After breakfast we travelled up the pass to Mzuzu, it is a stunningly beautiful drive up into the mountains with a view of the lake below. It is positively liberating not having to sit on edge the whole trip wondering if the next truck will wipe you out or having to witness some mangled truck every couple of kilometres.
The town of Mzuzu is the largest in northern Malawi and is compact and friendly. Unfortunately, as before, there was no diesel to be found and so we headed off to the bank to draw Kwacha and shop at the ‘People’s store’ for food. We bought some pretty decent steaks and mince, bread and a few other items. They had very little in the line of fruit, veg or salad ingredients so we headed off to the locals outside. They sell all sorts of fresh produce at really cheap prices and stocked up with as much as our storage space would allow, with the kids on board, this is not much. While Gareth and I sourced our next few meals, the girls chatted to some Mzuzu locals and Gray disappeared. We eventually located him buying a mini charcoal burner from a Rasta guy – he was so excited – boys and their toys (guess it’s better than a motor bike, that is until it landed up under my feet for the rest of the journey).
All stocked up we headed down to the lake, Gray at last able to relax on the road, went through the first speed trap of the trip – yes, it was a 50km limit in the tiny town and he was going around 60km/hour. The cop arrived at the window smiled and asked us to be please be more careful when travelling through the towns and wished us a pleasant journey - no fine, no asking for a bribe, just a friendly and kind human being.
Without further incident we passed through the unremarkable town of Chintheche and headed along the Chintheche Strip, a beautiful sweep of sand, littered with hotels, lodges and camp sites. Each one is secluded in its own forest of trees. We were now back in virgin territory and elected to stay at Chintheche Inn. This is possible one of the best camp sites we have stayed at: green grass and huge shaded trees (being the only campers here we feel like we are on a huge farm field), we chose a spot right on the banks of the lake. We have hot showers and even hot water in the dish washing area, electricity and a bar area with a T.V.
Now that we have some fresh produce we are back into ‘proper’ camping, with camp fire, braai for dinner (and dishes). Gray has the ‘piet vluit’ kettle boiling full time on his new coal burner.
This really is a very special time, the whole family, relaxed and happy, braaing and camping on the banks one of Africa’s most beautiful lakes.
Gray and the girls at sunset
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