Day 43 The Sanctuary, somewhere near Chitumba, Malawi.

Hello everyone, Mike here. After months of day dreaming in the UCT library, I’ve finally arrived and joined the Portuguese petrol pump attendant and the old bullet. I can’t believe my luck.

I did write a post a day or two ago but it didn’t quite fit in with my dad’s uploading procedure, and missed the boat, which left from an absolute shit hole of an internet cafe yesterday in Mbeya, Tanzania.

It’s been a fantastic few days. I was welcomed into Dar by a friendly customs official (read sarcasm) who wouldn’t let me bring in the new rear tyre for the bike. My dad luckily saw this happening, called the guy over, and told him to get knotted. The last 5 weeks has obviously taught the guys a thing or two about negotiating in Africa.

We’ve ridden mostly on tar roads since Dar. The ride through the game reserve on the first day (Dar to Mikumi) has provided a definite highlight of the trip so far. We were lucky enough to see a herd of about 20 elephant very close to the road. The guys hadn’t seen wild game yet, so I guess my timing was pretty decent. Thank you Justin. Whilst we were still in the reserve Mark gave a huge giraffe the fright of its life as he came round a bend. He was as surprised, hit the anchors, and almost caused my dad to ride into him!

Since then we have spent a couple days meandering across Tanzania and down to Malawi. Yesterday was a full day of riding, travelling about 500 km and dealing with the Tanzania-Malawi border post. The Sanctuary where we are currently relaxing has exceeded all expectations. We got in last evening a bit thirsty and started drinking Carlsberg Elephants. We couldn’t quite work out why we were getting so inebriated. Mark couldn’t feel his legs after four. We finally read the label and discovered they were 7.2 %, too late.

So it’s been a slow start this morning. We plan on leaving here at about 2 pm and heading 230 km down the lake. The morning has been spent on the beach, watching what floats past: fisherman on dug out canoes, and busty Norwegian girls, perving over the fisherman. We received a time bonus of 1 hour when entering Malawi, back to SA time, so we having an extra long lunch.

Now it’s Jim.

Finally you can have a break form my ramblings and get a fresh view on what’s happening. Very nice to have Mike along for a new dimension.

This battery is going flat so till later.

Jim.