Salima

We went to Salima two weekends in a row back in the beginning of June. Salima is about 1.5-2 hours from Lilongwe, and it's a town right on the edge of Lake Malawi. 

I'd heard about how great Lake Malawi was, but I'd also heard things about weird creatures in the water...creatures like parasites and amoebas, so I had my doubts. Salima converted me to the good gospel of Lake Malawi. The water was so incredibly clear, and its temperature was so perfect that I wasn't on the beach for two seconds before I jumped into the water. Who cares about amoebas and there's medicine for the parasites. Right? Plus, everybody does it, so it must be okay. Right?

The first weekend we were in Salima, we spent most of the day at Livingstonia Beach, which is an extremely clean and pristine beach that's located by Sunbird Salima. I haven't seen water that clear and blue except for maybe when I was in Zanzibar. That day we spent quite a bit of time just laying out and enjoying the sunshine (a couple of the girls got super burned). We also swam and played around in the water. It was just lovely. Around 2:00, we got a guy to take us out to the island on his boat, where we snorkeled with the fish, swam, and hiked to the top of the island (where we got an incredible view). It was a great day.

Lake Malawi! Me and Renee on the water's edge. Photo courtesy of Camille.
That island in the distance is the one that we got to hike and where we went snorkeling.

Nicolle, Camille, and Whitney catching some rays on the beach.

Running into the water.
Photo courtesy of Camille.

 The second weekend we were there, we did a bit more moving around as opposed to just lounging on the beach. We went to a fish farm where we saw the exotic fish of Lake Malawi and went to two different beaches. It was as beautiful as the first time, but everybody was so incredibly tired from the dance party that we'd had the night before. We finished the day off with a boat tour on the lake. It was great fun, and super relaxing as I love being on boats.

A really cool dock.

Look at how clear that water is! In terms of depth, that water was about waist high.
Beautiful.

Lake Malawi.

Lake Malawi.

Some ornamental Malawian fish at the fish farm.

The fish farm.

Check out that view. Apparently the water is shallow enough to walk from here to that mountain in the background. Pretty cool, eh?

Boating around an island. 

Headed back home into the sunset.

A vocational school. The students are learning how to build boats.

I'm on a boat.

Salima is a beautiful, beautiful place. We've already spent two weekends there, and I wouldn't mind going back for a third. If only we didn't have so many other places to see. And if only we weren't in the dead of winter. It's been cold enough for me to keep my sweatshirt on lately. I'm not complaining though--Utah should take lessons.