In the same way that the Olympic torch is carried from the country who last hosted the Games to the new host nation, so Germany brought (by air, road and sometimes by foot as they dribbled along part of the route) a soccer ball down the length of the African continent to Cape Town, the 2010 host nation of the Fifa World Cup.

Kayak Africa arranged the Malawian leg of this epic trip, where thirty-six participants and fourteen support crew and media representatives made their way from Lilongwe to Cape Maclear, on to Zomba and ending in Mulanje. In Cape Maclear they visited Domwe and dribbled a ball though the village and had some cultural interaction with local craftsmen and played an informal game of football with the local team. This was a great prelude to the start of the excitement of the World Cup – watched throughout Malawi with avid excitement in every roadside teahouse and reed walled ‘cinema’.