lake of stars

Matt, Katie, Bryan and I on the main stage at Lake of Stars.

I really wish that I had been alive for Woodstock because I feel like that is the only music festival that can even come close to the awesomeness that was Lake of Stars. To provide you with a little bit of background, Lake of Stars is an annual music festival that is held on the shores of Lake Malawi. It attracts artists and attendees from all over the world and is considered one of the top music festivals in Africa (and in my mind the world). Just like the soccer match that I went to a few weekends ago was the best sporting experience I have ever had, Lake of Stars was the best music experience I have ever had.

It's tough even to know where to begin… We camped right on the beach in an enclosed area. As most of you know, I love camping, and I love the beach, so the fact that I got to combine the two just made my day!

Our campsite.

And it was just a brief ten-minute walk to get from our campground to the actual festival grounds. What was interesting about this walk was that it took us past the part of the lake that locals used daily to wash clothes, bathe, fish and play. The juxtaposition between the campground and this bit of ‘local turf’ was mind numbing. Within the campgrounds people were wearing designer apparel and camping using some pretty high tech camp stuff and outside of the campgrounds there were people living off of barely anything. Each time we took this walk groups of children would come up to us and just say, “Give me money.” It was annoying but I can’t really blame them – they are probably used to seeing rich white people travel to the lake for a luxurious vacation.

A market meat stand. 

There was a market set up just outside the festival gates. It was here where we bought most of our food because it was super cheap. And it was here that I finally learned how to haggle! I got almost all of my meals for about 200 Kwache (1 USD) and bought a cool pipe thing for 400 Kwache (I haggled down from a starting price of 900)!

Fresh chips! Also, notice the women doing laundry in the background.

Then there was the festival itself. There were three stages, five bars (that I knew of), lots of market vendors and miles of beautiful Lake Malawi to enjoy.  Music played all day. In fact, music could be heard a couple kilometers away from the festival grounds at all times. We all spent a lot of time swimming in the lake (everyone should add “swimming in Lake Malawi” to their bucket lists), exploring the lake and enjoying the music.

We met some local kids while we were exploring the island. They were
so eager to point out different plants and animals and show off their moves.

During the day there were poetry jams, local reggae singers, comedians, dancers and school choirs performing. The main performances all began around 16h00 (4 p.m.) each day. I loved the music. I don’t even know what genre to classify it as, but there was a lot of reggae and reggae-like music. The highlight of the festival was definitely getting to see Freshly Ground perform. Freshly Ground is the band that sings Waka Waka (the 2010 World Cup song) with Shakira. They were fantastic; they had such great energy and the crowd just loved them.

The whole festival was idyllic. I got to spend time with great people, I got to camp in an absolutely gorgeous place, I got to eat great food and I got to listen to fantastic music. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. 

The sun rising over Lake Malawi.