Lake Malawi, Baobab trees & Souvenir shopping

Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa. It puzzled me how a nation with such a massive freshwater lake is still poor and hungry. But, really, what do I know?

After church, we drove a couple hours north of Lilongwe to a Lakeside Resort for lunch. Lunch was debatable, but the Lake was really pretty, and seemed more like an ocean--it had waves coming up onto the sandy shore.

Lunch time entertainment

Eating at the resort. I wonder, who comes to Malawi on holiday?
I saw a white couple that appeared to be honeymooners, and a few African families.
At lunch I decided to be vegetarian for the week. I felt really good about that decision.

After each song, the band would swap instruments. They were really good.
I especially liked checking out their instruments.

Percussion: bottle caps laced onto heavy wire. Awesome.

Next stop was souvenir shopping along the side of the highway. There were at least 40 little rooms along this thatched roof. The sales guys were pushy, but nice. I think they knew that if you left their “shop” you wouldn’t be back. Even if you wanted to go back, it was next to impossible to remember which curtain they were behind. Most of the souvenirs are carved wood items: animals, chess sets, ash trays, bowls, jewelry. We chose a wooden Noah’s ark boat with little wooden animals that fit inside and a Nativity set.

Salesmen outside their shop.

A guy from our group gave a kid a 50 Kwacha bill (about 33 cents US). This was the kids’ reaction.
It was very cute to watch, but made me wonder if it was the right thing to do...
We had been told to please not hand out money or food, as it leads to begging for more,
and is not part of our program.
But, I’ll admit, it was hard not to just give our lunch, or water, or whatever, to every passing child.

Baobab tree

Baobab seed pod

After shopping, we drove to see one of the largest Baobab trees in the area. Baobab seed extract is used in one of my favorite Nu Skin products: Baobab Body Butter. (try saying that three times) This tree is something like two thousand years old. The diameter of the trunk is what gives that estimate--every meter of diameter is 1000 years. We also busted open one of the giant seed pods and chewed on the seeds. There are people who like to taste new and different things. I am not one of them. Under peer pressure, I tried it. The seeds were VERY bitter. I’ll stick to putting Baobab body butter on my body and not in my mouth.