25 September 2007

We are staying at the steps campsite in Senga Bay. Last night we have the whole place to ourselves. Unfortunately for us, there is a hotel next door and they had a loud party for most of the evening, so it took away from the seclusion.
We went snorkelling this morning which was really nice. Went to Lizard Island which is visible from the beach and just chilled there most of the morning. We got some fish for tonight....really looking forward to the change from chicken ;o) called something like Jumbo....I think...will see how it tastes.
This afternoon about 4 cars arrived in the campsite.all german (no surprise)...will see if tonight is any better.
I have finally finished ready Harry Potter...Rohan is soooo happy....I have had my nose in the book since we left SA...I have read the last 3 books (thanks Tam). Glad I managed that before I actually heard how it ended. Not sure what I will do with my chilling time now as that was when I was doing all my reading.
Tomorrow we are heading from here up the lake to Nkhotakota from there we plan to head to Nkhatha Bay.
Almost forgot, we had our battery checked in Lilongwe and it was indeed kaput so we decided to buy a new battery and move the batteries around (we originally had 2 deep cells). So far so good, although they have electricity here which helps. Bleak as we have 2 brand new deep cell batteries sitting in rohans folk’s garage. Besides that the car is going great, we have done close to 5000kms now and we had to put in 1 pint of oil in Lilongwe before we left. Diesel here is much cheaper that Zambia which is a relief, around R8 a litre. Although from here we won’t be doing as much mileage week as we have been. We are expecting to do most of Malawi on 1 tank.
We have noticed quite huge changes from Zambia to here. Not once did we see begging or child beggars in Zambia and in Lilongwe we saw them on every corner. I had always thought Malawi was better off than Zambia...when you look at the infrastructure here you would also think so, but we have seen so many people on the streets. Really sad. We have bought big bags of apples as I would rather give something of sustenance than money. Maybe I am wrong...but it is better than nothing. Wondering what it will be like further north.
Talking about the north, rohan’s dad informed us about the floods in Kenya and Uganda. Going online tomorrow to find out more details about it. Not sure how it will affect us, but I know a few places we planned to go have had their roads totally wrecked. Will see.