Travelling in Africa is special and not comparable with travelling on any other continent. In an African minute, everything can change…
But travelling in Africa also comes with some challenges. Rides around Africa can be bumpy and endless, border officials demanding, prices in tourist facilities sky-high, it can be dense and it can be tense.
Malawi is different: It’s small,it‘s tranquil,  it has everything you can dream of as a traveller. even its own ocean with wonderful beaches: Lake Malawi is one of Africa’s greatest destinations. On our first trip to Malawi in 2013 we took the train from Nampula to Cuamba in northern Mozambique and finally arrived at Lake Malawi‘s backpacker dorado of Cape MacLear. The next day a fisherman took us in a 2-hour-boat-ride to a small island with lush greenery and a crescent sandy beach. A small wooden pedestrian bridge connected to another small island, this one with huge boulders. On top of these boulders lay a few cute little cabins, with hammocks dangling in the air. Two meters below our cabin, dozens of colorful fish were inviting us for a swim in a mix of blue and turquoise, in the world’s largest freshwater aquarium. Every evening there was a glorious sunset. The feeling of chilling out on this tiny tranquil paradise in the middle of one of the world’s largest lakes, in the midst of the huge African continent, was second to none. We had landed in our own Robinson Crusoe dream.
In the midst of Corona my wife and me embarked on a roof camping trip with my beloved sturdy Landcruiser from Kenya towards southern Africa. Armed with negative Corona tests we entered Tanzania, camped amidst zebras on Ngorongoro Crater rim and amid fishermen on Lake Tanganyika. After game-driving in Zambia we were finally back in Malawi. Fortunately Australian friends of an Australian friend in Nairobi had kept their campsite on the western shores of Lake Malawi open, against the odds of Corona. To reach it, we drove north of Lilongwe towards the Malawi part of the Great Rift Valley. Passing through little African villages with round huts, past giant Baobab trees and deserted overlander camp (before Corona Malawi had firmly been on the overlander trail from Nairobi to Cape Town), with the Great Escarpment on our left and Lake Malawi on our right side we reached our campsite on Makuzi Beach after 340 beautiful kilometers. As seven years before on our Lake Malawi Robinson Crusoe island, there was again no better place to feel at home and at ease as here, on the shores of Lake Malawi. We parked on the lawn next to the white-sanded beach, unfolded the roof tent on our car, assembled our camping chairs, swam in the lake (which we were convinced had no bilharzia issues), walked to little fishing villages, swam again, took sundowners and ate delicious Chambo fish (a kind of Tilapia) caught by the local fishermen. Every night we saw a concert of a million stars, right out of our comfy sleeping bags in our roof tent.
Again, Malawi proved to be the best chillout destination I have ever encountered.