Entering Malawi is absolutely charming from the landscape point of view. There is a powerful sense of pure nature all over, along the dusty and disconnected roads. At the same time there is a feeling of having left the touristy heart of Africa in Vic falls and having entered one of least developed countries in the world and one of the poorest in Africa. Here people live mainly of agriculture and small, local, family-owned activities. The most unexpected feature of the country is the immense Lake Malawi and its sandy beaches. We stop for two nights at Kande beach, a campsite where we, for a few dollars, can upgrade to suites (ie. beach huts) just on the beach (see picture!). It’s fantastic!

The beach is amazing and the water is clear and warm, and perfect for swimming. In the morning we visit a mission who is responsible for few orphanages in the area. We take the chance to buy a few items of carved wood to support the people there and then go back to the camp site. Some of us are going out with a boat to reach the little island just off the beach, and then attempt to swim back to shore. I prefer to just sit on the sand under the shade and chat with some kids for a while.
They say they are great football players, and that it’s very hard to play well on the sand! I’m guessing they are right…There are no tourists around here, only overlanders. It must be hard to get here on your own and Malawi is really not well known for its natural wonders outside of Africa. It could easily be the ultimate destination for people who want to get back to real, uncontaminated nature and help the communities around these areas who have so little. For the evening we organize a punch party which makes people less than fresh for the day after, when we need to make our way North to Chitimba. On the road we can see coffee plantations as well as an amazing forest of rubber trees! I’ve never seen that before! The trunk, containing the latex, has spiraling ridges cut into the bark, and the sap seeping out runs down along the ridges, before it’s collected in a little cone at the bottom. Smart! Driving towards the Equator it’s getting warmer, and even in the truck it’s getting rather uncomfortable during the hottest hours of the day. Luckily we reach the campsite in time for some shade at the bar, where we once again for 5 dollars upgrade to a nice little room with a roof made of straw and nice little geckos running up and down the walls!  The campsite is really nice, just a few meters from the shore of the Lake. It’s then time to take a swim all together! At the beach people come to wash themselves and the women of the village come to wash the clothes and few plates and kettles after a meal. While Andreas is taking a lesson of wood carving I lazy out at the bar having a cold beer. The next day most people are going for a 10-hour hike to Livingstonia: the day is really hot and we pass on the hike! While having breakfast and chatting with Nathan and Kat under a little straw roof which covers our stoves and equipment, a green snake suddenly falls from the edge of the roof. It is frightened by us, and runs and hides in the engine of the truck! We spend ages trying to get it out, fearing that he’ll make his way to the food storage or into the driver’s cabin… Late in the afternoon the guys are back from the hike, all of them exhausted and with painful blisters on their feet… I’m glad I didn’t go at this point, but I’m sure the view from up there was great! While waiting for them I had Juliana teach me how to make a south African pudding on the fire! It’s insanely sweet, but so comforting you could eat it forever! We need to leave very early tomorrow morning, as we have a long way out of Malawi and into Tanzania, and all the way to its capital Dar es Salaam. We leave Malawi feeling lucky to have seen all of this, a gem of beauty in the middle of the poorest, yet amazing lands of Africa. We wish Malawi and its people all the best, we’ll sure have only good words and memories to pass on to our friends back home.