Kumbali Village Dinner

Recently, the staff at ABC went to Kumbali Village to have dinner.  I can almost liken it to a Luau, Malawian style.  At one point, we found ourselves taking pictures in a replica hut, in a replica village, singing "In The Jungle."  Tourists!!!  On the flip side, the Kumbali Village was put into place as a cultural center to help preserve and share the history of the Malawian culture.  All in all it was a fun night and being expats we may never get to see or enjoy such traditions otherwise. 

 

Chris and I in a replica hut.  Very small, so either not to size or very old school.  Realistically, I don't think anyone lives in anything this small, but many homes in the villages do have mud walls and thatched roofs. 

 

On of the barbeques that our food was cooked on.

The kids table for grown ups, also known as the singles table.  I am going to work on infiltrating the lives of the married peeps. 

Traditional Malawian fare.  It was good, but I expected it to be spicier.  The orange sauce was a mango chicken gravy that was amazing.  The Fanta in a bottle would be considered traditional, too.  FYI: the soda choices are predominately Coke, Sprite, Coke light (still has some sugar in it) and a whole assortment of Fanta flavors.  I am a big fan of Fanta Pineapple.  

One of the bands.

The dancers.

Musician warming up his instrument over an open flame. 

Like the end of a luau, we all got up and attempted to dance along.  Looks like my amazing dance skills were not caught on tape, so you'll have to imagine. 

Also, adjacent to the cultural village is the Kumbali Country Lodge where Madonna stays when she is in Lilongwe.  It would be the nicest place to stay in Lilongwe and not priced too bad, either.  They also have a nice restaurant.