Sat 26 May 2018, Day 174
Rest day, Hakuna Matata
Distance   6372
Total from Amsterdam 11772

I got up at sparrows and walked down to the lake to take a few sunrise pictures. As I can’t attach pictures to diary emails, I will do a FB post when we get a better signal, most likely in Mzuzu, a large town, a two day ride. It rained during the night so we emptied the tent and tipped it over on its side to dry out. We are going to miss Hakuna Matata and the peaceful, green grass and shady campsite. We have been reading Willie’s guest book and people don’t just write a few lines, they draw pictures, attach pics of passports or post cards, draw maps, write whole pages of their trips like Sara and Scott (16 Sep 2015) and stayed with us, also with Mark and Liz in Knysna later in 2016. We got our act together and wrote our story in Willie’s guest book, attached a postcard of Knysna. Peter’s second repair to his leaking pillow using duct tape was a failure so he’s put a bit of super glue on the leak then stuck on the duct tape. He ended up patching three holes in his pillow this morning. Willie was explaining a few things that we find odd …

– Locals sit down when an important person comes into their company. In our culture we stand

– When locals walk in the road women carry the  parcels, bundles etc so men can have their hands free to defend the women and children
– A man walks into a house first to check for danger
– when locals greet people, the person of importance says hello first. This is the norm so that the local person is not intruding on the important person’s privacy.

A GP registration South African Suzuki Samurai arrived after lunch. Trent and his pilot girlfriend from Joburg, both 26 and a young lass, barely 18 from the UK travelling in this tiny car. They were previously on motor cycles,  but an accident, and engine problems forced them to continue in the Suzuki. We had spaghetti with tomato and onion sauce for supper. Willie gave us a Cadbury’s chocolate which we shared with everyone. Such a kind, spiritual and gentle person and one who will leave a huge impression on our memories of Malawi. I would love to come back to visit Willie xx

– Hakuna Matata Camp

– Sunrise at Hakuna Matata

– Willie and Oubaas

– Andrew and Lydia who kindly took Peter’s rack pack back to Cape Town