Lake of Stars

Last weekend everybody who is anybody headed to Senga Bay for the annual Lake of Stars Festival. This is pretty much the biggest event on the Malawi Tourism calender and I think the every expat I have met in Malawi so far was there. It was a bit of a mzungu-fest, as the tickets were a prohibitively expensive for your average Malawian, but the crowd was a bit more diverse on saturday, when lots of Malawians came in for the day. Most of the people there camped for the weekend, although Francesca, Christine, Lucas and I had our doubts about the living conditions at the campsite so we opted to stay at a hostel in the area. Turns out that camping would have been fine, except for the fact that one one got an ounce of sleep. The music stops when the sun comes up, so there isn't much hope! At least you can sleep away the afternoon on the beach. I spent most of the time hanging out with the Engineers without Borders crowd, and mingling with a smattering of people that I have met in the last 2 1/2 months. The music was pretty good, although during the day we spent most of our time on the beach and in the Lake and really only paid attention to bands in the evening when the party really got started. There were mostly Malawian acts, the biggest name being the Black Missionaries who I saw in my first week in Lilongwe, and there was also a selection of bands and DJs from the UK. Saw Seth Lakeman, who didn't really seem to fit with the other music at the festival, but this fiddle was a huge hit! A great weekend had by all, and lots of fodder for gossip back in Lilongwe...



A Lazy post-concert morning on the beach, with the stage in the background



Christine and Me at Lake of Stars!