22nd July Fiona's Perspective

Our Hosts Taffy & Jenny arrived and joined us for drinks. We soon learned that we were going out on the boat tomorrow to snorkel and feed the Fish Eagles.

After a real home cooked meal with Beef and Pork roast and loads of Vegetables, we retired, exhausted from the last 20 days of continuous driving.

This morning we woke to the sounds of Red tailed Monkeys playing on our tin roof, actually it sounded more like Hippo's.

We have an outdoor shower, which works here as we are in the middle of winter and it was warm enough to shower outside last night.

So, after a shower and the first decent breakfast in a while, although the egg yolks are quite pale and creamy coloured, almost the colour of the white, because the Chickens apparently don't get enough greenery to eat, the local vendors set up their wares at the bottom of the beach. They are allowed to come once a day for an hour to peddle their wares. This stops the constant hassling every time you set foot on the beach and seems to work quite well.

Taffy took us down the Bay on his speedboat to a site where we could snorkel. He then threw a couple of dead fish out, which got the Fish Eagles out of their nests in the trees on the cliffs. We had a few circling and then swooping down in front of us to grab the fish out of the water, quite a magnificent sight.

The snorkeling was amazing, it was like being inside our tank at home in the days when we had some really beautiful Cichlids (Malawi fish). The colours were quite spectacular. Blues, Turquoise, zebra striped with yellow fins....

Alan and Taffy drank a few beers whilst I snorkelled, after which we headed back to the Lodge for lunch. What a way to spend the morning.

Taffy tells us his story of how he decided to get out of the rat race and sell everything and take a chance on starting this Lodge in Malawi. Now, as Alan put it, we pay him to drink beer with us and live a life that we were quite envious of.

Lunch was served and after a bottle of white Wine, we thought it would be the right thing to do, to have an afternoon sleep.

Later, we met a 55yr old American lady that spends her time traveling through Africa selling her paintings and artwork to fund her travels. We exchanged some tips on where we had both been, and which Campsites were worth a visit.

After another great dinner, the day was over.

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