Ntchisi Forest Lodge

With Meredith's job, we've been trying to get away for just one night on the weekends. Not everyone gets a year off like me.  Anything within 2 hours of Lilongwe is perfect.  Found a fantastic place in the Ntchisi Forest Park.  It's an environment you might not think exists from the rest of Malawi, but an incredible place to hike.

It's a small little place tucked on the edge of the forest.  All the meals are on the veranda.  

Sublime views from the overlook on the hike.

Is that a comb over?

We don't have trees like this in Mn.

Over Speeding

It has been quiet the past few weeks as we have been around Lilongwe saving up to go to game parks in Malawi, Zambia, and Victoria Falls the last two weeks of September.   

Even still we managed to get a ticket.  It is pretty easy to speed in Malawi since the limit everywhere is 50km per hour (30mph). Meredith earned this ticket going double the speed limit.  They even had our car and speed matched on video so no arguing there.  Thankfully, the fine for all speeding offenses is 5,000 Kwachas ($12). It doesn't make sense to go 5km per hour over when 50 will give you the same fine.  So we continue to over speed.

I love how they call it "Over Speeding."  So true.

Bunda Mountain

It has been decided that we will attempt to climb Kilimanjaro in February. So every weekend we've been doing day trips and hiking to get ready.  

The first place we went to was Bunda Mountain.  To our surprise, we ran into scores of people at the top praying as evidently it is a spiritual place.  Many had spent the night there and the top of the peak was filled with wailing and prayers.  See the video for more about how it sounded.  I'll need to do some more research to find out why this place is so important to the Malawians.

Meredith entertaining the kids in the village at the base of the hill.  We ended up using Paul as our guide (red sleeves).

Don't we all, buddy (in reference to his shirt).

The crew on a rest stop.  It was straight up.

On top of Bunda.

Rob and Caroline revisiting their last visit. They went up the steep side and this is what it felt like.

There were a number of rocks on the top painted with the words: "Calling of God."

Here is a short video of the sounds of prayer from the top of Bunda Mountain.

My hiking boots failed on the way down. Wow.  Destroyed after 2 hikes in Africa.  I'll need to pick up some in South Africa over Christmas.  Or I'll get some flip flops like the kid has on behind me.  

Farmer's Market

There is a farmer's market once a month in Lilongwe on Saturdays.  It is exactly like the market in Old Town for Malawians that happens every day except the prices are 4x higher, there's a bouncy house, grass, ex-pats, and jazz music.

This market even has kind girlfriends whose patience is being tested by a tourist with a camera. "How long is this blog fixation going to last?" she wonders.