A Beautiful birthday
Trip Start
May 25, 2010
1
9
11
Trip End
Aug 23, 2010
Where I stayed
Bua River Lodge
Bua River Lodge, Malawi
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
I am very pleased we did, the place was paradise. Situated on the Bua River inside a forest reserve, we stayed in one of their very upmarket tents - not the sort one would take to Glastonbury though! The tent was huge and was attached to a sheltered tree structure. We had an outside toilet and shower, and were able to take a hot shower whilst looking at the stars. The place was situated over quite a large area and the owner had achieved a very spacious setting. We stayed on island B and had to get to our room by crossing a rope bridge! A little bit hairy after a couple of glasses of wine.
The accomodation was full board and the food was amazing - our first cooked breakfast in Africa! We also had cereal, a welcome break to our peanut butter sandwiches we have been having every morning. We were also brought breakfast on our own private breakfast bar overlooking the river.
Unfortunately, we were not able to wander freely within the reserve as you must have an armed guard with you at all times. I think this is mostly for show as there are not many dangerous animals within the reserve. That said, about 100m from our private breakfast bar was a pool with about 50 crocodiles, I could only see 3 pairs of eyes which made me rather nervous.
The island room was 25,000kwacha about 100pound. As we only had enough for one night in the island we were planning to move to one of his other less private, but still very beautiful, hillside rooms. However, the owner was incredibly generous and let us stay on the island for a second night at a reduced price due to the birthday celebration.
I think one of my most amazing gifts from Nik was a nailbrush (i'm easily pleased)! I have been moaning for the last 2 and a bit months that my nails are constantly disgusting due to the African dust! I also received a bar of English cadburys as well! Perfect.
On our second morning we took a short walk around the reserve with an armed guard. Other than the crocs we did not see anything of note except the trees, which were spectacular. Incredibly large baobab trees, which can apparently live for up to a thousand years.
