18th July. Rumphi, Malawi

14th July, The Old Farmhouse, Southern Tanzania.
Joan’s birthday was a day of driving. The night before we had had a nice seafood platter accompanied by a Sth African Sauvignon blanc at Peponi Beach but knew we couldn’t stay another day there relaxing. Even so, it was an interesting day as the main road takes you through Mikumi NP, there is no charge if you stay on the highway and we saw quite a few animals including Masai giraffes, two elephant herds and Grevy’s zebra. We made it to the other side of the park, a distance of 540kms for the day, and stayed at a nice Tanz-Swiss hotel. While there we met a lovely couple from Narromine, close to Dubbo. Anne & Keith bought a Hilux in Namibia and fly over regularly to travel through different parts of the continent. We were able to gain good info on our southern route from them.
Today we were once more appreciative of a good road making another 245kms until stopping off at this Old Farm house where we were told offer a delicious 3 course meal. Once again we have run into fellow travellers: an English couple who drove their Toyota Hi Ace to the North Cape in Norway then are heading south via Russia and Iran to Cape Town. Also an Austrian/French couple who have hired a 4WD from Cape Town and headed north. Another option we never thought you could do if we decide there is more to Southern Africa than we can take in on this trip.
On the drive today we passed through this amazing broad valley full of thousands of baobab trees. They went on as far as you could see and it wasn’t a small valley but continued for over 20 kms. Our destination was the Utenguli Coffee Lodge. A very pleasant place, they have just expanded to allow campers. However they will need to revise their tariffs as $15 per person just for camping as considerably more than the $3-5 p/p we are used to paying. Travelling the way we are word of mouth is the main way of finding the latest good and bad spots to visit or stay, prices like they are charging will deter many overlanders.
16th July. Sangolis Resort, Lake Malawi, Malawi.
Another country, another lake laid out below us. A beautiful spot but a steep hill to get down to. The lake is fairly narrow but stretches almost 700kms down the eastern side of the country. A poor country and another one devastated by Aids.
We are loving the better roads we have been on the last week. In fact, after leaving Peponi Beach the van hasn’t missed a beat. We will still be on rough roads going into the national parks but apart from that it should be plain sailing.