Africa for Beginners On a long, hot stretch of road I’d begun to nod off, when the bus stopped abruptly. A pair of phantasmagorical figures, masked and costumed in feathers, technicolour rags and war-paint were prancing at the roadside, strolling players in search of a gig. 

Malawians are versatile. Perhaps the Nyawu dancers owned the Pack and Go Coffin Workshop. Or turned their hands to Motor Repairs and Optical Lens Grinding. Malawians are rich in spirit, if not in things material: the welcome is untainted by envy.

Malawi is also rich in wildlife and scenery.   Impala, giraffe and elephant browse beside muddy rivers in which hippopotamus wallow, and you can admire them from safari camps which hold their own against those in better-known destinations further north. Images of Malawi

Size Matters at Selous There is something magic about flying across Africa, into the world’s largest game reserve, an infinity of sparsely-wooded savannah. A sprawling river twinkles in the sun as we approach, before that alarming surge down, down, thud, thump, onto the airstrip. Out on the Rufiji it seems eerie to chug past the wake of a submerged hippo – our flimsy flat-bottomed craft could be gliding over the back of one at any time. A grassy bank swarms with saurian shapes; African. fish eagles perch on dead branches; white cattle egrets perch on the glistening backs of browsing hippo. Images of Selous

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