a quick update

the roaring fire in the hut on Zomba Plateau



rach and mum in the jungle on Zomba



mum descending a lovely ridge on Zomba



really big goat...only joking, it's an elephant!



early morning walk in a dry river bed in Majete wildlife park



Early morning walk, and a 'sausage tree'...



At the luxurious 'camp' in Majete



on the way up to see some rock art near Dedza



mum with some Zoomorphs



Mum on a steep bit of the rock-art hill (Mphunzi hill)



a fish eagle failing to catch a fish



a Hammerkop (or "hammer head")



mum paddling off through the gap between Domwe Island and the mainland



mum paddling off into the sunset



our accommodation


Hi all,

Just a quick note to show that I am still alive and blogging! Mum's arrival on the 17th went to plan, despite the shortage of diesel in the country, and we had a lovely relaxing weekend up on the Zomba Plateau where the temperature was much nicer than in the lowlands. Then Rach and I did a couple of days work while mum pottered about and made herself very useful by doing tonnes of washing.

After that we had a lovely trip to our favourite wildlife reserve, Majete, where we saw quite a good selection of animals (from memory, elephants, baby crocodiles, hippos, impala, sable, wart hogs, water buffalo, Eland, bush buck (maybe), water buck, loads of pretty birds and butterflies, baboons...all the usual!). We stayed overnight this time, at the luxurious 'camp' next to a watering hole which is floodlit. We saw probably between 60 and 100 water buffalo come to the watering hole in a couple of hours in the evening.

After these two days in the bush Rachel went back to work for a day (to welcome in new volunteers from Italy and Belguim)and mum and I headed up to Dedza to eat cheesecake and look at ancient rock-art. We had a really nice walk up the rock-art hill and the next day we visited the Mua cultural museum, which impressed mum greatly.

Saturday evening was spent at Senga Bay on the Lake, celebrating the fact that our friend Abi had just swam across the 20-odd km of the lake in record time! A bit of a BBQ (or Braai as they call them here) and a dance on the beach was the order of the day.

Sunday we had to get up early to drive around to Cape Maclear where we hired kayaks and paddled across to Domwe Island, another luxury camp on an island in the national park - fantastic. Great wildlife including fish eagles, monitor lizards, loads of other lizards, bush pig, serval cats (which are meant to be very shy but were pretty tame on the island - perhaps they are fed...), baboons, pied kingfishers, hammerkopf (sp?), and loads of beautiful fish - none of which were available for us to eat unfortunately!

Monday we kayaked early in the morning then headed back to the mainland where we met up with friends who are spending the week canoeing all the way around the peninsula. Then a long sweaty drive home...eugh!

Yesterday and today have been spent pushing paper at the office, then tomorrow mum and I will head off up Mulanje for a week of hiking around between the various huts and possibly include a peak or two.

Love to all,


A & R & Mum!