Just thought i’d give you all a very quick update to let you know that our ecpedition now features on the Raven Trust website – http://www.theraventrust.org/
Keep you eyes peeled for an article in the York Press about our expedition in the next couple of weeks!
Its now over 2 weeks since we returned from our expedition to Malawi. I think everybody has settled back in to their day to day lives here in england.
Today Dave and James were interviewed on BBC Radio York – the interview is available on BBC iPlayer – http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p004607c/Elly_Fiorentini_02_09_2009/ – the interview is 1 hr 14 minutes in to the show.
We’ve just about finished sorting through the 12,500 photos that we accumulated during the 3 1/2 weeks we spent in Malawi but still have 10 hours of video footage to edit down! We’ll be putting together some presentations over the next couple of months so if you’d like us to do a presentation at your group then contact us via our website to arrange it.
Many of us are now going our separate ways to colleges and universities however we’re looking forward to our reunion in December.
Well, here I am sat at home! It feels strange to think that england is the 5th country I have been in within the last 24 hours!
We had a long day travelling – leaving Malawi at 1pm to fly SW to Zambia to refuel and collect more passengers, then flying up North to Ethiopia to change planes. After a wait here we boarded another plane for a long flight to Rome to refuel and drop people off before flying on to heathrow.
Once at Heathrow we collected our baggage and went through immigration control before getting on the coach and returning to York (after a quick stop at Burger King on the way!)
I guess I better go and start unpacking my bag before I fall asleep at the keyboard!
I’m hoping to update the website with photos etc soon but I have a lot on over the next few days and will be out of the country for a couple of weeks as of Friday.
Keep checing back!
Today we spent the day at Nkhotakota Lodge (a small cluster of lodges on the lakeshore around 3 hours from the airport) We woke up at 6am to watch the sunrise, have breakfast and then set off on safari.
We went on a walking safari in the Nkhotakota game reserve and saw monkeys and crocodiles as well as many different types of birds and lizards. In the afternoon we spent time at the nearby pottery and went on a boat ride.
We ate dinner at 6:30pm and sat on the beach and watched the stars before going to bed ready for a busy day of travelling tomorrow.
This may be the last blog entry before we return home depending on internet access at the airports. In case we can’t blog again for a while, here is the itinerary for travelling home:
Nkhotakota to Lilongwe (Bus)
Lilongwe to Lusaka (Plane)
Lusaka to Addis Ababa (Plane)
Addis Ababa to Rome (Plane)
Rome to Heathrow (Plane)
Heathrow to York (Coach) – hopefully by 4pm on Sunday
Today we were up for 5am to make final preparations for leaving Livingstonia. By 6:30am we were on the road and after 2 ½ hours of driving we finally made it to a tarmac road. We stopped off in Mzuzu for a couple of hours for some last minute shopping and then continued along the road.
We arrived at Nkhotakhota Lodge at 6:00pm after being on the road for 12 hours. Tonight we all pretty much collapsed on our beds after a dinner of locally caught fish and rice. By 9pm most of us were fast asleep ready for an early start for the Safari in the morning.
Today is our final day in Livingstonia. We had a rare treat of a lie in this morning and weren’t woken up until 8:30am! We had a late breakfast and plan to spend the rest of the day sorting out our kit and finishing off at the eye clinic.
Tonight we had a campfire with the local scouts and it was another awesome night. All the people we’d met during our time at Livingstonia came.
We turned in around 10 but spirits were high and many of us didn’t get to sleep until gone midnight.
We were suddenly woken up at 1am this morning by a rumbling noise and our beds shaking. An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the richter scale had struck 110 kilometres NNE of Mzuzu. The epicentre was under the lake around 30km east of us. The tremor caused damage to some of the houses and even caused some walls to tumble.
We woke up at 7am ready for a long day at work. It was our last full day to get our projects finished off and we still had a lot of work to do on some of them. By lunchtime we had made good progress with both the eye clinic and the hospital playground and had completely finished the scout playground.
After another long afternoon working we knocked off around 3:30pm and prepared for a game of football against a local team. The match went well and we suffered a 4 – 1 defeat.
That evening all the leaders were invited to Robertson’s house for dinner, leaving the young ones to fend for themselves. We cooked spicy spaghetti bolognaise and custard. Yoel and Hudson from the honey project came round to drop off some honey so we invited them to stay to eat too.
Whilst the leaders were out we seized the opportunity to sew Yvette’s mosquito net to her mattress and sew her sheets together half way down – full in the knowledge that we’d suffer tomorrow morning!
Today was a mixed day.
4 of us got up early to go down to the lakeside to help unpack the new hospital ambulance boat from the container. The day went well, we found out that health and safety really doesnt exist in Africa and by the end of the day the boat was in the lake.
Others worked on the playground and made great progress which has put us in a good position to have the playground finished by the time we leave.
Some of us worked on the eye clinic and we now have at least one coat of paint on every wall.
For dinner we ate stew and rice and then many of us went for a tour of the hospital. As I’m writing this the last few of us are just about to turn in ready for an early start in the morning.
We didn’t get so much of a lie in this morning as many of us hoped but a wake up from Derrick at 7:15am was later than usual. Some of us went to the Catholic service this morning however most of us went to the Presbytarian service at 8am. The 5 opticians, Kim the doctor (well, almost), Mr and Mrs West and Mr and Mrs Whatt joined us at the service. The Wests and the Watts were involved in the funding and building of the ambulance boat that is being commissioned this week. The boat will be used to transfer hospital patients from one side of the lake to the other.
The service lasted around 2 hours with a particularly long sermon and lots of singing.
After the service the opticians came round for a coffee and then we had soup for lunch. In the afternoon most of us had a lazy day at the stonehouse and then some of us went for a walk to Manchewe falls.
In the evening Brian and Prince joined us for a roast dinner (the beef that we butchered in the bath the other day) and then we turned in ready for an early start in the morning.
Its strange to think that this time next week we’ll be on the plane home. Today we went on a hike to the nearby Manchewe falls – a spectacular 35 metre waterfall well off the beaten track. 2 of the opticians and Kim, a student doctor at the hospital, joined us for the trek. It was a really good walk and we were taken away by the amazing view once we reached the waterfall.
Some of us opted to drive nearer the falls in our minibus however thanks to Wendy “knowing the way” they ended up stuck on a rut down a track. One of the 4x4s from the hospital had to come to tow them out and unfortunately the minibus’s gearbox had been badly damaged. We’re now trying to get hold of a part from Lilongwe – 10 hours drive away so that we can get back to Nkhotakhota next week.
Some of us have continued working at the eye clinic today whilst others have been working on the playground. The power was off all morning and it is still going on and off intermittently. This evening we’re having a stir fry for dinner and we’re all hoping for a lie in before church in the morning.
