Bobby was still not well and so he decided to go through to a local doctor, which was recommended by the owners at
Mama-Rula’s. The doctor did some tests and gave him a dose of antibiotics, which seem to be working well and Bobby is back to his normal entertaining self.
On Friday, 2 September they all got up before sunrise to get packed up and ready to head off to Malawi. After a three hour experience at the Kazungula border crossing into Zambia, they thought they better give themselves plenty time to get through the Chipata border into Malawi especially as they still had just over 100km to ride that day to get to the Duck Inn.
The team was much better prepared this time for the border crossing having gotten local Malawian Kwacha the day before and being better informed about the costs to expect to incur to get the cars through the border. However, it still took them about two hours to get through but it was a much easier process.
At the border, they met up with
Favio M Giorgio from Argentina who is cycling around the world. His bicycle weighs about 65kg with all his worldly belongings on him and the team wish him all the best with his incredible journey.
Once through the border, the ride was fairly flat and downhill for most of the way to their planned campsite for the night called the Duck Inn. Although the Duck Inn is not really a campsite, Warrick managed to speak to the manager, Scott, who was happy to have them come through to stay for the night. It really is such a beautiful spot looking over a big dam with lots of birdlife – a real gem.
From Duck Inn, they had a short ride of just over 50km to Lilongwe. They were in for a real treat in Lilongwe as Shahid Samamad from Pulsit Electronics, who is a contact of Derrick’s family, very kindly put them up at the Sunbird Capital Hotel for the night. The team send a big thanks to them as it was such luxury to be able to sleep in a bed for a night – it really is the small things you come to appreciate so much more when camping for nearly five weeks. Warrick was in contact with Scott again from Duck Inn who recommended a restaurant for them in Lilongwe called Kat-man-doo where we all went for dinner- the Nepali Momma’s are amazing.
On Monday, 5 September they got up at sunrise after a great nights’ rest at the hotel and enjoyed having a buffet breakfast before starting their 120km cycle through to Lake Malawi. They originally had planned to do this distance in two legs but decided to rather just get it done in one go and enjoy an extra rest day at the Lake. In the first 20km of the journey, they were met by Peter from the Malawi Travel Guide, which was really great. He has an awesome website called
Travel Malawi Guide with all the info you need to know on where to go in Malawi.
The first 60km of the ride was really hard going as they had about 900m of climbing and they also had a 30km/h headwind they were riding into. But thankfully as you head closer towards Salima the route flattens out although the road is very eroded and so you have to be very careful as you ride through to Senga Bay.
On their first day in Malawi, riding on-route to the Duck Inn, two British couples drove past us and stopped to find out about our journey. The team managed to see them again on their ride to Lake Malawi yesterday and they had just come from Senga Bay and recommended that the team definitely stay at
Cool Runnings Campsite which is where the team is now based for the next 3 days.
Derrick and Cam’s parents will be joining the team in Senga Bay and staying at the Livingstonia Sunbird Hotel which is about 1km away from Cool Runnings. Lake Malawi is a really beautiful place and they are all looking forward to spending time here.