10 November 2018

 We reside now at the campsite of the Nkhotakhota Pottery lodge, close to the village with the same name in Malawi. Yesterday we said goodbye to Monkey Bay and drove 250 km North following the Lake. The landscape does not change very much, it is flat with many Baobap trees and lots of villages with numerous people. The road is getting worse, still tarred but it is difficult to avoid upcoming lorries. Yesterday we had to leave the road for a truck with trees which were sticking out more then one meter. The main issue was that on my side there was no road; it fell down 30 cm.

As mentioned before, driving in Africa imposes challenges not known to me used to Europe and South-Africa. The speeds one can accomplish hardly exceed 80 km/h and often go down to 5 km/h driving through villages full of people, cattle and taxi’s.

Today we stay in this lodge, possibly tomorrow. We are planning the next week which will probably bring us to Zambia.

Below pictures give a good impression of the campsite. We have a great place, although windy. The campsite is managed by an older German couple (70+) knowing a lot about Africa and take good care of the camping. Their guests are mainly from NGO’s here to help Malawi. Nice detail is the ‘donkey’ used to make hot water. It is done by heating a steel vessel over an open fire. Interesting!

Sometimes we think what our kids would say about this. Everywhere there are ants, flies and lizzards even in the shower. Monkeys are strawling the campsite and throw mango’s or jump on your tent. If you have to get out of the tent at night, be careful where to put your feet. An yes, internet, it is there but slow. Very slow but adequate and that is where it is about. A great tool to help us finding places to stay and other information. And sometimes we watch a movie on the laptop