Malawi the beautiful

This morning we did a bit more emailing, catching up on wrapping up the loose ends in Cape Town - a bit frustrating when the connection is so slow and you need to send a huge file. We then went into Nico's Shopping Centre where we found a better cyber café with fast connection, did a quick shop at Shoprite for food and supplies (no beer as they are only sold in bottles! Will have to buy at campsite)

We rode for the better part of the day on smooth tarmac road. From Lilongwe, we went up on the M1 to Kasungu where we then turned west towards Nkhotakota, and passed through Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve - dirt roads and increasingly gorgeous views around each bend.

Once we reached the M5, we turned north and headed towards the Chintheche Strip of beach camps and lodges.

Friends Maria and Paul from Cape Town gave us a copy of the Kite Runner on cd, read by the author. It's a gripping tale about an Afghani boy and it's kept us occupied for a big chunk of our journey so far. We might have to stock up on more books-on-tape somewhere later for the long desert stretches.

We arrived in the dark at Kande Beach campsite. It was a longer day than we had hoped but we planned to stay for a day of much needed R&R tomorrow.

Tonight we decided to dine at Kande's Soft Sand Café. While Matt had the beef achaar (a local beef and gravy dish), I sampled their hearty pumpkin (in season right now) soup and homemade rolls. We shared a peach cheesecake afterwards but by far, our homemade cheesecake wins hands down (right Gailyn and Craig? harhar)

Start: Lilongwe, MAL. 13:30
End: Kande Beach, MAL. 19:20
Total Distance: 384 km
Road Conditions: no complaints
Temperature: pleasant