RUAHA N.P. TO MALAWI

Route: Ruaha to  TZ / Malawi border 470km. 8hrs.

Route: Border to Lukwe Farm , Livingstonia .147 km. 3.5hrs. M1 all the way.

Route: Lukwe to Chintheche, Makuzi Beach Camp. 233 km. 4hrs. Dirt road for 65km to Phawana then to M1 tar road to Mzuzu - M5 to Makuzi Beach Camp.

Met a young couple from Spain at dinner and asked them if they could give me a ride to the main gate as they were leaving  the same day. They picked me up after there morning game drive and saw 17 lions , me none.

Left at 11am and took a so called short cut to Mafinga, was a great ride on a trail , the gps did not even show the road so did it off the map. Then tar all the way and climbed up to 7300ft over a mountain and arrived at the border in the dark and worse yet it was closed. Luckily there was Malala  Green Camp 2km from the border ($2.50) I was the first camper there for over a year. Had 2 Tusker for dinner , well I did stop en route and had two big samosas with a soft boiled egg and mince inside.

At the border  at 7am but only opens at 8am.

I was out of money and could not buy Comes a insurance  so went through the final checkpoint in the wrong direction to avoid the officials which worked out good. 

It is a 12km single lane dirt track up to Lukwe Farm , climbs 1600ft with numerous  very tight switchbacks and is extremely rocky, one of the worst roads I have been on and should not have been on. Made it up and was quite a workout with amazing views over Lake Malawi .  The bar and sitting area is right on the cliff overlooking the valley and lake in the distance , absolutely spectacular.

I hiked up to the waterfall and then 3km to the Mission on top of the mountain. I then got a ride down with the locals in a crew cab , short box Landrover. Started out with only six of us in the back with ten suitcases , driving through the village we ended up with fourteen in the back and seven in the cab , the vehicles here carry as many as needed and nobody fusses about anything and they all chat and joke with you. Luckily I did not have to go down the pass with them cause that would have been terrifying for me but for them it's the norm.

Had the fish cakes and salad for supper which was delicious , they grow there own food and you could taste it , the fish cakes were almost as good as my mother use to make and not having had breakfast or lunch helped. The ablutions are clean and have hot water and compost toilet and a nice campsite to set your tent and we'll worth the memorable ride up here.

Left early for Makuzi Beach Camp and stopped in Mzuzu at Shoprite which was unreal to be able to buy anything you wanted , so went moggy shopping for food and got some Ouma Rusks, two Pro Vita's and two jars of Marmite, and Pro Nitro and some long life milk and pasta. They even took my credit card and Charmain had put some money into my debit card , luckily because I was totally out of cash by now. 

From Mzuzu to Makuzi is 10km of a beautiful winding road through the hills and forests with twists and turns the whole way and then 2km dirt to the camp , where I hit some sand and went down and pinned my right foot and could not get out. Luckily the whole village witnessed the Mzungu go down and came running over and lifted the bike off me. 

The campsite is terraced on green grass and overlooks the beach , one of the nicest I have been to, I think . Have a couple SA and a Irish and Belgian couple who had me over for the best pasta and boerewors and steak in tomato sauce , having normal food again is most enjoyable.