Final Preparations

On the final countdown to departure, due to leave london on South African airways to Johannesburg at 8pm on the 3rd August.  from Jo'berg I take another flight to lilongwe, the capital of Malawi where I jump on a coach for the 300km road trip to Blantyre.  I will be spending a little over two months in Blantyre working on a charitable project with Challenges Worldwide helping local business to build on their potential and become more effective within their markets. 

I am looking forward to this adventure and the opportunity to work with local people in creating better business, a better economy and better lives.  I am also looking forward to exploring Malawi, the 'Land of the Lake' and seeing some of the wonderful geography and wildlife it has to offer.  Malawi is situated in Southern Africa and borders Tanzania to the North, Zambia to the North West and Mozambique to the East, South and South West.  The country covers an area of 118.484 squre Km with a population of 15.3 million people. The country is dominated by the great rift valley which runs down East Africa and lake Milawi is the most southerly of the great rift valley lakes and is the third largest lake in Africa extending 585 Km North to South and in places over 100 km wide. Blantyre is located in the South of Malawi near to the mozambique border.

I have had all my inoculations (typhoid, tetanus, cholera, yellow fever, rabies and hepatitis A&B) and start my anti malaria tablets next week! packing list complete and all documentation checked and today made contact with the Mountain Club of Malawi  http://www.mcm.org.mw/ ready to organise some weekend walks into the country.

I am informed that broadband connection in Blantyre is pretty good so hope to get some regular information and photographs up on the blog. 

look forward to keeping you all posted as this great little adventure unfolds

Brian