Day 70 Thursday March 21 Kasungu to Lilongwe

by Henry

Shockingly, it did not rain overnight, the first night it has not rained on our tents since we arrived in Malawi on March 15. Five nights in a row being rained on in a tent is disheartening for me, at least. 

151 km, 790 m total ascent, 29°C. Tough headwind all day, but it did let up slightly in the afternoon. We haven’t had this much headwind since Egypt.


Riding out of camp in the town of Kasungu. 


He will sell you any type of bag, purse, or backpack.


Tobacco is the #1 crop in Malawi, and we passed many sheds drying tobacco leaves.


Entered an area where there was tall, wild bamboo growing on both sides of the road.

We arrived in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, after a pretty hard day of riding from battling the headwinds. This completes the segment “The Green Hills of Africa“. We have a rest day here. We are losing three sectional riders, and will be gaining one new one.

The Woodlands campsite is in an animal preserve, and there are active vervet monkeys. The property is mostly designed for camping, with only 10 cottages available for upgrades. Linda and I were lucky enough to snag one. It has a separate building that serves as a meeting space, and there was a local police convention happening. The proprietor is Indian – Malawian, and the hotel restaurant had an extensive Indian menu.

Our bike trunk bags have a bottle holder with stitching that was starting to come loose, and the hotel staff had no trouble finding a tailor to get our bags repaired for $1.20 each. We just left the bags at the front desk, and they will be returned tomorrow.