Slept remarkably long and well. Rose soon after dawn – coffee came circa 6:20.
Read, pottered, had breakfast and then got ready for our quad bike morning. Our guide was McDonald. He instructed us in the use of quad bikes. Then off we went in convoy.
The quad bike has only forward, neutral and reverse gears. It has a footbrake for the rear wheels that barely works and the front wheel break (left) and a rear wheel break (right) that need to be operated simultaneously to avoid the risk of an upset. Needs some getting used to, especially on the stoney, hilly tracks. Fortunately, the early part of the journey is pretty flat.
First stop, a vantage point at the north of Ngani Bay, where the ferries and boats come in. We took some pictures and got latched onto by some kids who wanted to catch a ride on the back of our quads.
Next stop the market (very small) with a strange hollow tree that had taken over another tree and more kids. The teacher gave us a sob story about stolen books which we chose to ignore.
Then on to St Peter’s Cathedral, the largest Anglican church in central Africa and third largest in Africa… Or something like that.
Local guide Hallelujah seemed to take a shine to Daisy and held her hand while he showed us around and clipped me for a donation.
Then on to the witch doctor’s place – a rare request apparently with little hope of fulfilment, as last time someone tried to go there the witch doctor was off sick!
We are instructed to remove shoes and take a stick offering in our left hands.
Then we wait… Quite a long time.
We sing old Macdonald had a farm.
The grandson chats us up a bit and touches me for donation.
We get hot.
We are told that the great man is bathing and preparing to meet us. Then he waddles up to the scene.
A small gathering inside his hospital and we are invited to the front. Some incantations/prayers. Then we have a conversation with him through our guide. He is Dr Kompalotta. He was born in 1940. He studied between 1958 to 1961 at which point he went mad and spent several years naked in the bush. When his mother died in 1973 he realised that he was healed and could heal so he has been a traditional healer for 40 years. He introduced us to a young man whose mental illness was improving under his guidance. Also a man who had had a massively swollen leg which was now just a recovering foot with post septicaemia/lymphoedema, which Daisy inspected with some interest.
Another donation and many photographs. Thanks and well wishes. Then on to our next stop.
We tried unsuccessfully to take Michelle’s suggestion of Mango Drift off the agenda but McDonald is very insistent, so we go rather a long way and it was very very rocky terrain – at one point losing a rather irate Daisy. We go back to find her waiting for us in the shade, so we walked down to Mango Drift, enjoy Ginger beer in the shade, then return to rescue a quads and head to our last stop. The Textile workshop, where lisa took our order and Charles measured as up for two made-to-measure dressing gowns (me) and to for Daisy.
Then back to Kaya Mawa circa 2:25, our morning ending late. A little hot and bothered but we had great fun. We take a late lunch of lentil appetiser with flatbread (we both just tasted) and an oriental style chicken and chickpea salad with sweet coconut sauce. A glass of green coffee.
We potter and beard trim after lunch. We chat with Ian and Nicky for a while, him KPMG, her CIMA. Lewisham based via Skipton, Bromley, Cayman Islands and Sydney.
Then come down early to do these write-ups and read others! Fabulous dinner of Thai fishcakes, fillet of pork medallions in sauce followed by an excellent bread-and-butter pudding.
Relatively late night by Malawi standards circa 2200.