Day 5 | Flame Tree Lodge to Soul Rebel Backpackers, Nkhata Bay Distance: 45 km | Terrain: Hilly lakeshore, mixed surface Website: www.soulrebelmalawi.com | Food tip: Don't skip the Rolex — rolled chapati with eggs, onion, tomato and veg The morning was overcast and the first stretch was lush and fresh after the rain. Around 15 km in, I passed two kids absolutely destroying their mangoes, juice all over their faces, pips scattered everywhere. Mango season is in full swing: trees growing wild, families selling buckets by the roadside, that sweet smell of fermenting mangoes drifting through the villages. About 25 km in, the road opened into some truly beautiful green riding. Thick forest, rolling terrain, that this-is-the-Malawi-you-hoped-to-see scenery. I even passed a rubber tree plantation, neat rows tapped for latex, a glimpse of small-scale industry between rural settlements. Village life along this stretch is incredibly hands-on and self-made. People build their own bricks. You see pits dug for clay and large hand-stacked kilns smoking beside the houses they'll become. When you shake hands with anyone here, you feel the hard, calloused palms of people who work the land every day. Kept the day short and rolled into Soul Rebel Backpackers feeling tired and off. They were welcoming, gave me a discount to 30,000 kwacha from 40,000, plus a free pot of coffee in the morning. My room is literally ten metres from the water's edge.