Home now

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Sorry for the delay, but here at last is my final entry. I'm now back in the UK enjoying the wind and rain. Sorry it's a bit of a long one. It was even longer before i edited it down.
I left Nkhata Bay after a day of relaxing and wandering around. Butterfly Lodge had a very relaxed family-feel but the compost toilet was smelly. Travelled north by bus to the lakeside village of Chitimba, via Mzuzu. The bus ride to the lakeshore at Chitimba was hot and cramped but fairly short (only 2.5 hrs) and the scenery was enough of a distraction to take my mind off the discomfort, as we travelled across the plain and dropped down through valleys into the rift valley again.
After some misunderstanding due to mispronunciation, i eventually got off at Viphya Lodge and found the place almost deserted. Phil, the manager, is trying to develop the place but the whole thing has stalled due to lack of funds and Phil's deteriorating health. Phil is a great character, and has lived in Africa since the 70s, making a living at various times from running overland tours, a scuba school, and free-diving.
Due to it's emptiness and distance along the coast road from the turn-off to Livingstonia, my ultimate destination, i decided to leave Viphya lodge and move up the coast a few miles to Chitimba Beach Camp. This was much busier owing to the overland tour trucks that stop there on their way to/from Tanzania and was very picturesque, looking out on the bay, with the mountains behind. While sat at the bar after dark, I got talking to a newly arrived backpacker called Jacqueline who also wanted to make the hike up to Livingstonia, so we decided to join forces, and ended up travelling together for the remainder of my trip. We set out before 6 on the 12km hike up to Mushroom Farm campsite, after watching sunrise over the lake . After over 3 hours of walking uphill in the heat, stopping every hour for water and rest, I cannot describe the joy of reaching Mushroom Farm, not just due to the exhaustion but on seeing the campsite itself. Perched on the steep-sloped mouth of a ravine, a kitchen/bar, dining room, and chalets of simple wood and thatch looked out past the dwindling hills on to the plain and then lake, with the mountains of the Tanzanian coast just visible through the haze of woodfire and dust on the horizon.
A group of young local boys we met in the village guided us to the nearby waterfalls towards midday. We sat relaxing for a couple of hours around the pools just above the falls while the boys showed off by acrobatically leaping and sliding over the rocks into the water.
The next day we started early again for Livingstonia, a further 5km on from the campsite. Livingstonia was the final heaquarters of the scottish presbyterian mission to Malawi named in honour of the British explorer Livingstone. Had a nice walk through hills and villages to get there. The large church (locked) and 'Stone House', housing museum and accommodation, looked incongruous on the dusty hilltop amongst mud-brick houses. There were some interesting exhibits and historical details in the museum - like a visiting black african scholar pre-empting Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney by 50 years in using 'ebony and ivory' as a metaphor for racial harmony. The biblical quote, Ephesians 2:14, spelled out in 6-foot high letters of white brick on the lawn next to the Stone House, was quite moving. This was the missionaries' response, having decided to stay put, to an airborne offer of evacuation during ethnic violence in the 50s.
Stopped off at Lukwe farm, a campsite similar to Mushroom, and the permaculture garden next door on the way back. Spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the shadow of the mountains creep towards the lake hundreds of metres below where i layed in a hammock. Met a friendly Israeli couple and an Israeli girl who had hiked for 3 days across Nyika Plateaux national park on just bread and jam.
Said goodbye to Brett and Claire, our friendly S african hosts at Mushroom, and hiked back down the hill.
Not sure why, but after another sweaty two and a half hour walk to get back to Chitimba Beach Camp, I agreed to set off again almost immediately for Vwaza Marsh game reserve. We took a couple of hours to repack and rest, then tried unsuccessfully to hitch-hike. Gave up after an hour and got ripped-off on the price of the first of a series of bus rides. Stopped at another dusty town called Rumphi, in the north west, to get food for the self-catering stay at Vwaza and spent an irritable hour waiting in the midday sun waiting for our matola (pick-up truck) to leave. The facilities were basic at Vwaza and it's not well stocked with game due to poaching. We took a guided walk early the morning and after a day recovering from the previous day's travelling i could start to enjoy the atmosphere more, looking out from our lodge onto the lake, with occasional passing baboons, elephants and antelope. i realised how bad i am at building fires while making one for cooking, but how many people can say they've cooked over an elephant poo fire?
Thought we'd done well when we caught a matola immediately on leaving the park the next morning (i needn't say it was early). Until it ran out of petrol and we were crammed into a passing bus. The journey south to Lilongwe was uneventful, including another failed attempt at hitching. Arrived back at Mabuya Camp 12 hours after leaving Vwaza. Had a nice curry just round the corner.
Last few days were quiet. Myself, Jacqueline and Stan, a belgian horticulturist who has set up a community tree nursery in the Dedza region, visited the city animal park which lies between the old and new towns. Our guide told us they had to rescue many of the animals from the state-run zoo across the road due to improper care. Shared the taxi to the airport with a south african architect who is working on a luxury eco-resort on the northern lakeshore. Talked to an industrial chemistry consultant working on projects in Zambia on the plane to Jo'burg. Met Jacqueline's sister who flew out so they can travel together and is about to embark on a career in clinical psychology.
So there we are. I'd recommend volunteering to anyone as a way to see a culture you won't get from just backpaking. Don't pay lots of money to do it like i did, though - probably best to go and travel in a country and find a project you like once you've travelled round a bit.
I had a great time and saw lots of amazing things, but i think it's the people i met who were most inspiring - their creativity and perserverence in seeing through the projects they've embarked upon, of whatever size and shape. I hope to bring some of that home with me.

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