Malawi - Chitimba Camp

Our first two nights in Malawi were spent on the shores of Lake Malawi. There weren't many available activities at the camp, so most of our time was spent relaxing and playing with the local kids. On our first morning at the camp, Melissa and I went on a tour through the village where we visited the local school and hospital, as well as the friendly neighborhood Witch Doctor. The school was impressive despite minimal resources and obviously absent funding. Most of the furniture and school supplies had been donated by western countries; Canada gave a few bookshelves but not before pasting giant Donated By Canada stickers on all available surfaces. After seeing the hospital, it was easy to see how most of the citizenry still prefer the local Witch Doctor. Understaffed, undersupplied, and not entirely sanitary, it was a place that I would hope to avoid. In the afternoon, Mel and Neil went off to play some soccer with the locals. By their reports, it seemed that 10 minutes of soccer was played before the child with the ball was called home by his mother. As you can probably tell, the main theme of our time in Chitiba was the children. As english is the official language of Malawi, the kids have no difficulty striking up a conversation with any foreigner that happens to stray withing range. Despite being constantly at the center of the mob, it was an amazing experience. The photos below are in close keeping with the theme.

On our final morning in camp, we awoke to find the sky completely filled with small flies. There were dense clouds of flies over the lake which were completely black, and cast dark shadows. It was truly incredible to see such vast numbers of insects and I'm quite happy to report that they were entirely harmless. I've posted two photos at the bottom that try to capture their density; however, these need to be enlarged significantly before you can fully appreciate the scene.

While waiting for the Witch Doctor to finish his business, Mel and I played with the kids. Just before this photo was taken, the small girl in the background had managed to get bonked in the nose with my Nalgene bottle. For about a minute after the incident her face was scrunched up as she contemplated whether or not it was appropriate to cry. Disaster was averted; however, there were a few tense moments where it could have gone either way.

This is Neil's photo; I love it. Each hand in the picture belongs to a separate child.

This photo was taken on the sidelines of the soccer game. What's he thinking?

Neil, I'm not too sure that this little guy wants his photo taken...

Melissa's flower. These trees were in full bloom throughout the campsite.

Thousands of flies glow in the early morning sunlight.

Sunrise over the lake was mostly muted because of the vast clouds of flies like the one seen on the right hand side of the photo. While the bench and thatch umbrella were about 5 meters away, the cloud was at least 200 meters off hovering over the lake...to give you a sense of scale. At times, it completely blocked the horizon.