Chilling Out in Chitimba & Livingstonia Snake Scares


Advertisement
Malawi's flag
Africa » Malawi » Lake Malawi » Chitimba Beach
June 18th 2012
Published: September 9th 2012
Edit Blog Post

Getting from Mbeya to the Malawian border was comparatively painless, even if we did stop less than hour away to wait for the minibus to fill back up. I even saw and got to speak to the first white people I had seen in days. After getting over the border, I took a shared taxi to Karonga and from there, a bus to Chitimba. The journey was a measly 6 hours.



Chitimba is one of the first towns going south on Lake Malawi. Nearby there are a couple of campsites, where I checked into the Chitimba Campsite and immediately went for a swim in the lake. Chitimba is an idyllic spot, with a big sandy beach. It is overlooked by a couple of mountains and I spent the rest of the afternoon there by the water. I bumped into Wim and Annalise, who I had gone gorilla tracking with in Uganda.



The next day, I spent by the lake again, feeling I deserved a rest after my long slog from Kigoma. I got involved in a game of beach soccer with a Dutch guy, Djurre and some local kids. Keeping up Irish soccer’s humiliating streak, I was on the losing team. Chitimba Campsite is very overpriced for Malawi and even though I had paid my camping fees, I went to Hakuna Matata campsite next door for food, with Djurre and his girlfriend Lonnike. This camp is owned by a South African, Willie, who is a great character and the food made by a local woman, Maggie, was really good. I also bumped into Yogev from Israel, who I had met twice previously in Lalibela and Awassa, Ethiopia.



Livingstonia was founded in 1894 by missionaries from the Free Church of Scotland in memory of the explorer David Livingstone. It had originally been set up at Cape MacLear, but many missionaries died from malaria, hence it was moved to the elevated location, where it now stands. To get up to the town that still exists there is a road that leads up, which you can walk up or try hitch a lift. There is also a camp halfway up called Mushroom Camp, which Yogev and I decided to walk up to and then head on to Livingstonia.



There are a number of shortcuts you can take on the way up, as the road winds its way up the mountain. This can cut out a lot of road and save a lot of time. We were making good time, until we took one shortcut, which lead us completely astray. Not only did it bring us to the wrong end of the mountain top, as we got further deeper into the bush, it became extremely steep and was very difficult to climb, especially as I had a small pack on my back and my tent in my hand. We eventually got to the Mushroom Camp, decided we could go up to Livingstonia in the morning and chilled out in their hammocks. The views from up here of the lake and the surrounding land were incredible. It was a fairly relaxing atmosphere up here and a quiet enough night.



The next morning, as we were getting ready to go to Livingstonia, it started to rain heavily for about 2 hours. We went after the rain stopped and it took us about 2 hours, having stopped also to check out a nearby waterfall. Livingstonia is an unusual village that looks out of place in the middle of Africa. All the buildings are made of strong stone structures. There is not a whole lot to see, but we checked out the museum, which had amongst other breath-taking exhibits, the cutlery once used by the former President of Zambia, Kaunda. (I hope people realise I’m being sarcastic). There is also a Presbyterian church, where you can climb up into the bell tower.



On the way back to Mushroom Camp, we were shown a shortcut and were more successful with this one as we were back within 45 minutes. I wanted to get back down to Chitimba so that I could head to Nkhata Bay the next day, so I left Mushroom Camp just after 4 p.m., while Yogev stayed another night.



I wanted to get down before dark, so despite going off course on the way up I took a few shortcuts on the way down. I was making good time, when again, I took one that I shouldn’t have. It was fairly thick bush, but not too steep. As I jumped from rock to rock, I landed heavily between a few. As I did, I heard one of the most chilling sounds I have heard, the heavy, sharp hiss of a snake. I immediately jumped down over the next few sets of rocks, not looking back to confirm what I had heard. I clambered over the remaining 50 m of bush and got back on to the road, with my heart still in my mouth.



Willie, from Hakuna Matata, had been telling us a couple of nights before about the snakes he had encountered and had to kill in recent weeks. In the area there are black mambas and cobras, amongst other poisonous snakes. When I told him about what I heard and tried to describe it, he told me it was probably a cobra and I was fairly lucky to have not been bitten. Being on my own and with the only hospital around, back up in Livingstonia, my prospects would have been bleak!


Additional photos below
Photos: 18, Displayed: 18


Advertisement



Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0394s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb