I was heading north. My idea was to visit little-known areas on the western shores of Lake Malawi. Places where not many tourists go to, so I hoped.

Senga Bay wasn’t one of them. This village by the lake is in shortest distance to Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. Senga Bay is where most capitalists spend their weekends and holidays. It shows. Huge hotel complexes queue along the shoreline based on expensive air-conditioned rooms. There was a campground area, right by the beach with no facilities apart from ablution blocks, no electricity or drinking water, for only 20 $ US. Phew. Tell them they are dreaming!

Instead, I found a cozy camp by the beach called ‘Cool Runnings’. According to the owners, it wasn’t named after that hilarious bobsleigh movie from the nineties.

But a cool breeze added to a refreshing atmosphere around the camp.

A few travelers came and went on my 3-day stay, all very much minding their own business.

My feet appreciated the change to camp on green grass.

Then there was Erik, the Belgium Meister. Meister in what he didn’t say.

We got talking on the second day as we were walking along the shore of Lake Malawi. The swell is relatively big as strong easterly winds pounded an unsheltered beach.

It felt like being back in Chembe with fishing boats lining the sandy shores. I guess it the same scenes all around the Lake of Stars.

Women and children are cleaning themselves and their belongings in line, not much different from the southern villages I previously visited.

What the difference was the sun. Sunset and sunrise to be exact.

The sun rose over the endless horizon of Lake Malawi which I was eager to see. With cameras and drone of course.

This was the reason why I didn’t pack up and moved on straight away from this tourist joint.

Wealthy Malawians are show ponies at the worst. Once they have a bit of money and can afford a beamer, the ignorance and arrogance that comes with it is sheer unbelievable. Look at my Beamer, look at my Gucci Bag, look at my lazy arse. I noticed this rude behavior many times before, not only here. Those ‘Goody Two Shoes’ can stick their arrogance where the sun doesn’t shine.

The sun didn’t shine for my early morning explorations either. Strong winds whirled up clear waters and clouds covered the eastern horizon.

Wind and clouds dispersed during the day to break up nicely late afternoons and gave the mountains on the western edge an outstanding scenic display.

Fishing is of course the main source of protein as the tiny Kapenta are highly targeted here as well.

The long and thin drying tables are placed right next to the town pond where no doubt, mosquitoes and who knows what else thrive.

But the dark, calm waters perfectly mirrored sunny rays over the mountains.

It gave the scene an added natural feature, which is something to look for in photography.

The tables themselves appeared as miniature catwalks from up above on which community cats gathered. They are hungry too.

From an aerial and creative point of view, these tables appear as an oversized artistic project. Colourful in and out of line.

Due to its closeness to the Capital Lilongwe, Senga Bay is one of the anchoring points for the ‘Ilala’.

The ‘Ilala’ must be one of longest longest-serving ships in African history, maybe even in the world.

It commutes from Monkey Bay on the southern edge of Lake Malawi all the way up north to Chilumba. Only to return the same route. The luxury liner carries freight, stock, and humans from port to port whilst zigzagging across the lake. I know a few people who had sailed on this ship.

It’s an adventure in itself was the usual reply to their venture. I can imagine. Even though the ‘Ilala’ has designated days and times of departure and arrival but these are on African times.

Apart from its home port in Monkey Bay, there are no loading jetties available on other ports. Embark or disembark, everyone and everything on or off needs to be shipped by carry-on boats.

In a nutshell, if you add a decent swell to the passage, you already accumulate your adventure before it begins. How good is that?

The self-proclaimed ’Meister’ and I went for a few walks around town and had a good yawn about life itself. He used to own a restaurant in Tanzania, but red tape and corruptive government officials seized the project. Ach, it’s always the same here in Africa. One tries to create something unique, something that attracts visitors, something that employs members of the community, something the country and area would benefit from, but…