Sitting here in the elusive wifi cafe in Mzuzu, Malawi, I can't think where to start. My plan of regular, if not quite daily, posts seemed straightforward. Trying to capture five days in a couple of paragraphs feels rather harder - but here goes!
An early start on Monday took me from Cape Town airport to Johannesburg, where I was to transfer onto a light to Lilongwe, Malawi. In theory this was simple, however the travel agent who booked my flights seems not to have realised that the two airlines don't have a luggage transfer agreement, and an hour and a half between flights is pretty tight for disembarking, collecting baggage, running madly through a large and unfamiliar airport, checking baggage back in, clearing security and making a dash for the furthest-flung boarding gate. Amazingly, I made it, though I was regretting the flip-flops, which do not make good running gear.
From there, all should have been smooth ... However, I was first panicked by the in-flight magazine's declaration that "visas are NOT issued on arrival" but must be obtained in advance. I did not have a visa. A few desperate messages sent whilst the plane was being fixed at Blantyre (don't worry, it was only slightly broken), confirmed that UK government advice said you can get a visa at ports of entry, so I crossed everything that they were right. Another lone Brit and I confirmed that visas are indeed available, from some grumpy officials with poorly photocopied forms. Prior advice to carry my own pen for its completion also proved to be sound!
So at last I was officially in Malawi, and was met by my 'fixer' contact as arranged. Phew! The sigh of relief was short-lived, however, as the fixer had fixed a transport package completely unsuitable for a student whose travel bursary had long since been spent and whose pockets were now decidedly shallow. I'll spare you the painful details, but I eventually managed to extricate myself from the arrangement, and bought a bus ticket instead. At this point, I was actually more tempted to turn around and fly home. Only I couldn't afford it ...
After a rocky couple of days, and a bumpy 5+ hour bus ride, I arrived in Mzuzu on Wednesday. Here, I have been admirably looked after by the General Secretary of the Church of Central Africa Presbytery, Livingstonia Synod (or GS!), and his wife, and slowly acclimatising to Malawian life. Tangible research progress is scant so far, but I'm hoping for some good material at my next stop - Livingstonia.