Happy Birthday, Bro

It's my brother's birthday today - Happy Birthday, Rob.

Another new face arrives....

This morning I went up to the Malawi Sun hotel in Blantyre to pick up a couple of scones for breakfast from the really good bakery in the hotel's food court.  Then back to the house for a spot of work.

At around 11:15 I headed off in Daisy to the Blantyre Lodge to pick up Nishi who has arrived to start her time here on the project, having got a call from Lilongwe to confirm that she was on the 7am AXA coach.

I've no idea what the ladies are doing wrong, but just as with Nataša, Nishi's luggage didn't arrive in Lilongwe with her flight.  They say that the bag should arrive in Lilongwe today, so hopefully we'll get a call to go and get it from the airport tomorrow.

In the meantime, Nishi is now getting some rest, and the three of us will head off for a bite to eat later on this evening.

Top of the World

Natasa in Zomba market

Today, Nataša and I headed off to Zomba and the plateau.  It's an enormous chunk of rock that has stupendous views out across the plains towards Mozambique. Alas, the weather wasn't too good today, so the views were less than ideal, but we could still see a long way.

Beans and Pulses

We stopped off in Zomba itself to visit the market.  It was a vibrant and busy place, with all sorts of goods and food for sale.  We took quite a few photos, but it was the fish merchants who seemed to take exception to this, asking for money in exchange for the right to take photos. We politely declined and moved on.

Sunbird Ku Chawe Inn, Zomba

Thereafter, we drove up to the Ku Chawe Inn, situated up on the mountain.  It's a large hotel, in a fantastic location, but sadly the weather reduced the views somewhat.  But we could still see across towards Chilwe Lake, and we were able to enjoy the views whilst we enjoyed our liquid refreshment (that's tea for Nataša, and coffee for me!).

We then headed off to see Williams Falls, a waterfall on the mountain, along a track that was a bit bumpy - Daisy took it all in her stride, of course.

Williams Falls

The waterfall was really nice, with clear clean water rushing down the mountain across large boulder-like rocks. In the rainy season I think that the scene would be rather more violent than this.

After that we drove back down, pausing near the Mulunguzi dam for a couple of photos of some of the local monkeys, before we were asked to pay to take photos by the guard at the entrance to the dam, even though we hadn't gone into the fenced-in area.

Monkey at Mulunguzi Dam, Zomba

We quietly returned to Daisy and carried on down the mountain, and onwards to Blantyre.

WW1 Memorial for Kings African Rifles

On the way out of Zomba, just outside an army barracks and the central prison, there's a Malawi national monument that commemorates the soldiers of the Kings African Rifles (KAR) who died during the First World War. It was very moving to read the brass plaques listing the names of the relatively small number of (British) officers and NCOs, and the large number of (Malawi) soldiers who died. The most striking thing about the details on the memorial was the large proportion of deaths caused by disease rather than military action. It was quite an emotional experience.

Down to Thyolo

Macadamia bushes in Thyolo

Thyolo (pronounced "Cholo") is a tea-growing region around XX kms south-east of Blantyre.  On Friday I travelled with a couple of the project team to visit a macadamia factory so that we could see how a modern, well-equipped export-quality food processing plant is designed and run.

Dressed up for the visit

We had an extremely informative tour of the plant, seeing the end-to-end path of the nuts from delivery by truck through to the shipping of boxed nuts at the other end of the plant.  The guys from the Thyolo Nut Company were very courteous, helpful, and welcoming.  My clients saw the implications of HACCP certification in terms of the processes and facilities that need to be put in place to meet the food security standards required by European, American and South African customers.

Looking at the sorting belts

Having worked in a commercial kitchen as a qualified chef, I'm up to speed with HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and the importance of record-keeping to ensure that all risks are appropriately monitored and recorded to minimise the risks of contamination in the end product.  Of course, we all had to dress in white coats, shoes, and head covers.  The factory wasn't operating as this isn't the right time of the year, but we got a good picture of the process.

Shell-fuelled boiler

It was also interesting to see that the macadamia shells and low-quality kernels are used to fuel the boiler that powers the plant - a truly environmentally-efficient element to the factory's operations.

Reminding me of ....

I know it's the middle of winter here, but this weekend has been more like winter in the North of England than in Sub-Saharan Africa - it's been cold and very wet.  I seem to be coming down with a cold, with sneezing, sniffles and general malaise, so I stayed in the house at the weekend to do a bit of work and watch the cricket and GP, whilst trying to stay warm.

Peter and Natasa went off for a trip down to Mulanje on Saturday, but when they got back they said that the cloud cover was too low to allow them to see the beautiful views out over the valley.

Exterior

On Sunday we went to view the new house that will be home to the UK consultants from the end of August.

Located in an area known as the Catholic Institute, it's a very large property on three floors, and lots of room.  The layout of the house is "different" - unlike anything I've seen before.  The house has floor tiles throughout, so with no furniture in it, it was like walking through an echo chamber.  But the landlord will be furnishing it over the next couple of weeks, so I'm looking forward to seeing (and hearing) the difference.

Kitchen #1

There are two full-sized kitchens in totally different styles directly adjacent to each other.

There is one bedroom that looks as if someone thought it would be a good idea to put a circular bed onto the deck of the Starship Enterprise (see picture), and a host of other "unique" features.

Peter has designated this the Guest Room!

The location is OK.  It's not as nice as where we are in Sunnyside, but then again, it's not every house in Blantyre that overlooks the golf course and is a 5 min walk to the city centre, so it isn't fair to judge on that basis.  The consolation is that the new house is a mere stone's throw from Mustang Sally's!

Garden