Butterfly Space

“And the capital of Botswana is Gabon,” said AJ, the owner of The Butterfly Space. There were some murmurs from the crowd. “It’s Gabarone,” I said to the guys at my table, “I am sure it’s Gabarone, Gabon is a country”. This was the pub quiz at the lodge, and AJ was armed only with the questions, not knowing any of the answers. The next question, that we were waiting to hear the answers for, was to name all of the countries that the River Danube flows through. When AJ read out the answers to this one she managed to name some countries that didn’t even share a border. It was, to be fair, one of the most fun nights we’d had in ages. Never before have I watched the host of a pub quiz asking the people playing the quiz for the answers.

Claire and I had been at The Butterfly Space for around two weeks by this point. We were supposed to be staying for a few days, but after having such a good time hanging out with Dom and Manu and the others staying at the lodge, we decided to stick around for a bit longer. And then a bit longer. And then a bit longer. There was one point when we were weighing up staying for another month… In the end we got away. The pub quiz was great fun, thanks almost entirely to the marking phase which was fragmented and disjointed but absolutely hilarious. Each time she had to read out an answer, AJ would grimace and take a stab, before someone would call out the actual correct answer. It was made all the more fun when we got to the humming round, where Claire had to stand up and hum Rhythm Is A Dancer in front of a terrace full of people. Due to the high concentration of young travellers and volunteers, combined with a nicely situated bar right on the lake, we did have quite a few big nights of partying during our stay.

We also got to chill out and soak up all that Nkhata Bay had to offer. One afternoon Claire and I were sat with Dom and Manu on the terrace at Butterfly when a local fisherman came up to the shore. He was holding a gigantic catfish. Dom bought it, and one of the local guys that they knew started cutting this beast into fillets. He hacked away with precision on a rock in front of us and managed to cut this big fish up into nice chunky fillets, before throwing them on the barbecue. It was mesmerising to sit and watch him at work. And, the barbecued catfish was delicious. It was rather oily in texture, but meaty and very tasty.

Our room by the lake

There were a fair few local guys who used to hang out at Butterfly, many of which were ‘Beach Boys’. This is a phenomenon we hadn’t come across before, but essentially Beach Boys are local guys who make carvings, artwork, bracelets or merely sell marijuana to the tourists. Most of them seem to be Rastafarians who hang around a lot of the time getting to know everyone and are really good fun. They are also trying to sell their wares in order to make money. For some reason, I think it might be in order to be memorable to the tourists, they rename themselves. We met one guy at Butterfly called Happy Coconut and another went by the name Chicken Pizza, both were great guys.

Dom and Manu, the two English guys we’d been hanging out with, had been staying at Butterfly for a few months volunteering and were heading home the week we were there. Their leaving party was great, with a giant barbecue for everyone. We ate burgers, sausages and wonderful salad before our plates were all collected. However, this was premature as we still had the steak course to eat. But the lack of plates didn’t put anyone off. I looked around a few moments later as thirty people were all sitting around holding fillet steaks in their hands munching away. It was a cheap fillet, bought from Mzuzu by the guys, but it was one of the best steaks Claire and I had ever eaten. Juicy, succulent, and perfectly cooked.

Manu, Claire, Dom and me

The pool table at The Butterfly Space was a large pull. Claire and I played a lot of pool during our stay, and one night there was a big competition. Everyone had to throw in five hundred Kwacha, and half of the people in the competition were local guys. The total prize pot of eight thousand Kwacha was quite a lot for a locals so they were all taking it pretty seriously. I got knocked out in the first round to Wanda, a really cool Malawian guy who looked quite a lot like Kanye West.

The last game of the first round saw Claire, the only girl who entered the competition, play Benji, another local guy from Malawi who now lives in Bristol. Benji started strong, sinking a few balls. He was confident and had to win because the table was surrounded and he was being watched by around fifteen local guys. As the game drew nearer to the end, Claire went on a rampage potting ball after ball. Every time she got nearer to the black, which Benji was stuck on, the local guys around the table would give him a bit more stick. And then, they were level. Claire potted her last colour leaving them both on the black. A few shots later and Benji was being lambasted by the guys around the table. He had tried to sink he black in the corner pocket but had failed, leaving it nicely placed for Claire to pot with ease. Me and a few of the English guys were cheering, willing her to put the game to bed and make it through to the next round. She lined up the shot, but the pressure was too much for her. The black hit either side of the pocket and ended up sitting right on the edge. Benji easily won the game with his next shot and Claire was eliminated from the competition. Benji shook her hand and said that if he won he’d give her fourty per cent of the money. He knew he was lucky she missed that last shot. Claire and I went to bed before the competition was over, and found out in the morning that Benji had in fact gone on to win. Though he was nowhere to be seen so Claire never did get her cut of the winnings.

We had lots of fun at Butterfly. During our stay we got to enjoy a movie night, where we all watched Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels projected onto a big bedsheet. Also, one evening we popped into town to watch England’s opening fixture at Euro 2016 against Russia. And, we got to sample the wonderful food at Aqua Africa across the bay, getting to know Craig the owner – and a really cool guy. All in all, our stay in Nkhata Bay, which kept getting longer and longer, was fantastic. We were supposed to jump on a boat to Chizumulu Island, over near Mozambique, at three different points but kept delaying. However, our time finally came to an end and we said goodbye, packed up our things, and made our way to the docks.