Zomba plateau - we'll probably be back there soon

This morning the kids were quite happy, sitting in bed like this. Paka has Wifi, so all kinds of games can be played online here...

We did not really approve of this, so it was time for a change!

An hour later, Silke was already sitting like this, at the side of the waterfall.

A view on our party looking from emperor's view down onto Zomba. Emperor's view was named after Haile Salassi, who visited this place in 1964 just after Malawian independence.

The car is great! It brought us to this viewpoint at least 1000 metres above the valley!

And it was well guarded, too. This is the ranger we gave a lift to the top. When entering the car he did take the ammo clip from the gun.

We had a walk along the plateau, to the marsh which gives birth to the river which name I forgot. Tijl loves the water.

We caught a glimpse of what people do to survive in this local economy. They carry a bundle of wood for fire to the valley. It weighs a lot I think. 

To assess this, Tijl and Silke lifted one log. It is quite heavy.

We had some raspberries grown in the local villlage. About 5 euro for a kilo. We could not even finish them all.

Then we went to the hotel Sunbird on the plateau. It's an amazing place, a place of luxury amidst all the poverty. And it had this family of monkeys on the roof. Father, mother and little kid (click on pic for larger version) that were obviously hungry for the father stole a club sandwich from one of the guests during our stay.

Good food by the way! And not really expensive. This chickenburger costs the same as a Big Mac where we live.

The view from outside

And this is the model of the mountain we had been walking on. A nice way to look at all the possibilities still open. I would like to do the hike over the ridge to the highest peak of het plateau, 2075m. Well, next time.

And then we were back at pakachere's. Playing Bao at the table in the bar. Nienke, Gytha's replacement, got the rules teached by my little girl.