Malawi Ulendo: Bird’s Eye View

At least 2 weeks' worth. Longer but shorter blogs seem to be the norm with this city life!

With Saj visiting, I got to see Malawi from a new perspective altogether. This was in no small measure helped by the (temporarily) upgraded mode of transport, in the form of a rattly converted army Land Rover “Defender”. Luxury nonetheless for me! Our itinerary comprised a mix of unchartered territory as well as familiar stomping grounds of mine. Having a visitor around really gives me an excuse to go and explore the place I’m in better, while allowing me to see familiar things differently from the way I normally would.

The first few days were really a warm up to get into shape for the meaty stuff ahead. On day 1, we went up Soche, the mountain literally in my backyard, for a bit of joint lubrication and muscle awakening. We decided to enlist the help of a local who might be able to guide us up. As it was, we met a group of boys near the base and one of them volunteered to accompany us. Another candidate (who seemed more familiar with the surroundings) had to be turned down because we had absolutely no way of communicating to him! We shot up a fairly well defined path until we reached this overgrown grassy maze, where one could only guess the next bit from lines of flattened (slippery) grass. Only at this point did our “guide” actually reveal to us that this was the first time he himself was going up! From there, effectively there were 3 guides (Saj, me and this guy) while Janet opted for the safer option of sitting down for a nice view! We think we made it to the top, but there’s no way to verify!

Next, we enjoyed a couple of days at work in Queen’s before our next bit of exercise. This was a basic but informative insight into the health system here for Saj. It was also a time to tease out any car rental difficulties- which were aplenty! On Wednesday, we did our second mountain ascent inamidst the lush tea plantations of Satemwa estate in Thyolo, interspersed with banana and maize fields. We acquired a bike from colleagues out there to make the number up to 2. These were gonna be put to the test the very next day in Majete game reserve. Unfortunately it came to our attention that one of the bikes (mine) did not take too well to being squashed in the back with 2 suitcases and camping material, not to mention a hell of a bumpy ride. Thus once set to go, first the gears went dead, which took us the best part of an hour to “fix”. Then hardly 2 miles along the dirt road, I found myself attempting to define a new cycling stunt without much success- the single pedal ride, the other one having come loose and joined the gravel! After being rescued from heat exhaustion by Saj who cycled back to the Defender to come and fetch me, we headed straight into our first game drive. The catch was pretty good: eland, sable antelope, impalas, nyalas, water buffalos, water bucks, baboons etc. A cool starlit night set us up for a different circuit in the morning to see if we could abolish the elephant jinx. And how we did! 2 separate herds, one just off the track and a second literally within arse-slapping distance by a waterhole (full of hippos itself)! Zebras and an impressive bull nyala crowned this last drive and we were headed back to Blantyre ahead of the biggie. Carb-loading was in order that night, ahead of tomorrow’s plan.

Mulanje! The legendary massif believed to have inspired Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings was to host us for 3days and 2nights. An average of 6-7 hours’ walking per day, taking in 2 paths (Skyline and Otto’s), 2 huts (Chisepo and Thuchila) and 1 peak (Nandalanda) left us deliriously content in the end. The weather dealt us some pretty authentic plateau variations between intense rain, sun and fog. Our peak ambition in fact got thwarted on the 2nd day due to the rain, only to be revived on our final day before a timely descent ahead of the rain and dense fog which would have made the enterprise impossible again. Nandalanda was an epic though. Not to be climbed wet, unless you like water slides very much and your life a little less. The scrambling turned out to a pure rock climb in the end, where I even had to ditch the boots to enhance my grip! To complement the physical exertion of the expedition in style, Mulanje was the seat of a formidable biodiversity, which our expert guide (Comestar be his name) helped decipher for us. We kindled a certain fascination for bird spotting and came to recognise some incredible beauties like the Livingstone’s Turaco (Lourie), various Sunbirds, Shrikes, Bulbuls, Bishops and a even majestic Lanner Falcon at the base. Short of seeing mammals, we saw loads of leopard and hyrax pooh. Interestingly the latter’s fur was the distinguishing feature of the former’s pooh!

A long dirt road cross country drive brought us to Zomba town, where we did little but recharge our batteries. The next day (Tuesday) we took the world’s bumpiest dirt road to a less visited gem of biodiversity which is Lake Chilwa. The lake is actually shallow enough to be puntable for most of it. We dragged a couple of bikes on our boat to take onto the small island of Chisi. On sea as on land, we saw ever more birds, with a newly discovered thirst- Egrets and Herons of all sorts, Burchell’s Coucal, mjore Bishops etc. The island had only one dirt path, which we followed almost till its end (about 5Km). Yet on the way back, I (leading) came across a bifurcation and took the wrong lane. Thinking there could only be 1 road, I carried on, assuming I would join the main track. 45 min later, I found myself stranded on this other port from the one we alighted on. Our punter was back at the original one as agreed! Saj, who had been followed all along by a swarm of excited kids, got pointed in the right direction by them at the fateful junction. Hence we made separate ways to main land, but all the same in a more memorable way... an hour apart. In that time, Saj befriended with an English-speaking local, whom, together with my herculean return-punter, we took for lunch. Back in Zomba, we stocked up around its bustling market renowned for the best fruit in Malawi. We then went on to meet Caleb in Domasi for the night, where we were welcomed by a typically timed power cut. Still it made the peace of the place even more astounding.

Liwonde national park was our next stop and our most thorough delectation of bird life up to now. A legendary boat safari gave us no less than 25 new birds to remember, which I won’t even list this time! Or maybe I should try- Masked and brown throated weavers, Diccops, Fish eagles, Kingfishers (Malachite, Pied, Striped, Woodland), Spur-winged geese, Open billed Storks, White breasted Cormorants, a Martial Eagle, Boehm’s Bee eater, Lilac breasted rollers, Wire-tailed swallows, Striped Wagtails, African Jacanas, White-faced Ducks to name a few... Crocs were also a common sighting there and we got very close to some indeed. We had lunch at this cultural village (Njobvu) on the outskirts of the Shire river, which Saj will remember as his best of the whole trip.

Not ready to stop yet for the day, we set sail for Mangochi, along the shores of Lake Malawi. The road trip was now retuned to a drone of pure indulgent relaxation. By the way, we saw another fascinating rare bird then- the Southern Ground Hornbill (or Tukey Buzzard). After a pretty social night (another word for long awaited session!), we woke up reenergised for a bit of lake based activity. Thus Saj decided to recreate a past adventure of ours, which I was glad to have come out alive of! With a displaced sense of confidence, he lures me aboard this enormous kayak, without any safety jackets and glides effortlessly with the wind. Only when we have to turn around do we realise that this was not gonna be the same as the ride out. Knowing all too well how easy it is to capsize these shells, I finally put the oars down after our 5th or so failed attempt at overcoming the wind. Of course, I’m on another beach altogether now, separated from the starting point by a good mile of rock crossing. Quite a rewarding rock climb that proved to be, if I can see one positive side to this rather treacherous crossing. The owner of the place didn’t seem the least bothered when I told her what had happened and simply sent two of her Malawian employees to the rescue. The speed with which they rode the boat back against the wind was a real blow to our physical pride! Thereafter it was back to relaxation as previously agreed with a nice swim and a bike ride into a Baobab laden countryside, where we also recognised some of those recent avian discoveries of ours.

The Lake dream then followed a natural ascent into pure escape mood as we drove off to Cape Maclear. Admittedly more cliché than anywhere else in Malawi, once you’re there, you simply don’t care anymore and just enjoy it. This spot is also the ideal platform for snorkelling with Cichlid fish around the rocks of a nearby island. We made the most of this opportunity, encountering another typical cliché in the process- that of being duped by beach boys! Despite not having our formerly agreed sunset trip included in the ride, the very fact of coming into close contact with this wonderworld of Darwinian evolution was enough to keep up elated till the next morning. Interestingly, fish was on the menu that night! Not the Cichlid type though...

The remaining days were now strictly reserved for recuperation, given my failure to actually just lounge at the lake doing nothing as planned but opting for more physical exertion instead. We took a couple of backpackers with us out of Cape Maclear and ended up getting stuck in a sand bank before a small stream crossing. Such events really lack the drama and despair one might feel if it happened in Europe. Because here, within seconds, people just appear out of nowhere to assist (with the expectation of a good tip). When you have twenty strong pairs of biceps it usually doesn’t take more than 2 minutes to move even a 3 ton Defender! Thence we went very much uphill to Dedza (incidentally bagging a Sooty Falcon in our bird tally), where we checked into a very Malawian haunt for a very nice flavour of Malawian life for Saj. Top on the scoreboard for that night was the food. The downers were too funny to be troubled by for any length of time. Firstly we tried to get someone to tune the TV in our room to some news. We ended up being the ones teaching him how to do it. Once we did that, we realised the whole place had only one dish, such that what we would be watching would also be on other people’s screens. Not surprisingly, I had the world news on. At 1.30am, I realised at least someone had been more engrossed in world events than me that night as my next door neighbour (who crashed in around 11pm with a whole group of people) started to pray out loud for peace in the world and an end to all natural calamities. Hmmmmmm!!!! The one night I find a nice hotel without a bottlestore nearby with loud music to ruin the peace, I have a middle of the night sermon instead! Nothing against the actual prayer, but why out loud at this time of night? There’s something about the Malawian way of preaching one can only understand by being here.

Since we were in Dedza, we felt obliged to go and explore the UNESCO world heritage site of ancient rock art in the nearby hills the next day. Only mildly enthused by what we saw on artistic merit, what entertained us more was the new wave of charcoal drawings by kids on some of the rocks, as well as painted church messages. Meanwhile there was not a single hint of anyone doing anything to protect this site of global significance. Minimally perturbed, we embarked on the final leg, which was the Lilongwe trip to the airport. What a finale it turned out that was! An apocalyptic downpour caught us while we were in the market and cast such fascinating atmosphere to it all. The climax had to be the wooden strut bridge crossing in the end over gushing waters to get to the fruit and veg side of the market. We spent our last night with a friend of mine in his amazing guesthouse. Just what our lazy bones needed before a mega-holiday’s conclusion.

Saj’s last trip was to the airport, while I remained with a final leg to Blantyre. How our ancient Defender lasted all these days, without the slightest problem was on my mind, when the vehicle suddenly began trembling. As the amplitude kept increasing I pulled over and guess what? I had my first flat tyre. Hardly 3 hours after dropping Saj off. What timing! True to Malawi, a previous film repeats itself for me as, out of nowhere, self-proclaimed mechanics rush to the rescue...