Fun days!

18/10

We got here. God knows we struggled, but we made it! Driving in extreme heat for 5 hours was clearly too much for our poor vehicle as he decided to overheat about an hour away from the final destination. Thankfully there were a couple of locals around to offer their help. Whilst fixing the car up with coolant, we discovered another, more serious issue, so we knew that even if we made it to town, it would be straight to the mechanics workshop.
Thankfully our car is now fine.
The great news is that I was fed more fresh food than I could eat. The owner of the hostel took me around his property and I got to pick mulberries, gooseberries and fresh mint with my own hands to accompany the salad (papaya, apple, cucumber, watermelon). I also ordered some freshly squeezed papaya-orange juice. Fruit overdose, sooo good!

Although struggling with time due to the broken vehicle, I managed to get a bit of shopping done and purchased around 100 dollars worth of aloe vera and coconut drinks as well as grapes, oranges and of course, stacks of Dettol antibacterial hand wipes, which I never leave behind when leaving the house.

The next day we drove to the lake with our “fancy” rental car. It was a Toyota, pretty much the same make as Bea, but smaller and a lot older. Can’t complain though, as the aircon was almost working and it didn’t break down on us once! I guess it’s an upgrade after all. The views at the bay were just stunning. And the amount on colorful fish (cichlids) you could see through the clear still water, even from the bay- just stunning. Mind you, I decided to stay on the shore (as I am still freaked out about the worms that crawl under your skin).

So far so good but!

They come in threes

16/10

I am writing this post from my pitch-black bedroom. Why, you ask? Well, as much as I love sitting in the dark, this is not the case here. We simply have no electricity. Our usual “you only get 4 hours of electricity per day, deal with it” has now turned into “you deserve nothing, peasant” phase. I have always wanted to experience living in the middle of nowhere, with no water, no electricity and no vehicle. Said no one ever! But guess what, it’s happening. Yay…
We started our day as optimistically as ever. We were planning on going for a long hike to see the waterfall and collect scat in a new area. The drive to the trail was supposed to be about an hour. Less then 200 meters in and our vehicle stopped working. Fuel pump they reckon.
We changed our plans and did a local scat walk instead, whish ended up being 9,5 km altogether. Given that the sun was shining like no tomorrow (and we are used to the arctic winds here and dress accordingly) I am glad I am back and I did not suffer from heat stroke. Jokes, it wasn’t that bad. I was only half-dying.
Back home the reality suddenly hit us. We had no water! Took 4 hours to get that sorted, but we finally got there.
5.30PM hit and everyone was delighted to see their electronics come to life. The joy was robbed from us when a couple of minutes later the light was taken from us, not to return again. Oh well, at least my laptop has some battery life left and Beccy has borrowed me her solar charger for the phone. Maybe all is not lost after all.

Only 2 more days until Mzuzu, that is if our car gets it’s act together. We have been eating canned veggies, legumes and rice for days. In Mzuzu there’s a little shop so there’s a good chance I might get to purchase some fresh stuff and anything that doesn’t come out of a can. I know it will not last (because we don’t have a fridge), but even a day’s worth of fresh will hopefully satisfy the cravings.

I guess that’s that for the day. I hope you’re all chocking on your salads and drowning in your bathtubs like the privileged white trash you are. Jokes, I love you all and can’t wait to stuff my face and swim in a bathtub once back in Melby. xx

Sunny Sundays

15/10

I love it when it’s my only day off and the sun decides to show up for the occasion. I certainly have an African glow now, which feels kind of awesome, given that summer is just about to hit Melbourne. Fun times ahead!

Couple of bullet points to sum up today’s adventures:

1) I taught Emily how to stitch and now she can once again wear her floral leggings without flashing her bottom.

2) I scrubbed the heck out of our toilet and I think I am still under the influence of the bleach fumes.

3) Today has been one of the nicest “me time” days in a long time. The whole team went fishing, so I decided to stay in and take full advantage of our log cabin. Totally winning!

4) I finished another book “The kite runner” by Khaled Hosseini. Please do yourself a favor and read the damn book…It’s that good.

5) I am celebrating a very special anniversary today, because it’s already the 16^th of October back home. I am filled with love and longing. Not long now, darling! xx

13th and a very long Friday

13/10

As mentioned we had scheduled a 3AM spotlighting drive for the Friday morning, which meant that we had to set our alarms for crazy-early-o’clock. Getting up in the middle of the night with no electricity is a challenge on it’s own, but getting up that early in general really messes with one’s sleeping patterns. By the end of the drive it was getting light outside so we had a choice between watching the sunrise or going back to sleep for a couple of hours. I obviously chose the latter, having a nice sleep-in until 9AM. We went for another 2-hour drive at 10PM in the hopes of seeing carnivores, but once again we came back with nothing. It was a very big day for us and to be fair, for the last hour of the drive we were all getting semi-delirious. I wouldn’t be surprised if we drove right by a hyena or two!

Between the drives we collected the cameras and analyzed the data. Over 2000 photos of the vegetation, not great! Oh well, what can you do.

 It was also my turn to cook yesterday so I threw few things together and served a bean risotto for lunch. Maybe I got a little carried away with the chilli, but a good effort nonetheless.

The rest of the day was spent reading. I got so hooked on “The lost boy” by Robert Wainwright that I finished the book the next morning. Boy were there tears though… This book is based on a true story and it follows the life of an English woman after she migrates to Australia and marries a local man. They live in a small town in the Northern Territory, surrounded by harsh terrain, battling extreme weather conditions, but still running a successful business and raising their two young sons. After one of their boys goes missing, the real storyline begins. I don’t want to ruin it, but it is worth the read. A lot of the places I have previously visited, such as Kununurra, Broome, Port Augusta etc are also mentioned, which makes it even more special. Anyway, if you ever decide to pick up the book, have a tissue box nearby just in case.

Sun's out, guns out

12/10

… If I had any, hehe.

It was my first proper sunny day here in Nyika. Thankfully our 8 km den walk was it the crisp air of the early morning, before the day really had a chance to heat up. I threw all the 5 layers in the corner and stripped myself down to a singlet and shorts. I was sooo happy I almost gave myself a heat stroke. Unfortunately I have ridiculous tanning lines now as we can’t sunbathe in our bikini and have to keep minimal-moderate clothes on. Anything less would be considered inappropriate, given that we share the park with the local workers and their families. Oh well, I’ll just have to go and shake my white bum in Melbourne then.

We’re getting up at 2am tomorrow and go for a hyena drive. Fingers crossed we’ll see some wildlife!

Frankie

10/10

Yesterday was a bit of an uneventful day. Did LMT in the morning, presented Galerella Sanguinea (Slender mongoose) after lunch and went for spotlighting in the evening.
The highlight of the day however was ID’ing the leopard and hyena we saw the day before. Turns out the leopard called “Bond”, was already in the system (as it has a distinguishable “smiley face” pattern on the top of his back) and so was the hyena, except the hyena did not yet have a name. I had the privilege of naming him/her (we don’t know the sex yet). Let me introduce you to “Frankie”!! It is such an amazing feeling knowing that even when I go back home, there will be a hyena named Frankie living his/her life and I have had the honour of seeing him in his natural habitat.

Today we did an 8km scat walk. The hike was supposed to be 10km originally, but we sighted a couple of poachers and decided to turn around. It was getting too hot anyways, hehe.

Hope you guys are all doing great. Miss you heaps and can’t wait to share all the photos with you! I have so many J