We left the shores of Lake Malawi and headed inland towards Mzuzu where we managed to top up our diesel, ensuring we will have enough to get us across the border and into Tanzania. About an hour out of Mzuzu the road becomes pretty rough and slow, passing as usual through rural villages where we were warmly waved at by both children and adults.
Vwaza Marsh is a small reserve, somewhat off the beaten path, but was well worth the effort. We arrived at lunchtime and our campsite gave us a clear view of the marsh and open plain (the picture at left is part of the view from our campsite). As we sat and ate our lunch, within 200 metres we could see a group of elephants, hippos, impala, baboons and bushbuck. Not a bad scenic backdrop. In the afternoon we took a drive along the marsh, managing to drive quite some distance right beside the water and plains with an unobstructed view and loads of animals. There aren’t many roads in the park, and those not directly beside the water had tall, thick scrub so game viewing was not very good. There are so many hippos in the park – more 
than we have ever seen in the one are. There were pods of 10-20 all huddled together on the water’s edge. There are also heaps of kudu, as well warthog, impala, baboons, bushbuck and elephants. We stopped off at the lodge and went down to the open shelter they use for dining. Not 30 metres in front of us there was a group of around 10 elephants eating, including 2 babies. 3 of them got really close, and one started walking straight towards us but finally stopped about 5 metres from where we were sitting. Very cool! As we sat and ate our dinner back in camp there were 2 hippos grazing about 8 metres from us, again an awesome experience. All night we heard the hippos calling, which was great, but they also managed to wake us up numerous times as they were so close and loud.
