Day 28 Hiking To Livingstonia

Monday January 10^th.

Today is the first day of the second half of our journey. Can't believe we are half way done!

Thirteen of us got up early this morning for a 32 kilometre hike up into the mountains. There is a missionary station that was built of there in the early 1900's to give people a respite from malaria. Apparently malaria can't survive or exist at that altitude.

We hiked for 5 hours up the mountain. It was hot and tiring. Drank lots of water. We visited two waterfalls on the way up, that were quite nice. The views from the mountain were spectacular. We saw lots of friendly people going about their normal lives. The kids were all glad to see us and said hello. The people are poor, live in basic housing and have no vehicles. We saw lots of agriculture on the way up. They grow bananas, coffee, tobacco and cassava. Some of the farms are terraced on the hills like South America.

When we arrived on the top we found a prosperous looking town. There were brick houses and some from the outside, wouldn't look out of place in suburbia. We stopped at a grocery store for water and drinks. Then we proceeded to the Stone House, which was the original missionary building, but now doubles as a museum and a guest house with restaurant. We place a lunch order of chicken and rice, and waited a half hour, before they told us it would take too long as they hadn't killed the chickens yet! So would be be happy with just rice? We agreed and waited another hour for that. When is finally arrived it was actually quite palatable with curry, onions and beans on top of the rice. We were all really tired, so sitting on the verandah and admiring the view of the valley and Lake Malawi in the distance wasn't a problem.

The only problem was that we waited so long for lunch that when we went to the school the kids had been dismissed! I was disappointed, but I got to talk to a teacher who gave us a tour of the school. The grade two class had 72 kids in it!

We saw a chameleon crossing the road, which was really cool, and we found a large insect that probably belongs to the stick insect family.

Walk down was just as long and tiring. It was mostly downhill and we arrived back at camp by 6:00pm. A 12 hour day.

Then we relaxed in the bar, tried the internet which is very intermittent, along with the electricity. Had a well deserved lousy shower, with a trickle of water.

Then a great bbq dinner of sausage and steak with corn on the cob and garlic bread.

Talked to Ed, the owner of the camp, and looked at some of his excellent African pictures, he gave me his card too. He told me that the highway used to go up over the mountain and through Livingstonia. I wondered if the bypass will kill the town and all the schools or will the mission still survive?

Then briefing from Vernon about the next couple of days. Tomorrow is another truck day, so up early again. Goodnight.