Graceland, Malawi

No trip is complete without a stop at Graceland. The highlands of Kenya were the most prosperous area we have been in Africa but Malawi was a shock. I was reading a book that said if you came into an African village and the first two shops you saw were coffin makers, you must be in Malawi. Indeed the first village we entered in Malawi had a couple shops and bars but two coffin makers.
We had people in our group from several countries which always made getting visas at the border a real adventure. The cost of a visa depended on where you were from and at one border varied from $20 to over $200. In addition some countries would give some of us multiple entry visas and charge others over $100 additional for a multiple entry visa. One of our group was from Austria and he was told at the Malawi border that he couldn't get a visa as Austria was not a country in spite of what his passport said. Finally they charged him $100 for a one day visa and told him to go to the police in the next town. At the police station in the Town of Muzuzu they decided he could have a visa for another $70. When our guide asked a list of countries and visa charges they said they didn't have one but would write one out. They started to write one out for us but Austria was not on the list.