Hanging Out at Kande Beach

We arrived in the afternoon and everyone decided to relax.  This meant going for a swim in Lake Malawi.  A lot of our group decided to swim out to the island as it wasn’t too far but I declined as I wasn’t confident enough with my swimming abilities and wasn’t sure I would have the strength to come back once I was there.  

The first night was a party night.  The costumes that people bought at the market were brought out and everyone dressed up.  The G Adventure group we had met at the border was also at Kande Beach and they were having a dress up party as well.  

After supper, several of us went down to the beach as the girls had been invited down for a bonfire by some locals earlier.  I didn’t really want to hang out down there so another lady and I left after not too long.  We went back to the bar area and hung out there for a while and just watched what was going on.  The G people were dancing at the bar and having a good time.

We went back to the beach after a while to see how the girls were doing.  As it turned out, they were happy we showed up as they wanted to escape but didn’t know how.  They were trying to give us clues when we arrived to let us know to rescue them so once all of us were back at the bar we setup an emergency phrase for the future.  Turns out, one of the girls somehow had almost gotten herself engaged.  The guy had already told his family about her and they had invited her for supper the next day to meet her.  

When we had been walking back to the bar from the beach, we had come across the G adventures people who were going for a skinny dip.  They invited us to join them but we declined.  We found out later that they had several items stolen as they had taken cameras, iPods and keys with them.  One of these sets of keys was for their truck and they didn’t have a spare set.  We did find out later that they got their keys back (a reward had been offered).

Are we there yet?

October 10

Only four hours in the truck today which is a treat after the last few days.  We stopped at a mall and we had hoped to find some souvenir type thing like post cards or magnets but no such luck.  We went into a market to get costumes for some sort of party.  I declined as I didn’t feel the need to waste money on such things when they were for just a few hours and I didn’t understand the purpose.   I wasn’t the only one in the group that chose not to.

As we headed back to the truck, we saw a wedding procession drive by.  The bride and groom were each sitting in a window and waving at everyone as they drove by.  I don’t know if that is normal but we waved back anyways

Where’s the Beach?

Finally made it to Kande Beach which was to be our home for two nights.  Pretty much everyone decided to upgrade here as it was cheap to do so. I got a dorm room which was in a row of rooms; I think 5 in a row, basically separated by bamboo walls.  Not very sound proof but they did the job. 

The beach and the island for snorkeling

By the bar

Lounging area by the bar

Unfortunately, some people didn’t understand that there were people in other rooms and had no consideration.

• Night one – I was woken up by someone having sex a few rooms down. The noise kept me awake for probably half an hour before they were quiet enough that I could sleep.
• Night two – some people came to use the showers which were at the end of the dorms.  But instead of talking in regular voices, they were yelling which woke me up. 

I have to be up at what time?

October 8

To get out Dar Es Salaam before the traffic, we were up and gone by 4:30 am.  If you know me, the only time I want to see 4:30 AM is because I am hopping on a plane to go somewhere.   I guess in this case I was getting on a truck and going for a long time.  Breakfast was a stop on the road where we also made lunch so we wouldn’t need to stop again.    Pulled into came around 5:30 pm and got setup.

October 9

It’s another early day as we were up at 4:30 am and on the road by 6 am.    It is yet another long day of driving as well as we are crossing the border into Malawi.  As a VISA had just been put into effect for October 1, we didn’t know how long we might be stuck here or how many others might be ahead of us.  

We ended up stuck at the border for at least 2 hours, if not longer, before we got through.  We had stopped for lunch beforehand but the usual fare of sandwiches and fruit.  We weren’t really sure why we didn’t just eat in the truck instead of stopping beyond the fact we were able to exchange money and use some really nasty bathrooms.  

We ended up behind a G Adventures truck at lunch and then behind them at the border.  Their tour leader wasn’t too friendly to the border guards and that ended up delaying them a bit, they didn’t get out of there much before us.  Some of the girls in our group made friends with their group which they used to help pass the time by chatting and playing “Heads Up” on a smartphone.  We discovered that we are going to end up running into them a few times over the next week.  

Various pictures from the road.

 

Hanging Out on Zanzibar

A day of relaxation!  There are not many of these scheduled on our trip so best to enjoy it while we can.  

Started the day with a relaxing, hour long massage on the beach (couldn’t go wrong for $20).  Afterwards, a quick lunch and then it was time to go snorkeling.  Silly me didn’t think to put sun screen on my back and turned a rather bright red colour.  Thankfully, I brought after sun with me so I was able to put that on and have it not hurt as bad.

Our room

Hanging out by the beach

Drink time!

Beach

Obligatory foot shot

Heading out to snorkel

Looking back at the beach

Back to Reality

After three wonderful nights with real beds and no tents, it was back to Dar Es Salaam.  Reverse our trip from a few days ago

• Hour and a half back to the ferry station
• Hour and a half on the ferry
• 20 minute walk to the second ferry
• 10 minute ride across the water back to our truck and campground

We had hoped that our tents would be up when we arrived due to the heat but they weren’t.  As it was only midday and very hot, no one was in the mood to put up tents.  Instead, most of us headed to the beach to have a swim and cool off.

Got out of the water, put up the tent and had a shower before supper.  Early bedtime tonight as we are getting going way too early tomorrow so that we get out of town before the morning rush hour starts .