I have loved my road trips through Malawi and Zambia, but am always grateful I am not the one driving. These two African country’s are some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. When traveling with my teams, we hire large vans and mini busses to travel as a group. This works great to get the team into the villages together, even though most of the roads we travel on are not really intended for larger vehicles. When I travel on solo journeys, we travel by car.

Traffic is usually expected anywhere in the city. I try to never be in a hurry when going into the city, speedy travel is just not very realistic. The roads are narrow and usually not in the best of shape. They are crowded with pedestrians, bikes, motorcycles and street vendors. I do love that while sitting in traffic, you can make purchases en-route. My daughter snapped this quick photo when we were buying a mop from a street vendor. You will see many vendors selling snacks, vegetables, fresh fish, clothing and household items.

Visiting during political turmoil gave me the opportunity to travel through many demonstrations. I have never been in a demonstration before. I was a little nervous with this many people, especially when if I were given a choice, I would be opposing the leadership of the person this group was supporting. They were heading to the presidents house which was very near the lodge I was staying in. We were able to clear the crowd after about 15 minutes.

When visiting villages, we often travel some of the same roads the children take as they go to school. I know they are used to walking in the rain, but I am not going to deny that I felt incredibly grateful to be dry. We had just picked up a woman who had been dropped off on the main road in a nearby town after riding in the rain for a while on a motorcycle.

No matter where we go, we are always greeted by friendly smiles and waves.