Wildlife Camp, Zambia to Ngala Camp, Tanzania.

On the road again by 6 AM, we drove from the South Luangwa National Park, through the town of Chipata, and over the Zambia-Malawi border. Of interest to Canadian travellers: holders of Canadian Passports are no longer required to purchase a Visa to enter Malawi.

Both Zambia and Malawi are considered to be two of the most impoverished nations on the planet with Malawi usually being thought of as the poorer of the two. However, my initial impression was that the citizens of Malawi were actually better off than their supposedly wealthier neighbours. Compared to Zambia, Malawi actually appears to be more prosperous (even though there are sporadic shortages of consumer goods and fuels), the infrastructure looked to be in much better shape (better roads, bridges in better state of repair, and power lines that seemed to be recently constructed), the housing was generally of better quality and quantity, and the markets and towns were teeming with both sellers and buyers.

Chaotic market in a Malawi town.

Lunch on the roadside.

Eron is bit by African Army Ants.

Instant welts from African Army Ant bites.

Throwing groceries up to Ebron.

After an already long day on the road, Will and Brett decided that it would be too dangerous to try to make it all the way to Kande Beach. So, we made for the Ngala Beach Lodge (http://www.malawitourism.com/pages/lodges/lodge.asp?LodgeID=36) on the shores of Lake Malawi. It was well after dark when we pulled into the narrow road(?) leading to the resort and our driver (Will) skillfully threaded Malaika between trees and fences. However, just as we could see the gates of the lodge, I saw a glimpse of a power line flash past one of the forward view windows. Simultaneously, we all heard a scraping sound along the roof and Eron exclaimed, “I think that’s a power line.” Before anyone could react, there was a shower of sparks and the crackle of electricity as the power line caught on the roof of our truck. That’s when all the lights in the houses to the left of the truck suddenly went dark: ooops… we just made the Dark Continent a little darker!

Apparently, this isn’t uncommon as the power lines leading to houses are often strung too low… and then they droop even lower as they heat up in the sun. Will and Ebron managed to untangle the wire without electrocuting themselves or anyone else and we proceeded into the resort. We drive right to the edge of the beach and that’s where we set up camp for the night. Eron and I placed our tent on the grass just up from the beach with the door positioned so that we could see both the moonrise and the next morning’s sunrise.

It was an opportunity for everyone to let loose and have a late evening as we were only about an hour from Kande Beach. So, for once, we didn’t have to get up at half-past-freakin’-dark. 🙂

The moonrise over Lake Malawi was, in a word, breath-taking. The moon came up out of the lake glowing a deep umber. As it rose further, it’s reflection streaked across the water directly towards us and was bracketed by the lights on fishing boats out on the water. These lights are the “stars” of Dr. Livingstone’s “Lake of Stars”.

Campfire and amber moon on Ngala Beach, Lake Malawi.

We had a campfire going on the beach and everyone was in a party-mood. The red wine and other bevies flowed freely and soon the iPods came out for tune-age on the beach… here we were, on a  Lake Malawi beach and it felt like a summer beach-party at any lake in Canada or the US. The BIG difference was that a security guard came over to warn us… not to have us behave ourselves but to tell us to be aware of a large Crocodile that has been seen in the area – you just don’t get that in the lake-country!

Eron and I called it a night at around 1:30 AM because it would be “wonderful” (Eron’s word for the idea after about two bottles of red wine) to get up at 5:30 AM to photograph the sunrise over the lake… others partied on well after my snoring drowned out their party-sounds.

NOTE: Escom (the local power company) had a truck and repair person out to repair the affected line and to replace the two poles we had damaged. On a Sunday morning… in Africa! I can’t get BC Hydro out for repairs at home without 40 minutes of going through menus on the phone, a half-hour of hassling with a customer “service” rep, and at least 3 hours of waiting for a repair person who is late for his appointment that was made a week before.