Namakomo Bay - Malawi

Up around 7am we enjoyed a nice quiet breakfast watching the comings and goings on the lake. Each morning and in the late afternoon the women from the local village come down to the lake shore to wash pots, pans, clothes, kids and themselves, it is as much a social occasion as a chore and if we had the time we could sit for hours watching some of their antics!

The kids especially have a high old time playing in the water and its heart warming to see, even though they have nothing, how totally happy they are compared compared with kids in the developed world who have gadgets and toys galore. We always try and give out little goodies when we pass through and this time we had the added bonus of a Frisbee which we had found in the bush in Kenya with us!

The kids didn't know what to make of it at first, I threw it down the beach intending they pick it up and then play with it themselves but they just kept bringing it back like a dog would a ball.  Eventually they got the message and then shrieking with laughter they raced off down the beach throwing it as they went. Sadly just a few days later we heard that some bigger boys had stolen it off them probably to sell it in Monkey Bay!

The boat inspector arrived around 11am, he had made a two hour bus journey from Mangochi then walked the two miles down the dirt road to the lodge so he was in dire need of a drink when he arrived. Captain Crispin would escort him round Kumbali, luckily Nelson had sewn all the ties on the lifejackets and we had donated our first aid kit and fire extinguisher so we had done as much as we could it was now down to the Inspector.

Part of the inspection was to take Kumbali out to show he was sea worthy, luckily we moor him offshore so Crispin was able to head off and come back without reversing which was just as well because afterwards we found out reverse gear hasn't been working for months!  

By 12.30 the inspector was finished and thankfully he said he would pass Kumbali, he was an ok guy who had done us a big favour in coming all this way at short notice so apart from paying the fee we gave him some lunch, a few drinks and money to get a taxi back to Mangochi, in Africa you always reward people who help you.

By now our new guests Mark & Jenny, South African's had arrived and were now relaxing on the sundeck with a drink and a late lunch. Unfortunately the weather had suddenly turned stormy, not uncommon on the lake, so we had to abandon the sundowner cruise, disappointing for the guests but safety was now the first priority.  

The night was very hot and humid, once again Tom the kitten spent the night sleeping at the bottom of our bed which was fine until 4am when he woke up wanting to play with my feet at which point he was soon evicted!

By 8am the guests were having breakfast and champing at the bit to get out on the lake. We hadn't heard from Captain Crispin who was going to the police in Monkey Bay this morning to present the new papers for Kumbali, but we believed as it was just a day later than required, which by African standards was excellent, everything would be ok so we organised Philemon, Crispin's assistant and Victor, one of the gardeners to take Kumbali out.

Mark and Jenny had told us they would be going to Cape Maclear for lunch so as Taffy's internet was still down we planned to drive to Club Mak in Rupert to update the website, pick up emails and afterwards stop off at the nursery to get some veggies.

After seeing Mark & Jenny off to Cape Maclear we were just about to leave ourselves when I decided to check Rupert's engine oil and was shocked to find it was very low! There was no noticeable oil stain on the ground so somehow we had lost the oil while we were driving.

We would now have to abandon going to Club Mak and I would have to find out where the leak was while Sue delved into the back box to get at our stock of oil. Malawi is not a place where you get stuff at the drop of a hat and there is no breakdown service so we would have to sort this ourselves.

After topping up the oil and running the engine I discovered the leak was in the Vacuum pump used by the braking system, it is a sealed unit so not too much you can do with it and sods law it was one spare part we didn't carry so all we could do for now was top up the oil.

At 4pm Mark & Jenny returned from Cape Maclear and I went out on the boat with them while Sue re-packed the back box. In the  morning Mark & Jenny left straight after breakfast and by 9am we were heading off ourselves to Monkey Bay hoping to catch the Immigration officer.

Yet again he wasn't around but this time we managed to get his phone number and gave him a call, he was in the market but said he saw us driving past and would be with us soon, we had never met him in our lives but obviously we were getting well known in town!

He turned out be a very nice guy who was more than happy to extend our visa's for another two weeks free of charge, he didn't even ask for a beer, in a region where visa's cost USD 50 a pop this was a refreshing  change.

That done we picked up some more cement and groceries in Monkey Bay then headed South for the hours drive to Club Mak for veggies and to do the Internet we missed doing yesterday. By the time we were finished it was gone 3pm and we were knackered headed back to Norman Carr, luckily we had no guests in tonight so we could relax and let the staff go off early while we sat on the sundeck enjoying a glass of wine - nothing is easy out here! 

In the morning we could sleep in until 7am then enjoy breakfast on the deck overlooking the lake, we had no guests in so the day was ours to enjoy, tomorrow we had a full house so we needed to make the most of the solitude while we could.   

The morning was lovely relaxing on the beach but we should have known it would not last long, we were just settling down after lunch when Nelson came to tell us engineers from Eskom the power company had arrived to cut off our power for non payment of the bill - our first thought was Jesus Taff what are doing to us!

Totally unaware there was an outstanding bill we had nowhere near enough cash to pay it so if they cut us off now we wouldn't get re-connected until Taffy got back and with the lodge full over the weekend this was threatening to be a disaster.

On a trip to Ireland in the 1980s I once kissed the Blarney Stone and if ever I needed it's powers it was now. The guys had come mob handed to cut us off but none had the authority to rescind the order, however one had a mobile and after much debate he agreed to call his boss in Lilongwe for advice.

After explaining to his boss that Taffy was away but he would definitely pay the bill in full when he returned in a few days time the boss reluctantly agreed to give us a few more days grace, it had been close, we just hoped Taffy had some money stashed away somewhere!

After preparing dinner we let Nelson and Crispin go early and enjoyed it sitting on the sundeck with G&Ts listening to the gentle lapping of the waves, we had the place to ourselves for tonight at least.

Up around 7am to a hot, sunny day, we checked that the rooms were all ready for the guests arrival. They were expected in the afternoon but didn't turn up till 6pm so they missed out on a sundowner cruise which was just as well as by now the lake had turned quite choppy  

There was two South Africans, Billy & Angus, a German, Michael and a big woman called Santa, their boss. Working for a telecoms company based in Johannesburg they were up in Malawi on business and had come to the lake for some quick R&R.

Billy & Angus had installed the wireless internet system Taffy was now using but which frustratingly would not work with our laptop so we were hoping they could fix it while they were here and save us the hour long journey down to Club Mak to do the website etc.

Although we had never met before we had contacted Billy to ask him to bring us some supplies from Blantyre which he very kindly did - with such little choice locally it was only through help like this that we could survive without having to do a nine hour round trip each week to Lilongwe.

As we sat having drinks before dinner, Angus & Billy had also brought something else up from SA which we had never seen before, a neat Mosquito repeller called the Zinger, looking like a squash racquet it was electrified so you swatted the mosi's and zapped them in their hundreds - we immediately coveted one!

All that swatting must have tired them out because by 8pm they had all retired to bed and we followed at 10pm, each night Tom the kitten would come back to our cottage and sleep at the end of our bed, he was very cute and all but he had one nasty habit, he liked to wake us up at 5am by biting our feet!

At 6.30am we heard a car leaving, it was Michael and Santa off to play golf at Club Mak, the others had said to hold breakfast until they returned so we had the luxury of another hour in bed. However, by the time we got up we discovered Crispin had already cooked a shed load of bacon and sausage regardless of whether or not the guests wanted it!

Problem is the guys like routines and once ingrained stick to them come hell or high water so when we explained to Crispin that he must hold off cooking until we know what the guests want he insisted he always does it this way as Jenny likes them to be ahead of the game. This is all well and good if you can afford to waste food but we didn't have a Tesco just round the corner and this stuff was expensive but there was little we do about it now, we just hoped the guests were hungry!

After breakfast the guests usually go out on the boat and last night they had said they wanted to go snorkelling so we had arranged for Capt Crispin, cousin of cook Crispin, to come in. However, now after the humungous breakfast they changed their minds and decided to chill out on the beach instead, leaving Capt Crispin and his assistant Philly with nothing to do.  

Philly lived in the village behind the lodge so he could just pop back home but Crispin had cycled all the way from Monkey Bay, a good half an hour's journey on a pot holed road and not being a young man anymore was not best pleased this had all been for nothing,  still he had only his cousin the chef Crispin to blame!