Malawi.
NGALA BEACH, LAZING AT THE LAKE:
It’s nice to wake up knowing we have a day off to relax. It was a stormy night again, lots of thunder and lightning and another heavy rainstorm about 7am.
It’s nice to wake up knowing we have a day off to relax. It was a stormy night again, lots of thunder and lightning and another heavy rainstorm about 7am.
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We
had our breakfast overlooking the lake and spent some time chatting to
Chris & Sandi. We were introduced to Mary Tolfree and she was
telling us that she works in development aid. Right now she is trying to
help a local school that has over 1300 pupils and just six teachers.
One class has 237 pupils. If anyone would like to volunteer their
services, it will cost $1000 per month and that includes all food and
lodgings, here in a dormitory at Ngala Beach Lodge. Please contact Mary
directly at marytolfree@hotmail.com or else contact the Lodge via www.ngalabeachlodge.com
They
are happy to have anyone help, even if its just giving some extra
tuition to the children (you don’t have to be a teacher), or else doing
some other activities with them. So, if you know of someone who might
like to use their holidays, or summer break constructively, the contact
details are above. I can assure you it’ll be hard to find a more
beautiful spot. A month would be great, more even better. Looks great on
the CV too!
The
rest of the day today is going to be spent relaxing although we’ve
decided we’ll have a walk around after lunch & maybe a quick
drive in the area.
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Tomorrow: We’re
going to leave here by 9am and drive to Mzuzu. There I am going meet up
with a young man from my home town in Roscommon. David Gilooly is
working here on a two year contract. I believe it’s something to do with
Solar energy but I’ll update that when I next blog. I’d hate to drive
through this rural part of Africa and miss saying hello to a fellow Roscommon man.
We’re
then going to head for Livingstonia, a 700 metre, 16 km climb up this
Rift Valley pass, on a very narrow and steep track with a series of
switchback bends. It takes up to two hours each way, we’ve been told.
This is a side trip for a one night to visit Livingstonia, so if the road is not safe, we will not go on it.
It’s strictly 4x4 only. I’m told it’s particularly hairy because it’s a mixture of mud & gravel and on some bends you have to almost do a 3 point turn. Oh yes, no railing of course so the drop is enough reason to focus your attention on the driving, not the view. John will drive up, I will drive down. We hope to stay at the Mushroom Farm, which has a few chalets. After that, on Saturday, it is a short drive to the border with Tanzania and then we are heading for Ruaha National Park, west of the town of Iringa. We hope to get to the coastal city of Dar Es Salaam, a bustling town of 14 million people, by next Monday. We are thinking about catching the early morning ferry to Zanzibar on Tuesday, stay there one night and return to Dar Es Salaam on Wednesday. Oops, just eight days left by next Wednesday so we’re going to have to really chew up some Kms’s to get to Nanyuki by the 19th.
This is a side trip for a one night to visit Livingstonia, so if the road is not safe, we will not go on it.
It’s strictly 4x4 only. I’m told it’s particularly hairy because it’s a mixture of mud & gravel and on some bends you have to almost do a 3 point turn. Oh yes, no railing of course so the drop is enough reason to focus your attention on the driving, not the view. John will drive up, I will drive down. We hope to stay at the Mushroom Farm, which has a few chalets. After that, on Saturday, it is a short drive to the border with Tanzania and then we are heading for Ruaha National Park, west of the town of Iringa. We hope to get to the coastal city of Dar Es Salaam, a bustling town of 14 million people, by next Monday. We are thinking about catching the early morning ferry to Zanzibar on Tuesday, stay there one night and return to Dar Es Salaam on Wednesday. Oops, just eight days left by next Wednesday so we’re going to have to really chew up some Kms’s to get to Nanyuki by the 19th.
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