11 June, Tuesday: Floja Foundation -> Chitimba Camp

We kicked the day off with an excellent start. We watched the sun rising over the Lake, it was just so spectacular, Mom even felt up to taking a stroll down the beach.

Our incredible campsite with an amazing view of the lake

We all had a lovely long swim and got ready for a RhinoArt lesson we gave at the Floja Foundation nursery. This was quite different to the previous talks we have done as the children were much younger, aged 6-7 and the talk was translated by a teacher at the School, Samwell. Deby and Mom joined for the talk and it was a great success. The students were enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoyed the art lesson. The Dutch couple who manage the foundation supply about 90 children with two meals a day and are taught and looked after by 5 local teachers. The school is completely reliant on donations which come from Holland. The classrooms, although very basic, the alphabet is drawn on the walls and the room is full of colour, there is defintely an element of outside aid. As the children came rushing in, the room lit up with beautiful faces, having the biggest smiles from one ear to the other. It was an emotional morning seeing these little childen. Samwell was excellent with the children, a natural teacher and has an amazing way with kids, it was special to see.

As it was time to cycle, only having 50 km to our next destination, I got on the bike, Chris still not well, took another day trying to recover. As I was about to go, Erick miraculously got onto the bike and joined me. This was so exciting and I was thrilled to not be on my own on the bike today. Erick surprsingly whizzed right past me and carried on the journey as a born athlete.

The road was in good condition and very quiet. There are fewer villages in Northern Malawi than in Tanzania, instead of having organized towns having a name board as you approached it, where as here, there are informal scattered homesteads rather than clustered villages. There are no public buses here, compared to Tanzania, where we constantly passed buses with signs indicating its destination. Erick and I continued our cycle into a nasty front wind, making the trip slightly unpleasant, but we soldiered on, enjoying the warmer temperature and the flatter landscape.

A man carrying his wife and child on one bicycle

After 30 km, we had a good lunch on the side of the road with a bunch of school children watching us intensely. Erick still feeling strong, we carried on, eventually arriving at Chitimba Camp, 50 km later. Erick was just outstanding! After having hardly cycled in the last few years and only doing a few kilometres the last time he joined, we are all so proud of him. It was so rewarding cycling into the camp today. Its a big campsite with some chalets and a lovely bar and restaurant with wooden stump stools and wooden tables. We settled in before running to the Lake for a nice cool down swim. The water is so warm, we spent a long time floating in the waves. The Lake is unbelievable, literally, it could really be the ocean. Its massive! We are now sitting in our camp chairs, cosily under an open thatched roof structure preparing our dinner.

Cycled: 50.4 km

Time: 2:57 hrs

Ave speed: 17.1 km/hr

Ascent: 186 m