Looking Forward - Malawi

Arriving in Livingstone has been a milestone for the trip. The next major destination is Malawi. I can head through Zimbabwe into Mozambique and then north to approach Malawi from the east, or go straight through Zambia to approach it from the west. I'm curious about Zimbabwe but am too nervous to hitchhike through it. I'm not all that interested in the urban areas of Zambia but have considered a walking route through rural communities.

I spent a lot of time in the last week with Dennis, a guy who biked to Livingstone from Sweden over a period of 18 months. I'm fairly impressed by this guy. My favourite stories were of biking through Ethiopia where the local people 'just tried to screw with his head' by throwing rocks at him throughout his weeks of biking. He didn't know whether to head to the Cape via Botswana or Namibia - not an easy choice. I give him some insight into his trip planning, and discussions have got me thinking seriously about a long man-powered trip like this.

In the end the decision as to how I'll get to Malawi has been made for me, as the Norwegians I rafted with yesterday are heading to Malawi through Lusaka and have offered to give me a lift. I'll spend one more day lazing around Livingstone eating oranges and recovering from my soar throat and cold symptoms.

Kilimanjaro presses heavily on my schedule since a serious attempt will need to occur before the storms in early March. I need to be there in the next two weeks or I will not go.

I'll chill out at Lake Malawi, head into Livingstonia, and hike the nation's mountains in the south. Then either east into northern Mozambique or north into western Tanzania - both regions may not have many English speakers. That'll be interesting.