On the road again.

Up at 4.45am, still raining! It had rained all night. Everything in the tent is damp, sleeping bag included (tonight will be fun!).

I provided the entertainment during the morning pee stop. We stopped at the side of the road, in a grassy/bushy area. So I was just finding a suitable bush as the solid ground gave way underneath me! I was up to my knee in mud! It was funny!

After 5 hours of driving, we were in Lilongwe. Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi, the scenery suddenly changed from crops to shops. We stopped at a large shopping complex – complete with a Shoprite (large African supermarket chain) a few clothes shops, several banks and a couple of fast food restaurants. The supermarket was amazing! Haven’t seen food like that since England! But the prices were astounding, double what you would pay in England! It cost me £17 to buy a load of ‘rubbish food – the highlights being yoghurt, sweet chilli crisps, scones, chocolate spread and hand sanitiser!

I ran out of local currency a few days ago, so was pleased when the supermarket displayed a large visa sign. However, the woman was awfully confused when I asked about paying by card. So sadly had to leave my amazing shopping to run around 5 different cash machines before one would give me any money. All sorted in the end, food paid for and feeling sick after eating too much.

Another 2 hours to the border and it is goodbye Malawi!

Country number 4 – Zambia

We were waiting 2.5hours at the border, why on earth it takes so long to stamp 20 passports I have no idea! At $80, the most expensive country so far and no fancy sticker either.

We were staying just 30 minutes from the border in Chipata (not chipati! – a flat bread that we’ve become a bit addicted to). We arrived at 4.30pm, the campsite was in a small wood, makes a change from being on a beach. Rest of the day, not a lot to do, apart from sit in the triangle shaped bar!