At 5am in the morning, the surface of Lake Malawi is still and blue. The air is cool with a light breeze replacing the storm that raged the night before. On the far side of the lake, to the south, the mountains of Mozambique slip in and out of a cloud bank. To the north, the water stretches past small islands all the way to the horizon – a sharp line dividing dark water from pale blue sky.

The sand crunches underfoot as I run along the beach. Looking at the water, sand and palm trees, it’s hard to believe this is not the ocean. One small giveaway is the fresh water snail shells scattered along the waterline, where you would normally expect sea shells to be. Another is the fresh air, which lacks the salt tang of the seaside.

Continue reading “Malawi: one year living in the warm heart of Africa” →