A road trip to Malawi.

The most common questions that most of us have on mind when December holidays arriive include "Where can I spend the holiday without spending so much?" or "Where can I take my kids and family for a vacation during these holidays?"

Well, why not try Malawi.

Eversince I was 12, my parents and the rest of my siblings used to go on a road trip to our home country, Malawi, during December holidays. Living in Kenya, road trips were far much fun than flying by air.. The trip would take us two or three days while passing through Tanzania and reaching the Malawian boarder on the third day.

It was very convinient because all one needed was their travelling documents, enough money for food and accomodation while intransit, a car and fuel before you hit the road. Once there, accomodation, food and fun was very affordable. Here is a brief account of my last year's trip to Malawi and what Malawi has instore for you.

Day 1

We all start packing and we are very excited about the road trip. Necessities like water, snacks, cameras, sunglasses e.t.c are the first to be packed. We start off from home at around 7am in the morning and reach the Kenya-Tanzania boarder in Namanga at exactly 9:15am. After clearing everything with the boarder authorities, we depart at 10am. The trip from the boarder to our next stop lasts 11 hrs. But the mountains and the Maasai of Tanzania kept us entertained as we observed from the car how they dress and behave. We note a few differences from those living in Nairobi. The ones in Nairobi love selling jewelry and clothes while those in Tanzania are mainly fans of rearing animals like goats, cattle e.t.c.

Day 2

After resting, we hit the road again the next day at 7:30am (Tanzanian time). We reach the Tanzanian national park and drive through it while seeing animals like Zebras, Girrafes, and monkeys along the way. This time we were very lucky and we happen to meet Elephants who were feeding besides the road. It was beautiful. Finaly we reach Morogoro at 8pm and we take a break for the night.

Day 3.

This day we reach Malawi at exactly 9:30 am and we are all excited and looking forward to seeing our grand parents. Its been long, staying ffar away from home has its own price to pay. Moreover, my siblings and I love to play at the Lake since our village, Nkhotakota, is at the Lake shore. Many houses in the northern side of Malawi are little thatched hats and most people love to grow maize. So the land is very green plus its rainy season. My parents love to eat fish and relax at the Lake too.

Day 7

After staying at grandma's place for 4days we now head for the Capital city of Malawi, Lilongwe. Here we are faced with a dilemma as where to spend the night since most hotels are affordable and fun to spend a night or more. Among the list we had Sunbird Capital Hotel, that would cost us 137 pounds a night, (you can check it out on malawi-hotels.com) or Mount Soche which is all the way in Blantyre costing 222 pounds a night. We ended up choosing Sunbird in the end. From there we took various trips around Malawi which included:

1. A trip to Zomba where you can see Mount Zomba and one can drive up to the tip of the mountain where you see clouds passing and Zomba city underneath.
2. A trip to lake Malawi where Hippos swim in the water and they come out during the day and you can see them busking in the sun.
3. A trip to the National park. There you can find all sorts of animals including lions, hyenas, elephants and many more.

After this we visited family friends and headed back to Kenya.

So if you love travelling do give Malawi a try and you wont regret. We always travel there every December holiday and you can bet, its a great place to spend a holiday.