I'm busy putting together our next Africa touring adventure.

The Sling 2017 tour to Lake Malawi will take us to the world’s 9th largest lake and the 3rd largest and 2nd deepest lake in Africa.

The lake borders Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is home to more species of fish than any other lake. It is about 570 kms long and 75 kms wide, with an average depth of 290 m and maximum depth 706 m. It was originally named Lake Nyasa by Dr David Livingston in 1859.

Customs and immigration clearance will take place at Blantyre routing from Vilankulos for those who wish to fly via Mozambique. Other options are available and for those with a Sling LSA. One of the destinations will be Chintheche where some of the best beaches along the lake are to be found.

Malawi encompasses a wide variety of scenery ranging from the wooded rocky mountains sloping down to the shores of the lake to sandy coves and beaches. Its’ clear blue waters are popular for snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking and swimming.

I envisage a small group of about 6 Slings joining the tour, so if you’re interested please inbox me. Dates have not been set but we are looking at around March when the rains have cleared, the waters are still warm and before the chill of autumn... slingfans@gmail.com

The Malawi Tour follows on our amazing adventures to Madagascar, Victoria Falls and Mozambique in previous years. An estimated 22 hours flying total.

Malawi flag. Previously a British colony Nyasaland before independence 

Lake Malawi - 10 hours flight at 100 kts in our Sling, stopping in Vilankulos to refuel half-way

Mad Mozzie adventure

We're home from our awesome adventure to Mozambique - flying there in our Sling airplane ZDL and meeting up with my kids who drove from Johannesburg - 3 hours to the border and 10 hours to Tofo for them, 4 hours flight time from King Shaka for us and a taxi to Tofo from the Inhambane Airport. Scroll down for our day by day events, the last day at the top going in order down to the forst day.

We stayed in this beach cottage above Tofo Beach - Casa Algodoal, the best vacation spot

It is the end of winter, but lovely and hot and the surf was great for swimming

Journey home

The kids came by car from Johannesburg so they were first off at 6am and we then had a taxi organised for 7am to take us to the airport. We had organised for the staff and customs to be there at 8, but they only pitched at 9.30am so we only managed to depart at 10am for the flight home. Fortunately we managed to arrange a direct flight back to King Shaka so the flying time was 4 hours and we got back home in much quicker time than the journey there as customs and immigration at Maputo can take anything up to a few hours.

Lisa tries to sneak passed with her emergency loo paper for the car trip home

Mark's car Sylvia is ready to roll

ADM, my initials and the initials of the Aeroporto 'd Mozambique

We have our luggage trolleys and are ready to do save for clearing customs and immigration

The immigration and customs desk looked pretty simple, but when the official arrived the nearby metal desk turned into an immigration system that was pretty impressive including passport scanner and digital fingerprint scanner - so we were officially scanned out of Mozambique. The fees were not cheap however, paying R1000 for landing fees and open parking and R240 immigration fees.

Palm trees and seaside lakes on the way home

The flight home over 4-hours was great except for a little turbulance at one stage as the tailwind kicked in

More seaside lakes

Sanddunes galore

Nearing Maputo airspace, our route shows us heading down the coast then kicking left over the bay of Maputo to continue down the peninsular along the coast towards the border with South Africa

More dunes and lakes

We routed seawards of Maputo (seen here) then headed left across the Bay of Maputo to the peninsular to follow the coastline down to the South African border near Ponta 'd Ora

Heading out over the Bay of Maputo the the peninsular left top

The popular beach resort of Ponta 'd Ora, close to the South African border

Parking at King Shaka International on our arrival

We're at International Arrivals for passport control and customs

Last day in Mozam together

For our last day in Mozam together we ventured back to Barra, at the north end of our peninsular and parked the car at Mad Mozzies, another cool beach vibe bar. We stayed for a few drinks and swim in the sea and returned again a bit later after walking to the lighthouse at the point.

Wide open sandy beach at Barra

Interesting sand patterns. The beach had a bit of a hollow and at high tide a little lake formed on the beach

Mad Mozzies for great cocktails. The Prego roll we had a bit later was disappointing though

Nice little pool around at Mad Mozzies

Mad Mozzies Bar

We walked to the lighthouse

The crew at Barra Lighthouse

We tried a difference route back along the sandy road but soon found ourselves being diverted away from the sea and had to cut through a village to get back to sea and mad Mozzies

The local village on the way back to the beach

Local village

Back at Mad Mozzies for some more Tipotinto Rum and Raspberry and a bite to eat

Cheers

Kate picked some fabric and the guy made this gorgeous dress for her for R80

Little shops in the local village

We bought these wood carvings at the local market - mine features two giraffe heads kissing and Kate's has an elephant head and the one end of the polished log

The best dinner of the vacation, apart from our own seafood feast, was at Sombras Bar that night, an unassuming little bar in the village at Tofo. The half chicken and chips cost 260Met / R52 - was best taste and value

All satisfied after a good meal out and not expensive either.

In the early hours of the morning this dog sneaked in to sleep on the couch and I covered him up so he could also be snug and warm when I found him sleeping there

Sand, surf and swimming with dolphins

The weather was simply perfect the last few days so it was daily swims and today I sent the kids off on a snorkeling tour, the same one we did previously. The were so excited because they came across a group of dolphins and got to swim around them or vice vers.

You couldn't beat the view from our cottage over the beach

Open plan sitting and kitchen area with large family kitchen table with a map of the world on it

View from the upstairs bedroom/lounge of the kitchen 

Some time on the beach

The local dogs were gorgeous and friendly

The kids kitted up for their snorkeling safari

Kate ready for our walk for supper

We found our way to Tofino and Mozambeats for dinner

The sun goes down and you can see Jupiter and Venus in the middle

Great cocktails and beer at Mozambeats

Prawns for me for supper, although they were a bit small

It says it all