Visit to Paradise

Whilst being on this GSE trip we have seen some stunning places of natural beauty that have really taken my breath away. One of these places is Lake Malawi in Salima; I was blown away by how gorgeous and peaceful it is. We stayed right next to one of the local beaches, opting to hang out there and experience the ‘real’ Lake Malawi instead of venturing to the more touristy beaches.

It is incredible how vast the lake is, I kept getting confused and referring to it as the sea!! The water is crystal clear and nice and warm, so we enjoyed a swim. For me, it was lovely to see local life going on at the beach – women washing their clothes in the lake, children playing with old tyres (so happy and appreciative of their ‘toy’!), and men bringing in the nets of fish. Despite all the goings on it was such a peaceful place and we all relaxed as a team and got some much-needed rest before continuing on with our programme. Definitely a place I would visit again (and again…)

The journey to paradise:

On the way to Lake Malawi ‘paradise’ we made a few stops. The first was to a solar powered hydro pump (I think that’s the right term?!), although I didn’t see any of the project or the pump, as I was too busy playing with the local children in the community. As soon as we got off the minibus a group of around 30 children appeared and gathered around us. Although they didn’t speak a word of English, Alice and I decided to try and communicate with them. We played ‘Simon Says’ and then taught them ‘Old Macdonald’ followed by quite a few rounds of the ‘Hokey Kokey’. We were in our element running around like children and as both of our jobs involve working with children and young people it could be counted as vocational too!!! :)

Our second stop was at Kuti Community Game Ranch, where we picked up a lone game ranger (with a massive rifle!!) who accompanied us on our tour of the ranch. Along the way we encountered a herd of zebras and ‘Soldier’ the ranger took us on a stroll to the middle of the herd where we were within touching distance of the zebras. It was such a surreal and amazing experience, one I won’t quickly forget!!