Clear lake at Cape Maclear

After the blustery weather and windblown waters of the northern lake, driving south to Cape Maclear – the typical road scenes of Malawi.

At last – no wind, a beautiful clear lake – hot weather. Last night 29˚ at 8pm.

Found the popular spots ( Fat Monkeys, Eagles Nest etc) at Maclear very cramped, noisy with very restricted frontage to lake. Being told by some that there was no camping at Golden Sands inside the National Park area nearby, we checked it out and found it is indeed possible to camp there. After Park entry fee 5$ US pppn, the camping fee was only an extra $1 each, so still ok. The downside – a bit scruffy, no running water, 1 toilet which you fill the cistern from the lake – but, plently of space, hiking trails, good snorkeling with little fishies all around. Bliss.

Sharon taking evening bath in the lake.

The only disturbances were constant vendors of fish, firewood, boat trips & curios popping in say “hello, how are you?- what is your name?- where are you from?, and making much conversation before stating their purpose , only to be disappointed by our low budget approach…. followed by monkeys & baboons waiting for you to let down your guard for a moment.

Score -

Monkeys: 1 loaf bread, 1 packet chips

Les: 3 monkey’s bum hits with catapult, 6 rubber-snake shocked baboons!

The usual suspects

Also had some kids spend time hanging around our camp, learning & practicing engrish, and sponging food & rubber snakes off us.

What did we do in the 5 days we stayed there?

Swam a lot, looked at multi-coloured fishies underwater, fed them bits of bread, took a kayak and rowed around the nearest island. Took several hours, and looked at more fishies along the way.

Paddled my surfboard for excercise ( no swell, it was as flat as a lake)

Chatted to locals and befriended the only other party camping there, hiked and found our own private beach

A parting shot from Cape Maclear this morning was being stung on my finger by a scorpion as I was packing our camp chairs. Wasn’t fatal; I suppose a scorpion sting is preferable to a bite from a hippo.

Now a bit further south, near Mangochi, bottom end of lake for a few days, then plan to visit Liwonde National Park, (on the Shire river which is the only outlet of the lake) stock up with supplies in Blantyre, then on to Mozambique, Bernadette …

But that’s another story....