Hidden gems

Chikala Pillars, hidden in woodland on the side of hills, a forty-minute walk and a 35 minute 4x4 drive from the road. Very rarely visited, which is a pity.

Manual labour

Unloading a lorry of delicate lab equipment? Don't bother with cranes, just get a lot of blokes to bunch together and then find some carriers to use their heads, so to speak.








I thought they should have done the same when replacing an incinerator through a gate that was too narrow, but lo and behold they made it with the fork lift (and a gang to unload it).

At the new Lilongwe airport boarding gate, an electric air conditioner was making an awful squealing noise that filled the room and was pretty intolerable. (I had 2h to wait.) Two guys came to fix it, armed with a couple of twigs. Turns out it was a camera-shy insect about the size of bumble bee.

Money laundering

Church offering mixed with water bottles in a cloth bag. Would have been better if I had checked that the bottle top was secured. Drying out on sofa.

Malawi rocket launcher

Not immediately obvious from a still picture but this item, cunningly disguised as a toaster, regularly launches missiles with a loud click and a flash of flame. Note the instruction manual propping up one side to angle the projectiles to a safe area.

Did I mention running out of fuel?

Not me, yet another minibus in rush hour.

 

Lions vs Crocs

Green season is not a great time to see many animals in Majete Reserve but while we didn't see much else, we did spot a fight between two lionesses and some crocs. The crocs had drowned a Sable Antelope but the lions wanted it for themselves. 
 

 What she wants, she takes.

While one lion hides the sable, the other lies on guard. The croc is trying to sneak out, hopeful of retrieving lunch.

But a concerted charge scares him off, snapping in frustration.

It's raining again...

It has been raining again and traffic snarls up.

  The traffic police disappear and vehicles break down. The minibus driver is leaning on the front of his vehicle with a brolly. Very likely just run out of fuel. In the distance other vehicles are turning the wrong way up a one-way street and another vehicle is broken down. I'd like to say this is unusual, but it isn't.

 In Presidential Way, a yellow car tries to overtake a long queue in order to turn right but a white car decides to block his way until the queue has moved on.

Once upon a time...

We went on a boat to see birds on the banks of the Shire. The river looked especially full, but as we sat and took photos the boat became immovably stuck.

.

We were joined by spectators.

Isn't help supposed to be coming?

At Last!

A bit of revving, pushing and pulling.... (with Matthews in the water) but to no avail.

 Bye bye boat.

Liwonde

Glossy Ibis, Spur-winged Plovers, White-faced Whistling Ducks, but not in that order.

Old and young

The left-hand elephant is the oldest in Liwonde Park, just look at the size of the tusk. It has only one tusk, probably as a result of pulling down trees, but surely it must have hurt when it came out?

Blue waxbills

Clumping

Sounds much more serious than mere clamping.