CAMP MVUU

On Wednesday we woke up early, had breakfast and loaded the bus at 8am. Charles picked us up and drove about two hours for camp Mvuu (Hippo camp)! The bus ride wasn’t too bad… to get there we drove for a few hours and then went down a 16km dirt road… which was very bumpy. We passed a lot of villages and at each the children would run to the bus yelling “money, money!”. I think these kids see a lot of tourists who give them money on the ride so begging is all they know.
When we arrived at Mvuu we loaded two boats and our guides took us on a mini tour of the river. We saw a lot of different animals… especially lots and lots of hippos! We arrived in camp, and let me tell you, it was not camping. We stayed in these beautiful cabin/tents. The whole camp was like a rustic resort, and it was gorgeous. When we got to our cabins I guess the monkeys were curious of who we were so they came over to check us out. I made the mistake of going behind the cabin alone. About 5 monkeys surrounded me and scared me half to death. I sprinted as fast as I could into the cabin and they tried to come in the door with me! (When I later asked the workers if they would ever hurt me they laughed hysterically… apparently monkeys just want to play!) They served us the best lunch we have had so far in Malawi and then we went on our safari. We rode in big suv’s with no sides. They had three rows of seats in the back and were able to sit about 12 people in each. This was so great. Within the first five minutes we spotted some elephants. The driver took us so close to them that one mock charged us twice, just to see if we would leave. Talk about having your heart racing!
After our safari we were invited to a campfire dinner where they cooked over a huge grill. Traditional dancers and drummers came and it was a lot of fun. In the morning we woke up at 5am for a morning walk and we then had a boat safari. The other boat got to see over 50 elephants right beside the water, but unfortunately my guide took us to a different place where there were no elephants. Mvuu was an awesome place and I hope one day i can go back!

Can you believe this time next week we will be landing in Dulles?! I sure can't! This has been such an awesome experience and I'm excited for my last week!

I hope all is going well at home! I miss you guys! Thanks for checking on me!

I love and miss you!
Beth