Yesterday I started my journey back to Dar es Salem by getting a mini bus up to Mazuz, which is on the main Malawian North/South road. So far so good, I got there at about eight in the morning and saw that a big bus from a 'reputable' company was heading to the border. So I got on board which was a big mistake. By thinking big I thought fast, big, big error. When we finally rolled out of the station we then stopped not only at every village and town, often standing idling for half an hour or move, but we also stopped for just about everyone waving at the side of the road.

As the bus was packed, with people standing in the aisle, it usually took ages for them to get on and off. Many of them, particularly the women had been to market, so had big bundles. Most of the women also had a child hanging off their back as well, nearly all these kids were incredibility stoic, they just hung there and observed the world without a murmur.   

I'd spent the last of my Malawian money on the ticket, so I couldn't jump off and try my luck on something that looked like it was going to move faster. So add to it all, as we got closer to the border there were lots of police checkpoints. At these most people had to get off and the policemen got on the bus and poked through their belongings. I asked one of the policemen what they were looking for, Reply - Everything. Then he made me open my rucksack. At the next one I had to produce my passport.

On the way down, the journey from the border had taken four hours, the trip back lasted nine. We rolled into the border village of Songwe at dusk, too late to cross the border as Tanzania is an hour ahead and they keep office hours. So I had to spend the night at the 'rest house' a very simple room and very clean but unfortunately with no running water.

After crossing over this morning and another packed mini bus I decided to spent the afternoon chilling in the pleasant town of Mbeya. Tomorrow will be taken up with another white knuckle ride back to Dar.

After three days for travel I've now stopped at the beach on the side of Lake Malawi, in the village/backpackers hangout of Nkhata Bay. From my beach hut I can look across the small bay and watch Fish Eagles on their perches. What I can't see is the other side of the Lake, the air is hazy and although it should be possible to see Tanzania on the far shore, in fact it's like being on the edge of the sea.

An uneventful journey to get here with most of the journey done in one day on an express bus from Dar,which really was express, sitting at the front I could see that we rarely dropped below 120km/h the whole way. Thankfully the roads are reasonable. Most of route was through uninhabited wilderness which still seems to make up most of Africa.

On the Malawian side, transport is in beat up mini buses with lots of hassle from touts to get you in their bus. It is a pretty country of wooded hills and of course the Lake.

Since leaving Zanzibar I've met a lot of interesting people. Unfortunately, facebook has decided that I'm a security risk because I'm logging in on a strange machine, even though I've now been doing that for weeks. It doesn't allow me to answer the security questions and has now shut me out. So if people are trying to send me messages, apologies as I can't reply.

Its the question of keeping things secure, but if things are so secure that you can't get into them then why bother?

Next week I shall have to head back to Dar as I'm coming to the end of my trip, but I want to keep on going.

Finally I have seen Kilimanjaro, just a glimpse of the whole mountain around 0600 in the morning. Soon afterwards, the clouds roll in for the day. Even so it dosn't look much like the pictures as so much of the snow cover has gone.  I had pleasant trip down to Dar es Salam, in a modern coach filled with a large group of very smartly dressed convent girls. It made me realize how slowly the overland truck went, as the buses really move.

I spent a day in and around Dar, sorting out moving on, unfortunately I can't take the train to the south of the country as its fully booked, so it's going to be a 900km bus journey. The train station was worth seeing though, a massive Soviet style concrete palace of a place, which was almost completely deserted. Not surprising as only three trains a week run on the line.

I am now in Nungwi, a village like resort at the north of Zanzibar island where I stayed a month ago at the beginning of my trip. The bungalow resort I stayed in then burnt down two weeks ago, the walls of the buildings remain but the thatched rooves burnt very well and spread, burning down part of the neighbouring resort and a dive shop. An electrical fault said the owners, who were sitting in their office, now just a pile of rubble; others say they were being too successful so arson is more likely. This is Africa.

Still the beach is still white, the sea turqoise and warm and the sky blue, what more do you want?

A long time my last post as again not a good enough connections to edit this site. Last week I went into Rwanda for a day trip. Rwanda is a beautiful country, rolling hills and a higher standard of living than Uganda, all in all a pleasant place. We visited the Kigali Memorial Centre which tries to explain the genocide in 1994; it revealed how appearences can be deceptive. I shall write something longer on this visit in due course, I cannot remember the last time I was so affected by a place, and it needs some thinking about.

From being in the very south of Uganda, we then drove almost the whole lenght of the country to Jinja, located where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria. I went in search of the source of the Nile, and discovered it. The Ugandans have added a grantic obolisk to the modest memorial where John Henning Speke saw the outflow, now much changed due to the building of a dam. Still a peice of geographical history.

From Jinja, we drove back into Kenya, to the Lake Nakuru National Park, where we saw lots of Rhinos, then on to Lake Naivash, where I went walking with the wildlife in the Crater Lake Game Sancuary. One excursion that bought back a lot of memories was a visit to Elsamere, the home of Joy and George Adamson of 'Born Free' fame. We were shown a video of her life, were I was surprised to discover she was actually an Austrian, when I had always thought she was British through and through. An interesting place. Sadly, on display in the garden was the Landrover in which George was murdered by Somali poachers; and of course Joy was murdered as well. Such is Africa.

In Nairobi, I said goodbye to the group and I'm now travelling alone for the rest of my trip. I've come south to Moshi in Tanzania hoping to get a glimpse of Kilimanjaro, which is persistantly covered in cloud. The town is full of young British yoofs, all on the ultimate sponsored walk, and 'doing Kili' for charity.

Tomorrow I'm off to Dar and hopefully a swim in the sea at the end of a long bus ride.