On Friday morning we headed for the bus station primed to negotiate a decent price for our bus journey to Mbeya. After some hostile negotiation at one of the ticket offices, we decided to board a bus leaving for Kyela promised to be leaving in 15 minutes, about an hour later our bus conductor ended up in a fight with another bus conductor over passengers, forcing our departure from the bus station. We had tickets to Kyela but had to change buses in Tukuyu, on arrival in Kyela we where quickly swept up by a small Dalla-Dalla with the promise of reaching Matema, a very very bumpy ride later we arrived in Ipinda where we had to get off the bus. A helpful Tanzanian man showed us to the next mode of transport, the back of a pick-up truck, along with maybe 10-15 other people, some kind of wooden structure, a couple of bikes and plenty of luggage. About 1km down the dirt track one of the front tyres popped, within a second a crane had driven past and saved the day colleting all the passengers and load. Again another promise of a drop off in Matema was again dashed, as we had another change of vehicle, this time to a cattle truck which we rode in the back of, with the now obligatory chicken as well. Finally 6 modes of transport and 10 hours later we arrived in Matema.
Once we had checked into our beach front room, it was clear from the view that the journey had been well worth it. The crystal clear waters of Lake Nyasa (Malawi) expanded out in front of us to the horizon, with misty forested mountains providing the backdrop.
On Sunday we took a guided trip/trek through the jungle (a forest with snakes and monkeys constitutes a jungle in my eyes) to a waterfall, where we swam in the freezing cold fresh water. That evening we went to watch the local football team play against some local rivals. The majority of the rest of the time we spent chilling on the beach by the lake.
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