Nkhata Bay

After a bit of research and discussion we decided to stick to our original route, thereby heading North through Malawi, rather than a detour South around the lake and up through Mozambique. (We decided on this after rumours that the borders in Northern Mozambique were closed and the possible petrol problems.) So, although it would have been a serious adventure, as I'm pretty sure we would have gotten stuck along a dirt track somewhere, we packed up in Lilongwe, and headed North towards Nkhata bay.

Mattie had been telling us how great the place was for days, so our expectations were extremely high! (He went there in 2005 with Shayno and 8 others) I have to say neither Jared nor I were disappointed, the place was awesome! We arrived at around mid day and the sun added to the island feel. We decided to check out our options for backpackers before we settled down, (we didn't want to make the same mistake we made in Lusaka - there we struck the bottom of the barrel, we tend to not talk about that anymore...). The first place was deserted, so we carried on our search, we eventually landed up in Mayoko Village where we were welcomed by Gary, the owner. Gary was well liquored up by the time we arrived, and due to his excitement offered us a room at camping price and a free beer, so that we could join him in the bar without any delay. We gladly accepted his generous offer and joined in the festivities. The highlight of the night was when Gary turned down the music, jumped up on the bar, flung open a bottle of Amarula and shouted "Its 12:30, all drinks are free!!!" and started chugging from the bottle like it was water (The actual time was 9:48 but that didn't matter...)






The next morning was a bit slow, but were revived by a buffet breakfast, and a cloudless blue sky. We all just lazed around, swam in the lake and got sun burnt. Good times.

Day 3 started with a tropical storm, but there were promises of a boat trip later on in the day. We waited it out and by 12:00 the storm had disappeared and we once again had sun. We joined the rest of camp for the boat trip in the afternoon to a small beach where we played some Frisbee and did some cliff diving. On our way to the beach we fed Fish Eagles from the boat (We threw sardines into the water right next to the boat and the eagles fished them out)

We used the hollowed out tree canoes to get across the bay in the afternoon, in search of some local food in the town. This is where Mattie and I discovered that Jared was not built for the water. After about 15 meters from the shore we heard a splash, when we looked back we saw Jared swimming next to his rolled canoe assuring us he was OK and we should carry on. We almost wet ourselves! there was Jared fully clothed trying to scramble back onto his canoe. The rest of the trip went better and Jared slowly got the hang of it, slowly.

The way back was the best part, we had some good food and all the stars were out. In the distance we could see lightning, we paddled to the middle of the bay (Jared stayed dry this time) and just chilled there, looking up at the stars. It was romantic... there I said it!

By day 4 we decided we were getting too comfortable, so we moved on.