Paul and Eli Blog in Moz

Eli and I are on our way back from a 5 day trip to malawi, which has been great. We got a ride right to Blantyre with our missionary freinds, stayed in Blantyre at a Peace Corps transit house (a nice place to stay, which costs less than $1.50 a night) and got to meet some malawi PCVs which was fun. Malawi is actually a bit more developed than Mozambique- the road changes from dirt to asphalt at the border and there are more stores and things being sold on the street, etc. (Although the majority of people are still in absolute poverty like Mozambicans). Anyways, Eli and I stayed one night in Blantyre and then took a bus up to Liwonde, where we caught bycicle taxis to Liwonde National Park. The bycicle taxis were really fun, they have padded seats in back for passengers and a second set of handle bars. They took us 6 Km to the park gate. There, we met up with another PCV who's site is actually inside the park! (Those lucky environmental volunteers!) We went to a safari lodge called Chinguni Hills, which was very relaxed and an overall nice place. We stayed two nights, using our tent for the first time. The tent is nice but extremely small!! The whole thing about Liwonde is that the shire river- a major river that drains lake malawi- passes through it. Our campsite looked out over the river and some lagoons and marshes. Every day we saw herds of elephants in the marsh. One night we even heard them crashing through the trees as they went by our campsite down to the water! The park doesn't have the big five, but it did have lots of baboons, waterbuck, impala, elephants and lots of birds (410 species), so I was pretty happy. In fact, we went on a drive (an RPCV from micronesia took us in her car) and saw some parrots and some really rare ground hornbills (even Eli was excited, which should tell you something). We also did a canoe safari through the marsh and lagoons, and got really close to hippos and saw a number of birds, and the setting was wonderful.
The food at the lodge was superb, and eating was actually our biggest expense. They served great roast beef (the best beef we have ever had in Africa), a bacon quiche, indian food, fish and chips, etc. and every meal was great. We're already planning a return trip!
I'll include more details and pictures when possible. We are returning to Ile tomorrow (currently in Mocuba, in transit back home after the trip). Take care everyone,

Paul and Eli