Saturday 13th August

We have arrived at Blantyre airport just saying our goodbyes to Dyton our driver and then to Sue.
We will post when we can.
Mummy bear. X

Friday 12th August

It was another early morning, fuelled by eggy bread (our last ever meal of the trip cooked by Mumma Bear), to say goodbye to Prince Harry and leave Mvuu. We loaded all our kit and ourselves onto a small wooden boat and then travelled across the River Shire to find Tilly. We travelled three hours to Zomba. When we went through the more rural area, we threw empty water bottles and sweets to the children as they were all shouting 'bottle' at us. Our driver told us that they needed the plastic bottles to take water to school. Our journey was made even longer, as we were stopped three times by police at checkpoints!
When we arrived at Zomba, we went to the market where we spent the last of our Kwacha on paintings, bracelets and wooden carvings. After we had bought all we wanted, we went to a restaurant to have lunch.
We bumped into Sue whilst we were there and she was going to take us to a nearby dam. Unfortunately, Tilly was too big for the road so we just enjoyed the view of Zomba and the landscape from a road on the side of a mountain.
We then ventured back into the market where we bought even more fabric and then headed to Pakachere (a backpackers hostel) where we settled in and stuffed our bags with all our belongings.
For dinner, we had a Malawian dish of rice, chicken curry, maize and vegetables. We then ended our final day with a quiz night.
By Liv and Alice X

Thursday 11th August

This morning we woke up early so we could go on our third game drive of the trip, we set off in 2 trucks and went on the search for zebras and elephants. Along the way we saw so many baboons and Impala and we also saw warthogs. (which have been come to be known as El's family) One group got driven round to the famous Dr. Livingstone tree and we all managed to squeeze inside. As we made our way back our guide took one last turn to try and see some elephants and there they were. Heaps of them were along the river bank. As we came closer they became very protective and the dominant female of the group stood in front of us and blew her trunk while the rest of her herd could pass.

In the afternoon we were set to go on a sunset cruise to go and see more animals, we drove along the lake and managed to see so many new animals (plus a far look at the Prince's camp).

Due to us missing the game drive the day before after dinner our guides scheduled us in to go on a night drive to see some nocturnal life, sadly we didn't get to see any hyena but we did see loads of mongoose and then a single porcupine making its way through the grass. We then returned to camp and fell right to sleep, putting an end onto the second last full day of this amazing trip.

Georgie and El

Wednesday 10th August

The day began with another early morning, as we had to get ready to leave the island that had been our home for two nights. We were all packed and ready to go, but unfortunately the boat was late. When it finally arrived, we climbed on and sped off back to the mainland. Once we arrived we were reunited with Tilly, our trusty truck, and began the journey towards Mvuu national park. After two hours, we stopped for lunch at a nearby chicken restaurant. As there was a TV playing world news, we were able to catch up on the some of events we had missed out on (Kira was particularly pleased to see that Australia was third in the olympic medal rankings so far). We then set off again for a "half hour" journey that actually took two hours. We drove through a village with lots of children that all smiled and waved at us, some even running after the truck. When we reached the gates of the park, we were an hour late for the game drive that was scheduled. So instead, we piled our bags onto some boats and traveled to our campsite to set up tents. On the way, we spotted a hippo and a crocodile. As the light was fading and the ground was tough, we found ourselves hitting tent pegs with rocks in the dark. When we finally managed to set up all our tents, we walked to the restaurant for some Fanta before dinner. As we were walking in, we were informed by some passing campers that Prince Harry was sitting in the bar, as he was in Malawi to assist with the transfer of elephants to a different park. Despite our best efforts to be calm and quiet, the sheer number of people in the bar meant that the Prince left, leading to El making a beeline for where he had just been sitting. After the excitement died down it was time for a buffet dinner, which was delicious. After dinner, we settled down into our tents for a well deserved rest.

Kira and Ellie

A ginger spotted!

Hi all, Grace here. Just a quick exciting update from a hyperventilating girl but living in London and loving the royals I'm dying as we just saw PRINCE HARRY in the bar at the Mvuu Camp we are at tonight. We're trying to be cool but being teenage girls accidentally scared him off. Love to all. See you Sunday. From Grace xxx

Tuesday 9th August

Sup fans. Millie and Grace reporting today's activities. So we woke up on our island bright and early to the sun streaming into our safari tent and the fishermen shouting to each other words that we don't understand. We all met outside the kitchen area at 7:30 with full water bottles and each grabbed an apple or pear before starting on a very difficult hike up to the top of Domwe island. It took forever and we're pretty sure we all died several times over, but we eventually made it up to the top exhausted and Georgie's trousers ripped. The view was amazing! We have decided that Lake Malawi must be infinite as we could see that it goes on forever. After the trek down again we finally had breakfast (which was more of a brunch) just after 11am. We then had a lovely time sunbathing, swimming in Lake Malawi (thanks for the speedy responses parents!) and generally relaxing until a 1pm lunch. At 2 we then paired up and loaded back into kayaks to go to 'the gap' where we found an island with a mysterious name and jumped off rocks. Georgie being the GG rebel that she is managed to scrape some very parallel lines onto her leg but soldiered on and still had a bunch of fun with the rest of us... Helping to create an 'island' (aka. Rock) called *low chesty groan* along with Liv and Grace and Millie. Grace's groan definitely being the best with funky head movements. The journey back was definitely an eventful one for all. Georgie and Millie nearly capsized the whole journey resulting in an 'accidental' trip into the water once their kayak finally overturned on our beach shores. Grace and (O)Liv(ia) created a fun game in their kayak of paddling way too close to the shore and trying to squeeze between all the gaps in the rocks and touching them all. Their near death experiences resulted in both crying with laughter and Liv creating an interesting surprise...
Once back on Domwe, everyone had a shower in the efficient shower which was boiling but only a little came out. It was interesting to try to bend to get the right bit of your body wet. Overall a really good and fun filled day and we finished it with a bonfire on the beach in the darkness making smores like the good girl guides we all are.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday
Millie and Grace xxx

Monday 8th August

Hey everyone it's the dream team here (Liv and Lucy✨) !!!
After a relaxing day on Sunday, we woke up early to see the sunrise over the mountains and pack our tents up to leave.

Today, we headed off in Tilly to kayak to our own island for the two days: Domwe island. Kayaking here was quite hard work and a bit scary at first. But we all became pros and our efforts were rewarded by how amazing the island is. Kira and Ellie were the first to arrive in an amazing 5km in 45 minutes! Shortly followed by everyone else.

We are staying in safari tents on decks with beautiful views of the lake.
After we settled in, we had lunch where Liv had a traumatic experience...as I sat down to eat my large cheese roll, Lucy said "watch out!" just as I TROD on a lizard. All I saw was it run away WITHOUT a tail! I went into shock as I didn't realise that it was a defence mechanism and thought I had killed it. However everyone else found it quite amusing (when Liv and the lizard had recovered).

Then we had the afternoon to either explore the island, kayak, sun bathe or shower. At 5pm we gathered together and went on a hike up the hill with a guide. We reached a giant rock with a ladder and (some much more daring than others) climbed on top to watch the stunning sunset. Once we were back to camp, we had down time followed by a dinner of fish freshly caught just for us. D-)-)-D (Kay's old sky fish emoji)
🌤💖🐠