came to an area where Dzimba and Christopher were sure the rhino were very close by and told us to stay at one spot while they circled around to check. They hadn’t moved more than a few metres either side of us when we heard a loud rustling of bushes about 10 metres away, along with a definite rhino sounding snort. Jas and I looked through the bushes and low and behold there in front of us was a mum rhino and her calf! They gave us a little scare by making a small mock charge towards us, getting our adrenalin going and our feet moving to the sides of Christopher and Dzimba, and the safety of the guns! But they are very shy animals really and were not at all interested in getting close to us, and after only a few moments they ran off in the opposite direction leaving us no chance to catch up with them. Wow, what can I say, it was really fantastic to get that close to black rhinos on foot! We were very lucky to see them on our first walk, it was a very special treat for us and one that we might never have again. After that we went back to the landy and drove around the rest of the sanctuary to see some of the other animals they have in there, which aren’t found in the rest of the park. We saw zebra, hartebeest, roan, sable, and eland, a full house as far as we were concerned. It had been an excellent morning! Dzimba and Christopher were very pleased we had seen everything too and had enjoyed showing us around and telling us all about their job. They asked us if we wanted to go in again with them the next morning and needless to say we didn’t hesitate in saying ‘yes please!!!’ We went in again and as quickly as the day before we had found fresh tracks and were hot the rhino’s trail. Luck wasn’t with us this time and although we got close to where they were, we scared them off way before we could see them. Dzimba and Christopher we very disappointed that they hadn’t got us closer, and wanted us to go in a third day, but we had to explain that we couldn’t stay any longer this time, but would be back in about 10 days with our friends. As Kev is the one who got Jas in to his tracking, we asked if there was any chance that they would take us in when we came back. They were absolutely thrilled that we were coming to Liwonde again and said that they would take us rhino tracking as many days as we liked, as long as it wasn’t on a Saturday when their bosses from Blantyre came! So all was set for a great treat for Kev and Zoe. We met a nice Australian couple (Mike and Julie) in Liwonde, and they joined us in the landy for some drives. They were planning to go up to the lake next and as it was on our way we said we would give them a lift. They had been travelling around using public transport and were very happy to squeeze in the landy with us and all our stuff, as a break from the minibuses! We also found out that Christopher (our rhino man) was going home for a few days and his house was in a village called Sharpvale, also on the way to the lake. Seeing if it was possible to get him in as well, lots of luggage manuovering involved, we offered him a lift too, much to his delight. As we neared Sharpvale we asked Christopher how far from the main road his house was. He told us it was only 1/2km and would we like to come and meet his family. We said that would be lovely and so we drove right to his front door and were greeted by his wife and 7 children, plus numerous relatives and what seemed like half the village! Christopher was very keen to show us his home and fields, and share some home grown pawpaw with us. We stayed for awhile and all the children found us very fascinating, and when Jas did some juggling and a magic trick we were a real hit. Unfortunately we still had a way to go to get to the lake, so we said our goodbyes and off we went with the whole village waving us off. We took Mike and Julie to Cool Runnings and stayed for 2 nights and then it was time to go into Zambia again to pick up Kev & Zoe from Lusaka. It was a 2 day journey which we had done several times now and the border crossing in between. No problems there we thought…….little did we know! We arrived at the Zambian border and for the first time EVER, we were asked to show our yellow fever certificates. It was quite a surprise and as we hadn’t been asked to show them before we had to think about where they actually were. Luckily I had mine with me, but we realised that Jas’s was in amongst some luggage that we had left at ‘Cool Runnings’ (by the lake) until we got back there with Kev & Zoe, so we had a bit more room in the landy. We began to explain this and say that we had been in to Zambia before and never been asked to produce the certificate previously so did they really have to see it this time. Unluckily for us, the official had decided that he was not going to be at all helpful and told us that without it he had every right to refuse us entry in to country. We suddenly were left with the options of a days drive back to the lake to find it, or go back to Lilongwe and find a doctor to give Jas a new vaccination with a new certificate! Neither of these really appealed to us, plus we had to get to Lusaka the next day for Kev & Zoe. This was becoming a real problem and we suddenly realised that we were at this man’s mercy if were wanted to get across the border now, which we needed to do! It dawned on us that the way to go was be a nice to the official as possible, profusely apologise for our stupidity, beg for his assistance in the matter and offer any other grovelling that might help. We even contemplated slipping him a few dollars! After a good half an hour of ‘sucking up’ on our part and ‘showing whose boss’ on his, we were eventually allowed through without the certificate (any thankfully no money was required). After we thanked him many many times, we crossed in to Zambia and breathed a huge sigh of relief! Kev & Zoe were arriving at midday on the 20th, so were had plenty of time to get to the airport that morning. Remembering the hick-up with Helen’s flight we thought it was best to quickly check the email to make sure all was well this time. Would you believe that we had a message from Kev & Zoe’s son, Joe, saying that their flight had been cancelled!!!! Now as you can imagine we were gobsmacked, this surely wasn’t happening again! They were trying to get another flight the next day, but it wasn’t confirmed yet and they would email as soon as they knew. Well Jas and I spent the next hour sitting in a café with a drink just trying to get this news to sink in. We just couldn’t believe it. Obviously we had no problems waiting around Lusaka until they arrived, but we knew that they were tied to coming whilst it was the school’s half term, and had things arranged for looking after their kids and dogs. So if they couldn’t get another flight straight away, it might mean that they couldn’t come at all! That would have been awful for them and us as were we all looking forward to the trip. All we could do was wait and check the email the following day. Eagerly we logged on to the internet the next morning, praying that they had managed to get a flight already, and much to our great surprise, and total relief they had. Fantastic! They were on their way now and fortunately were only a day later than expected, so it wouldn’t affect their time here too much. Off we went to the airport to await their arrival, and seeing them come through the doors was great, considering that 24 hours ago we weren’t sure if we would! Now we were a little behind time, we had a quick shop for food etc in Lusaka and then wasted no time in getting on the road to go up to S. Luangwa NP. This time we choose to go via the ‘back roads’ as it were. A few people had said that it was a much nicer route and fewer kms, although it took the same amount of time because it was a dirt road and had some 4x4 only bits. We thought Kev would like this as he has a landy and would appreciate being able to do some proper off-roading. It was possible that along the way we would see some animals too, as the road went up the side of the NP and they roamed freely around this area. The journey was long and very very hot, but it was worth it when we bumped in to some buffalo, giraffe, warthogs and elephants as we got closer to the park! We stayed at the lovely ‘Flatdogs’ campsite alongside the Luangwa river (this being mine and Jas’s 3rd time here!), ‘flatdog’ being the local name for crocodiles. Over the next 3 days we went for drives in to the park, and saw lots of animals, and as this was Kev & Zoe’s first time on safari they thoroughly enjoyed it. One morning we were told that there was a dead buffalo in one of the watering holes that was being eaten by crocodiles. We made a beeline for the place hoping that it was still there, and were amazed to find the buffalo being pushed around in the water by a group of very large crocs, with many more smaller ones hanging around the scene as well, we counted about 25 altogether. Finding a nice spot to park in the shade and enjoy the show, we sat there enthralled as the crocs played around with the carcass for awhile although not making much attempt to eat it. Then to our utter astonishment several hippos from a nearby pod came and scared the crocs off and started to move the carcass around themselves! It was quite odd to see the hippos doing this and we were trying to work out why they were, they are herbivores so there was not intention of eating it, but they wouldn’t leave it alone and were determined to keep the crocs away. Eventually we concluded that the hippos thought the buffalo was another hippo and they were trying to protect it, but we’re still not really sure. After some time the hippos decided to move away and immediately the crocs were back with avengence! This time they were straight in with their teeth and they attacked the carcass without hesitation. All we could see were masses of crocodile bodies writhing around, tearing bits of meat and snapping their jaws, with an occasional buffalo foot or ear popping up in to sight. It was incredible to watch and totally absorbing, so much so that we didn’t even notice a herd of elephants come out of the trees behind us and start to drink and have a mud bath in the same waterhole, only a few metres away!!! There was so much happening we didn’t know which to look at! It was really fantastic. We went of a couple of night drives from Flatdogs, and were hoping to see a few of the nocturnal animals like genets, porcupines, mongooses, civets, plus of course hyena and leopard. However, much to our disappointment, they kept completely out of our way and we didn’t see much at all. It was a real shame for Kev & Zoe, but they knew that you can never guarantee to see wild animals and were more than impressed with all that they had seen so far. We also tried very hard to find some lions, but these too were not on our side this time, and K&Z decided that it just meant that they had to come back another time! From S.L. we went back in to Malawi, no troubles with yellow fever certificates this time thankfully! We stopped in Lilongwe for fuel and a few bits and bobs, then started on the rest of the journey to Liwonde, stopping only to buy a small handmade wooden Landrover, expertly carved by some guys by the side of the road. A must have for us landy enthusiasts! Towards Balaka (thinking of you Rach and Jas!) which is only 30km from Liwonde, we noticed that it had been raining recently, and we had seen some rain clouds along the way. But it was only when we actually reached Liwonde township that we found it still drizzling, and not thinking anything of it we carried on to the NP gate. Admittedly we were rather later than we had planned and when we got to the gate it was already dark. We should have stayed outside the park for the night, but we really wanted to get to Mvuu Camp that day, as we were running a day late (due to the flights). So we asked the guy who had just closed the gate if we could go in, as we knew the park very well we knew we wouldn’t get lost and it would only take about 30 minutes to get there. He was not really happy to let us, but we convinced him by saying we had to meet Dzimba and Christopher that night because we were ‘working’ with them in the rhino sanctuary the next day, which was almost the truth! You are not supposed to drive around by yourselves at night through the park, but we thought that we could think of some good excuse to give when we got to Mvuu if they were not happy about it. Little did we know that soon we would have the best excuse we could possibly need! Everything started off OK, we had our extras spotlights on and there were no animals about. But after a few kms I found that the road was quite wet and getting a bit slippery. No worries, we just slowed down (ie. from 30km/hr to 20) and carried on. Then suddenly I felt the back wheels go and we were in a full on skid, which I managed to hold without too much trouble and get us to a halt, now straddling the road! It took my breath away for a minute, not having skidded in a car before, but still we didn’t think to much of it, had a laugh and went on. It wasn’t long before we realised that in fact it had been really really raining in the park and this normally straightforward road was now a quagmire of clay fairly rapidly our progress along it got slower and slower. We kept getting stuck it ruts along the side of the road, and as soon as I managed to get out of one and back in to the middle of the road, the landy would slip down in to the rut on the otherside! It was becoming apparent that getting to the camp was going to take considerably more time than we had anticipated! Jas took over driving to give me a break and was having the same trouble, but having lots of fun at the same time! At this point we weren’t too worried about things, we just accepted that we wouldn’t get to the camp for awhile, but at least now we had a ‘real’ good excuse for being late! There were a couple of times when we really thought we were stuck and would have to get out and use the high-lift jack to help us out. But the landy kept up her perfect ‘not stuck yet’ record and kept on going, just got completely covered in mud! We were only about 10km in to the park when we saw some tail lights ahead of us……not moving……someone else was in this mess and by the looks of things STUCK! We managed to get to them and found 2 American girls (Mai and Hope) who work for Wilderness Safaris (the company that own Mvuu Lodge and Camp) who had been stuck for 2 hours! They we so pleased to see us, especially as they thought the gate had closed and no-one else would be coming that late at night! We conveniently forgot to mention that the gate was closed, we just persuaded the guy to open it again for us! They had phoned Mvuu to tell them they were stuck, but now had lost mobile coverage and didn’t know what to do. Plus they could hear strange animal noises and were getting a little nervous about being there. Kev offered to drive their Toyota Landcruiser (a nice new one) and see if he could get further, as they we very quick to say they didn’t have any experience driving in these conditions, or in a 4x4 car. So Kev set off and we followed, still at a very slowly pace and sliding all over the place. We came across a few large puddles and Kev and Jas we happy to wade in to them to see how deep they were! And before you ask, we were all keeping an eye out for the animals whilst they were doing this, luckily Mai and Hope had a couple of big torches with them. So far it was all still a bit humurous and Jas and Kev were having a great time rally driving their way through the park. The progress was slow but steady until we reached a really big puddle, well a mini lake really, across the road. Kev and Jas went to assess the situation, and after awhile came back looking less happy. This ‘lake’ was really too wide to try to drive through without knowing how deep it was or what was on the other side. They were also seeing several large spiders and scorpions and were rather more reluctant to traipse through it to find out how deep it was, which we could all appreciate! So following much deliberation about what to do next, we decided that perhaps the best plan was to stop there for the night and wait until morning before doing anything. It was not a particularly good idea to keep wandering about in elephant country in the dark – we had heard them around, and noises of what we thought were a hyena – and once it was light again we would be in a much better position to determine how to tackle the lake. It was now about 9pm and we were all getting very tired since we had started off from SL at 8am that morning and been in the car most of the day. So having to skip tea, although none of us were that hungry, and having watched an episode of Red Dwarf, to keep spirits up, we tried to get some sleep. Jas and I clambered a little less gracefully than usual in to the roof-top tent and Kev and Zoe struggled to find a half comfortable spot in the landy. Surprisingly quickly we all fell asleep and were remarkably refreshed when dawn arrived the next morning, considering our predicament. What a difference light makes! Now we could see all around the lake and found that we could cross it in two stages by going off the road and through the trees. It was still going to be tricky and it was all hands on deck to gather up some big branches to lay in front of the tyres to try and give us some more grip. Kev was still in front and although he looked as though he was getting badly stuck at one bit, managed to get through without too much hassle. Jas followed his route and also made it through, again wheel spinning on a few parts, but not getting completely stuck. We were all very relieved to have got past the lake and knew (now that we could see where we were) that it was only another 4 or 5km to the camp. But just as we thought the worst was over we came to slight hill where the rain had cut very deep ruts down each side. It was going to be very tricky to stop the cars slipping down on either side and getting well and truly wedged! With a bit of slipping, a lot of manoeuvring and some hairy landy 40 degrees leaning moments, we made it (full praise to Jas’s driving here)! Eventually we got to the camp and were met with apologies from the staff for our ordeal, and explanations of how they tried to come and find us (once they knew that Mai and Hope were stuck) but couldn’t get very far from their end and had to turn back. We assured them we were all fine and that the whole thing was actually quite an adventure which we would enjoy telling all our friends about! Indeed we told them that some people pay a lot of money to bush-camp in a national park! As a thank-you for rescuing them, Mai and Hope insisted that we joined them for breakfast at the camp which the company would happily pay for. Since the last time we’d had a proper meal was more than a day ago, (we hadn’t ate much on the journey, planning to cook a big tea when we got to the campsite, but we never made it!) we accepted very gratefully and each ate a hearty breakfast! We had two lovely days at Liwonde (finally!) and met up with Dzimba and Christopher again, who were very pleased to see us as they had heard we were stuck in the bush for the night! The rain didn’t come back which was very good because we were afraid it would prevent us from doing game drives and going in to the rhino sanctuary. So the next morning they took us rhino tracking and although they both put in their best efforts, we didn’t get to see them this time, but we saw most of the other animals in the sanctuary which was great. One morning we went on a boat safari and saw some very large crocs and some elephants right up close, along with loads of birds and hippos, it was all very good. A spot of swimming in the pool was also very good, and is undoubtedly the best way to keep cool in between game drives! As a thank-you for Dzimba and Christopher for taking us tracking, for free, and being so helpful, we wanted to get them something to keep rather than giving them money. They had previously told us that one aspect of their job was to monitor all the herds of animals in the sanctuary to ensure there were no problems with health or poaching amongst other things. However, as the sanctuary is 50km sq, and they have no means of transport, it was quite hard to do this efficiently on foot. It would help them a lot if they had bicycles, but the government and private organisation involved in the sanctuary project hadn’t provided them with one. Jas, Kev, Zoe and I thought it was a nice gesture for us to buy them each a bicycle to say thank-you for their hard work, which would be something they wouldn’t be able to afford themselves, and would make their day to day jobs a little easier. So we suggested this to them and they were over the moon with the idea, and were so pleased that we would do this. After the morning tracking, we drove them to a nearby trading centre, near but still a good 2 hours drive away on dirt roads, with the intention of getting a couple of strong mountain bikes. What was essentially a straight-forward mission ended up being a complete round the houses goose chase, in true Malawian style! We couldn’t find any mountain bikes in the shops, but found a man who said he had two at his house, which we could buy from him. We told him we wanted brand new bikes and he assured they were and once we had agreed a price, he said we should take him there. So another hours drive and we arrive at this village in the bush and he says he has to go and get the bikes. ‘From where?’ we ask, as we were expecting them to be at his house, and find out that his has hidden them elsewhere so that nobody steals them. OK we think and Dzimba and Christopher are happy that things are fine, so we wait in the village, gradually attracting the locals attention and soon becoming the centre of attention ourselves! We wait and wait and wait! Then after an hour we’re beginning to have some doubts about the actual existence of these bikes. Dzimba was very apologetic, and was trying to find out exactly what was going on, to no avail! As we were just about to call it a day, luckily no money had changed hands yet, one guy turned up with an obviously second-hand bike with a broken saddle. We told him that we were expecting brand new bikes and two of them, not what he had produced! So we told him the deal was off and unfortunately after a whole afternoon of searching and waiting, we had to go back to the camp empty-handed! It was a real shame, as we had wanted to be able to get the bikes before we left Liwonde and have a photo of us with them. Nevertheless, it is Malawi and we remember from living here that you never assume things will run smoothly. Our hastily put together plan B was to buy the bikes from Lilongwe when we took Kev and Zoe to the airport, and then return to Liwonde with them later, we didn’t have any problems with coming back again to one of our favourite places! We left Liwonde with Dzimba and Christopher looking forward to our return, and drove up to the lake to stay at Cool Runnings, another of our favourite Malawian spots. We had a couple of nights there for Kev and Zoe to relax in the sun and swim in the lake before their flight home from Lilongwe. We went out in one of the boats there to Lizard Island, not far from the lakeshore and did some snorkelling to see the ciclids which are famous for being endemic to Lake Malawi. It was a very restful end to the holiday and we enjoyed lovely food and drink, in a great setting. Sadly the end of Kev and Zoe’s holiday arrived too soon! We all had a really wonderful time and were very sorry that it couldn’t have been longer. Still we managed to fit a lot in and have some great memories of all the things we got up to including the odd unplanned adventure! (Thanks K&Z, it was excellent having you here, look forward to catching up back in the UK!). Now that it was just the two of us again, we had a tentative plan to spend another few days at the lake, then head down to drop the bikes off to Dzimba and Christopher. After that we were going on to Mulanje where we used to live and see our friends and work colleagues there in the hospital, and climb the mountain. But our plans are always likely to change and this again to be the case. Whilst we were in Lilongwe, Jas thought he would go to Wilderness Safaris head office and show them some of his photos and see if they would be interested in using any of them. We met up with Mai (who we’d rescued in Liwonde) and she introduced us to Mike another guy there. He was very impressed with the pictures and said that he would tell his managing director, Chris, about them and get him to give us a call. By the end of the afternoon we had a meeting with Chris arranged and Jas was busy putting together a slide show of his best stuff for it. There was no way of knowing how it would go or what would come of it, but it was very exciting anyway. Jas obviously made a very good impression because Chris was very complementary of his photos. He said that although he already had a photographer working for him, he was happy to put us up in Mvuu Lodge (the really posh part) for 3 days, and Jas could try and get some particular shots for him which he made a list of. What a treat!!! Not only would we stay in complete luxury, we would have wonderful meals morning, noon and night, and we would having our own guides to take us on drives and boat safaris whenever we wanted! Can’t get much better than that eh! It didn’t take long for Jas to accept this wonderful offer and all we had to do was phone up the lodge and arranged when we wanted to be there. All that we had to do was provide some pictures at the end of it and give them exclusive rights to use them if they wished. Well as we were already planning to go back with the bikes we couldn’t have timed it better and when we called to arrange when we could stay, they said the next few days were fine. So quickly we collected all our things from Cool Runnings, and went straight back to Liwonde! When we arrived (this time well before dark and not in the rain!), we drove past our usual campsite area and on to the very discrete lodge, reserved for only the more wealthy tourists. As we were shown to our chalet, we couldn’t believe how lucky we were and how lovely it was (hopefully the photos show you a bit of what it was like)! Then we found out that they had put us in the honeymoon chalet, which is the best of the best; it was a really special treat for us, and a far cry from our ‘top of the truck tent’!! But we didn’t forget that we were there to work as well (well Jas was!) and we went out as much as we could to get some great shots for Chris. In fact we were up at 5am every day to go out on the boat! Not too much of a hardship when you get a hamper of coffee, hot chocolate and nibbles brought to the chalet to help you get out of bed, and then have a full breakfast of whatever you want when you get back at 9am! We had time to relax in the chalet during the middle of the day, and could arrive for lunch at any time between 12 and 1pm. Then after a little snooze, back out on the boat or on a game drive at 3.30, after tea and snacks on the veranda. To finish the day we had a fantastic dinner under the stars at 7.30 and a few drinks with the other guests and then off to a luxurious bed to sleep off all the food! What a life, it sure was hard to put up with!!! So we had 3 days of being utterly spoilt and it was fabulous. Jas did work very hard to make sure he got some great pictures for the company and we’ll go back to Lilongwe to show Chris in a week or so. After our luxury stay we went back to the campsite for a couple of days to catch up with Dzimba and Christopher and to give them their bikes. They were ever so pleased with them, the pumps, locks and mirrors that went with them and couldn’t thank us enough. It was so nice to see how happy they were, and we got some nice photos of us with them and their new set of wheels! We had become very good friends with them in a short time and it was sad to say a final farewell to them both, but we have promised we will stay in contact with them, and will of course come to see them when we come back to Malawi again some day. Now we are in Mulanje staying with Lindsay and Morag, a really lovely couple who live and work on one of the tea estates here. Tomorrow we are going to stop in the Mission Hospital where we used to work and say hello to all the people we knew and worked with, which we are really looking forward to. It will be interesting to see if things have changed much and how the lab is getting on these days. Then we’ll climb the mountain for several days, something that we always enjoyed doing when we lived here. So that’s as far as we have got to now. Thank-you for logging on to the weblog again and taking the time to read my mammouth entry, which is the longest so far, sorry about that! We send you all our best regards and hope that you are well and everything is going fine. Take care and we’ll be in touch again before you know it! Love Kate and Jas xxx