Greetings from Makuzi Beach in Malawi!

It's been a while since we last wrote on here...

We were back in Belfast for exactly 20 days... which was just enough time for Danielle's sister to eventually give birth to a beautiful baby girl, Sophia.  It also allowed us time to catch up with some of our friends and family before our next 3 months away in the wilderness of Africa.

We left Belfast on 20th September on an afternoon flight to London Heathrow and then, a few hours later, we boarded a flight to Addis Ababa.  By 6:30ish the nest morning we had landed in Ethiopia and then had a short 4 hour flight on to Lilongwi in Malawi.
The airport in Lilongwi was relatively simple, old and easy to pass through - one room and a runway!  A man called Sam was there to collect us and bring us into the city of Lilongwe itself to where Lara lived, and where we would be spending our first night.  Lara had only recently moved back to Lilongwi from Makuzi Beach so that her sons could go to a proper school for a few years.  Prior to this year they were home-schooled.

The drive itself was an eye-opener as there were so many people just walking... though it appeared that it wasn't to anywhere in particular!  There were the odd number of schools scattered here and there with hundreds of pupils just finishing for the day (around 1pm) which we initially thought was a bit early however they do start school at 7am.
When we arrived at Lara's we met her and then opted for a few hours sleep and a shower before dinner.

We woke to a very dusty and misty evening in what sounded like an alien city that we had only ever encountered via television and film.  Outside was the hum of insects, traffic and birds and cutting above all of this was the evening Call to Prayers for the Muslims at a nearby Mosque.  By 8pm we were back in bed and preparing for an early start and a long drive from Lilongwe to Makuzi the next morning.

Wednesday morning came all too quickly - again wakened by the hum of animals and just before 5am there was the Call to Prayers - which was a very pleasing way to rise... so we were more than ready for our 7.30am 4 hour car journey north.
During the next 4 hours we learnt a lot about driving on the roads in Malawi - which included the necessity to use your horns at least every 100 yards or so... not due to traffic (which we were surprised that we did have a traffic jam in Lilongwe - a place that as a city appears so sparse and undeveloped we couldn't see where everyone was possibly trying to get to) but due to the roads being regarded as public footpaths.  It became clear that forgetting your Drivers' License was a big No-No too as there were randomly placed Police check points scattered along our journey, though they did have extremely varying levels of security being applied depending on whether you knew the officers, had previously bribed the officers or just didn't mind being detained indefinitely at their leisure.

We soon arrived at Makuzi Beach and settled into our accommodation for the next 3 months, a three roomed abode which they kindly had put a double bed mattress into along with some cutlery and pots and pans.  An outside toilet and shower told us we were in the lap of luxury... but the shower doesn't work.

We have met some wonderfully accommodating people here so far... not least Richard and Lauren who are managing the nearby resort of Makuzi Beach Lodge - without them we would probably have packed our bags and returned home.

I will try to add more as soon as I can - though the internet is a separate problem in Malawi... at 115bps it is possibly the slowest connection I have experienced since the internet was first accessible to me.

I will leave you with the revelation that although Malawi is only 1 hour ahead of GMT, it seems to be 4 hours behind GMT - our day begins with the morning chorus (and a cockerel or three) at around 4.30am, which gives us some time to lie in bed and contemplate the day ahead (or to try and get back to sleep).  We walk to the school just after 6.30am for classes at 7 - and at present we finish teaching and are back home by 9am.  Lunch is ideally around 10.30am, dinner is started around 3 though normally eaten at 5pm just before bed at 6.30/7pm as it is completely dark outside by this point.  Not sure how we will last past 6pm when we get home to Belfast at Christmas!

All the best for now!