Telling Tales After a Long Journey

As is often said, the best laid plans of mice and men oft times gang agaly. We thought we had it all planned - and then KLM told us that they were cancelling the Wednesday flight to Nairobi and pushing us back to Thursday. It was not so bad. At this end it meant that I could help Frances doing some work on dad's flat in Rugby. And it did not delay my arrival much at Muzuzu - on the initial plan, I would have stayed in Lilongwe overnight, and driven up in the morning. However, it did make it a long journey - although it all went well.

After an uneventful flight from Birmingham, I met John Chalis in Schipol/ Amsterdam with plenty of time to catch the flight to Nairobi. That took us all the way across Europe and down the centre of Africa. There were plenty of lights while flying over Europe - including some lighting up the Parthenon in Athens. But once we had passed the coast of Africa and Alexandra, all was dark until we arrived at Nairobi as dawn broke.

We left Nairobi under thick cloud - although it was still quite warm. We broke through the cloud into bright sunlight, with a carpet of brilliant white below us. And there, standing proud above the cotton wool clouds, was the black mass of Kilimanjaro, with just a small patch of glacier where the snows used to last all year round. The landing in Lilongwe was a bit of roller-coaster ride - one enjoyed immensely by the young lad sitting just behind me.

You could tell you were in a different country as soon as you landed. It was not particularly warm, and the sun was hidden behind thin cloud, but there by the entrance to the terminal was a bright sunbird. Once through the terminal we were on the road north - a journey of just over four hours through a land still in its dry season. Ben, our driver, kept up a steady pace, on roads with few cars - but constantly lined with bikes and pedestrians. And every now and then there would be a small township or a roadside market, where smallholders brought their produce for sale.

We stopped at one of them the buy some tomatoes and potatoes, and I was sent off to buy a cabbage. Here there is no haggling between customer and supplier - as you would find in the Middle East. Rather, all the producers enter into a Dutch auction to get you to buy their wares. All the piles of tomatoes or potatoes or onions together, and all the sellers trying to out bid each other. At least the cabbage I got was not the most expensive - but it was by no means the best at the price.

So now we are here, in the gust house of the Presbyterian Church in Muzuzu. The Rev Levi Nyondo has been round to begin to sort out the programme for the days ahead, and John and other team members are telling tales of what has gone before. It has been a long journey, but it is good to be here. It certainly is different, but I am looking forward to tomorrow - after a good nights sleep tonight.