So there is a tradition in overlanding in East Africa that involves a night of fancy dress. In Malawi there are many beaches and campsites on the shores of Lake Malawi, Kande beach is a beautiful spot in which we will rest up for a couple of days to relax and let of some steam.
Before we arrive we have a pit stop in Mizuzu a small town en route that is not really known for much, it has a couple of banks, shops and other everyday necessities, oh and a market. This market is a about the size of a football pitch (Soccer field) and as we pull up looks like any other market.
Now Matt, the driver, informs us this is the location for the fancy dress dash, we have 5 mins and $5 to get the outfit for whomever you have previously pulled out of the hat! Looking at the market we are obviously thinking that this is going to be tough and a bit lame, but at the go we all run off into the market!
As soon as we enter we are accosted by men with large bundles of stuff at first we brush them off, but then one of the drops his on the ground and opens it up, it is packed with what I can only describe as the most distasteful clothing cast off’s in the world, so bad they make Charity shops (Thrift stores) seem like an Armani store! We hit the mother load!
As we trawl the market for other treasures, one man follows us, we settle for him and his outfits and we enter negotiations, he is a smooth operator who has see trucks like us many times before over the years, in fact think we are his only trade! Anyway Steph and I found amazing outfits for our victims and all for a princely sum of $6, and went back to the truck chuckling an evil laugh at the state of what we had purchased!
Later that evening at Kande beach, dinner was done and it was time to distribute the Fancy Dress……One thing you forget when you are selecting and outfit for someone else, someone is selecting for you! Here are a couple of photos of our outfits; we like to describe our looks as The African Elf (Steph) and a Wizard Gaypresto.
