We decided to get up early to avoid the local guides on the hilltop walk. We set the alarm for 5.30 partly hoping to get the sun rising over Lake Malawi. Sadly, this far north sunrise is half-an-hour earlier than the 5.45 we'd been used to. Still we collected ourselves and with Rich and Deb headed hillwise. As soon as we passed the security gate at 6.15am we were accosted by a guide wanting to show us his fishing village. He took some getting rid of. We followed the instructions from Paul but ended up in a garbage dump. We turned back, went further along then decided to just climb the hill anyway.
Some time later we found the top of the first hill and climbed the generously provided ladder up the top rock. It would have been a nice view but for the clouds obscuring anything more than a couple of miles away. The same for the second (I declined the final ladder being a bit chicken about the descent whilst holding the camcorder). Rich left his runny tummy calling card at the top. Nice. Coming down we followed the path which, oddly, ended up in the garbage dump. Ah well.
After breakfast we headed off to a local curio market. Malawi is well known for its furniture though big pieces weren't here -- we had seen large rattan/wicker pieces at the roadside on the way in. More of the usual masks, letter openers, bowls etc.. They did have three legged chess/bao/backgammon/coffee table tables (pick any two). Bao (pronounced "bow") is an old African game using beads in "boxes" on a 4x8 board. We saw a nice bao/coffee table and said we'd come back. When we did Paul was sat down playing the owner on the table -- can't be too bad then. Sadly, it took another half-hour for them to finish. My haggling wasn't too hot and I bought it for 1050 Malawian kwacha, [down] from the original 1500. Paul promptly bought a much larger bao/chess table for half-price with much more skillful negotiation: look at my old shoes!
We did get chased up by another stallholder who we said we'd go back to and who saw us leaving. Oops, "next time!"
After lunch a spot of black floor-mat surfing and 40 minutes waiting for a fish eagle to fly only to have it head straight out to the lake (the camcorder takes 2 seconds to wake up, by which time...).
We spent the evening learning bao and starting a small competition. Some people are more naturally talented at this rather simple yet addictive game.
A comment on the campsite: not the best. Even the simplest campsite has had better toilet facilities, not because these were basic but rather the opposite. They reminded me of Mediterranean efforts to reproduce sanitised, clean Northern European toilet blocks that have fallen into disrepair. This was also an ant-ridden campsite (by reputation). We didn't suffer from ants but did get bitten by some other bug. Grrr!
Steps Campsite S13.71596 E34.62891 Elev. 471m.
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.