Day 138: Kachere Kastle – Nkhotakota Pottery

And again we head a little south, from Kachere Kastle to the Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge and Campsite.

Magnificent scenery, mountains to the west, the lake to the east, occasional plains, small-scale farming. Corn and rice and the corresponding mills, sugarcane and heavily loaded trucks with it. Dried fish, cassava, tomatoes (the taste of which we recently found rather disappointing).

We dawdle through the area at 50 km/h, many villages, many people. For some, today is All Saints Day and church service, for others, Friday and mosque visits.

It's poor here, and unfortunately, this is often coupled with the complete littering of the villages.

Kate from Kachere Kastle gave us a little insight into the current situation this morning. A corrupt government, as is so often the case in Africa, and new elections in September with the corresponding uncertainties. Rapid inflation and a ban on taking money out of the country.

For a supermarket like Shoprite, for example, this means it's not allowed to accept dollars, as the kwatcha aren't valid enough to buy additional goods. The same applies to obtaining gasoline and diesel. We've been lucky so far, and diesel doesn't seem to be a problem either, but there are long lines for motorcycles to get gasoline.

Nkhotakota Pottery is nice, run by a German couple, but seriously, it's too expensive for what they offer (72,000 kwatcha / official exchange rate: USD 40 for the both of us on the campsite). Nevertheless, it's a good fit for us given the distance, so we're staying here tonight.