On June 3, 2014, Mom and I flew from Johannesburg through Lasaka, Zambia to Blandtyre, Malawi. This is photograph of landing at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, Lasaka.  Kenneth Kaunda was the first president of Zambia as it became independent from England in 1964.

From Lasaka, we followed the Zambezi River east towards the Indian Ocean. The Zambezi is the largest river in Africa, which flows into the Indian Ocean. It's about half the length of the Nile.

Coming into Blandtyre, Malawi. The rainy season will not start until September so things were dry.

Lots of interesting places to eat in Blandtyre but I passed on the Ku Station Restaurant.

As in other places, I've traveled to in Africa, people are always selling coal. They use it for cooking and keeping warm.

This is a furniture manufacturing operation. These men are sewing couch covers.

I had come to Blandtyre to settle a lawsuit. This is John Blanda one of the attorneys I was dealing with. Initially he wouldn't smile but....

When we started to talk about golf, John Blanda was all smiles. It seems he's a pretty good golfer.  All advocates in Malawi will, when attending court, wear the hair piece, black suit and black robes. During the summer it's an incredibly hot outfit to keep on and there's no air conditioning in Malawi.

This is the original Town Hall of Blandtyre, Malawi. Blandtyre was started by missionaries of the Church of Scotland in 1876. It was named after the small village of Blandtyre, Scotland, the birthplace of missionary explorer David Livingstone. 

Anyone want to invest in this place?

During the winter months of Africa, everyone is burning their fields.  It creates a lot of pollution; and when you're driving, sometimes it's difficult to see the road.

Women selling beans on the roadside as we drove to Lake Malawi.

We had lunch at Club Makokola, which is located on the western shore of the southern end of Lake Malawi. From Blandtyre it was a 3 1/2 hour drive.

Lake Malawi was originally named Lake Nyasa by David Livingstone. It is the 3rd largest and 2nd deepest lake in Africa. It's the most southern lake in the eastern African rift.  The rift is where two teutonic plates are separating and pulling Africa apart.

Mom found some shells as we walked the shoreline.

To my amazement, along came two fellows on standup surfboards.

The boards were actually old sailboards which no longer had sails.

These are my new friends, Friday and Patrick. You'll notice Patrick's board on the right has been broken in half and only the top lamination is keeping it together.  Friday made his paddle from a long stick and a piece of wood. 

This was a beautiful place to have lunch.

You can just barely make out the fellow on the roof. He's re-thatching the roof.

The seasonally dry countryside of Malawi.  Sometimes they refer to Malawi as "The Warm Heart of Africa."

Lots of bicycle traffic on the roads of Malawi.

This is a bicycle taxi, Malawi style. The backseat cushion is not as comfortable as it looks.

Selling dried fish from Lake Malawi.

To my surprise, we found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints out in the countryside. 

We also found the Mormon Missionaries teaching. This young Elder is from Temecula, California.

A welcome sign along the road between Blandtyre and Lake Malawi.

The face of Africa. There is faith and hope and so much love in this place.