Kande Beach Resort

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Our Story

A SHORT HISTORY OF KANDE BEACH Kande Beach campsite was first started in 1993 by Dave Barton. Dave was an overland truck driver and owned his own truck and small company, Transafrique Expeditions. Since 1987, after first doing a trip with another company, Dave was selling and driving/leading Trans Africa tours in converted ex military 4x4 trucks with groups of 20 passengers, starting in London and finishing in Nairobi, Kenya. These were challenging trips passing through the Sahara desert and the jungles of Zaire and taking around six months to complete. After 1990 these trips became difficult to run after the first gulf war soured relations between the North Africa Maghreb states and Britain. Dave decided to base himself in Mombasa, Kenya and run shorter trips through Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi, finishing up in Harare, Zimbabwe. On one of these tours in 1991 Dave came across an interesting “free camp” on the shores of Lake Malawi. He had left Nkhata Bay, a mere 60km's north, earlier that day and after a 9 hour drive was looking for somewhere to stop for the night on the way to their next stop in Salima. The roads in Malawi and most of east Africa were challenging and slow going back then and a 4x4 truck with high ground clearance was often needed. Dave was alerted to the sighting of an island off shore by some of his passengers after they had stopped nearby to view the clouds of lake flies on the horizon. Dave was a keen spear fisherman and at the start of the trip had taken his group spear fishing and free diving in the Indian Ocean south of Mombasa. The group had the spear guns and equipment on the truck, and was keen to try their hand in the warm waters of the lake. The island was only about a kilometer off shore so Dave and his group made their way through the local villages to free camp on the beach adjacent to the island, after first seeking permission of the local chief, Fukamaphiri no 7! The group stayed a few days and speared some fish for lunch, camping under the shade of the lucky bean tree (pod mahogany) that still adorns the front of the present bar. During this first stay Dave spent time getting to know the chief and the people of the Kande area. On following tours Dave encouraged his groups to get involved with the local culture on his stops at Kande and they would sponsor the local football team with kits, help the health centre with malaria drugs and mosquito nets and the school with books and pens etc., his stays became longer as the tours would allow, often four or five days. After about a year, on seeing the potential for the village to make some income from this gorgeous spot, Dave suggested to the chief and the local heads to make the place a simple camp, providing some security for the trucks and selling a few items like drinks and snacks so they could make a small charge to help them with their day to day needs. He offered some assistance in design and some funds to buy the first stock and promised to then promote the camp to the other trucks and company's who were doing similar trips back then. The chief and village heads were interested in this idea and after a couple of days thought and discussions they summoned Dave to a big meeting in the nearby village, where they had several dignitary's stand up and state their opinions and ideas of how this could best work. All this was carried out in the local Tonga language, and although there was an interpreter present Dave was unaware of most of the discussion and after some hours asked the chief the outcome. The local head master was given the job of explaining that their main fear was who was going to run the place and how would everyone be given equal opportunity, the cash flow be safe guarded and profits shared fairly. The chief then stood up and said on behalf of the village they were requesting that Dave himself should run and build the camp site in order that they should be given jobs and opportunities in order to avoid nepotism and corruption. After some few hours consideration Dave decided to give it a go and later sought the help of fellow driver and long time mate Andy Kibby and they started to build simple structures and promote the place to other overlanders and back packers. The first ten years went well although they had no electricity or telephone in place and they started to welcome more and more trucks and travelers. Dave carried on his tours with Transafrique for the first two years in order to raise some finance and with the help of one of his ex passengers, Andy Pearce, slowly built the camp site into what it is today. They employed over 30 people from the local community and together turned the camp and lodge into what it is today. They finally got electricity in 2003 and mobile phone coverage not long after that. Andy Kibby went on to drive Trans Africa trips and then moved to South America, before returning to his native New Zealand to run his own tour company. Now days Kibby is based in Nairobi, Kenya running over land trips throughout east Africa. Dave and Andy Pearce still run the place today with help of managers and have never looked back. Times have been difficult along the way with set backs including a fire that burnt the bar down in 2000 and sometimes difficulty's dealing with the authorities and other problems that Africa can throw up due to the nature of its politics, weather and bureaucracy but mostly its been a pleasure and an adventure for the past 23 years. Over the years they have added a scuba dive facility, water sports and nearby there is horse riding stables. The camp is well geared for big groups with 12 hot showers, camp shelters and water storage capacity of over 30,000 litres. Kande bar has become one of east and southern Africa's most popular party venues. There are now 30 rooms available for hire covering most peoples budgets, from dorms up to en-suite family rooms, a 40 seat cafe serving hot meals all day and a well stocked bar with cold drinks and satellite TV for big sporting events.