A Month of Sundays

Well it is a month almost to the day that we set sail on our little adventure. While some parts have seemed tougher than others, on a whole it has been something special.
The last few days in Malawi were very chilled. We stayed at a campsite called Makuzi Beach which was run by South Africans. Deon the guy who managers it is an ex Ixopo guy. Bruce he knew you and we gave him your details. Besides that fact we got infested with spiders of all colours (lumo white, green and yellow) we had a really great time. Went kayaking and snorkelling on the lake, caught up on some housework (washing etc) and just chilled. From there we headed to an awesome spot called The Mushroom Farm. It is run by a very laid back Aussie called Mick. It is built into the cliffs in livingstonia and the drive up there was an experience in itself. Narrow windey road going straight up with a sheer drop on one side. The campsites and bungalows are built into the cliffs so sleep walkers might do some rap jumping without the wires if they don’t watch out. But it was very chilled out, saw the most amazing sunrise over the lake...breathtaking!! We then headed to our last night down at the lake before heading to yet another border post. We had been warned that is was going to be a tedious one so we braced ourselves for the worst. Surprisingly enough it was as quick and easy as all our other crossings. Expensive (see below) but it means we can head to Kenya or Uganda without having to pay again within 90 Days. The only pretty crappy thing about these border crossings which makes it so unpleasant are the Money changes. No matter how much you say no thank you, they just become more determined. The Carnet and the Comesa have made our lives very easy. The minute they see it they smile. All we can figure is that it is less work for them. But all in all borders are not the nightmare I had prepared myself for.

At the moment everything has been a little more than what we anticipated from our research we had done. Amounts had been doubled since recent prices in Bradt guides. At the moment we are just have to pick and choose a little more so as to get the best out of the trip and fit in everything we really wanted to do. With regards to park fees, Tanzania is about as bad as it gets...so we are bracing ourselves for it.