Day 27. Thurs 13th May
Lilongwe to Mwabvi, second trip.
Auxies, Kaunda and I are off at six, having loaded everything into the
Land Rover, including two beds which we are taking down to store. Dusty
now has a problem with her turbo, so we are taking Samantha, who runs on
petrol, so fuel costs are going to be higher.
As we drive out of Lilongwe the valleys are filled with mist, and Mount
Ngalo rises out of the sea of vapour like some mysterious island. It's
an amazing sight.
In Blantyre we stop off at the Malawi Wildlife Society, but the guys
I need to speak to are not around, so we make an appointment to meet them
on the way back on Monday. We also stop off for a courtesy visit at Lengwe
National Park.
In Nchalo we stop to buy a few things, and to phone Ken. Phone boxes
are a little different out here too, not least because they are run (and
possibly owned, I didn't think to ask) by a man or a woman who sits inside
all day and dials the numbers. Presumably he/she makes a living - now that's
what I call privatisation!
As we approach Mwabvi the road is lined with hundreds of people. I like
to think that they have heard that I am coming back and have turned out
to greet me . . .
. . . but actually they are here to see President Mulusi who is doing a
whistlestop tour of the country prior to the elections next week. We have
managed to coincide with his passing through the Nsanji region, and we
have to stop for half an hour while his motorcade drives past. I don't
get any photographs of him as Auxies advises me to keep the camera out
of sight in case the MPs arrest me as a spy.
We get to Mwabvi about five, and just have time to say hello to Letster
and Gracious before heading back out to the PAW site - we have decided
to camp here instead of at the camp site this time so that we can supervise
the building work. Getting building workers is simply a matter of putting
the word out, and we tell Lester and Gracious that we need two bricklayers
and four cement mixers for tomorrow.
Auxies and Kaunda are looking after their own food on this trip, so
Auxies cooks me some mince and rice, and then they tuck into nshima and
kapente fish.