Blogs from Nyika Plateau, Northern, Malawi, Africa

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Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nyika Plateau January 16th 2019

The Mushroom Farm really does exist, and it’s a magical place. Sometimes you hear about a place from a few people and when you get there it disappoints. Well, Mushroom Farm managed to exceed our lofty expectations. Thanks to all who recommended it. There’s no gain without pain though. Getting there is far from easy as an independent traveller, and even with your own wheels it’s challenging. A minibus dropped us off by the main road at Chitimba where the Mushroom Farm have a small office. Stanley was waiting there for us and made sure that any transport heading up the hill didn’t leave without us. We had been warned that we might face a wait of a few hours so we were quite happy when, after just an hour and twenty minutes, we were loaded ... read more
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Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nyika Plateau January 15th 2014

Sorry but another very late post, it seems to be the way of things with this blog. Uploading photo's here when the power can go off at any minute and where the internet is painfully slow doesn't help my cause one bit. Anyway, during Mid December I went with Megan (another volunteer at Butterfly) to Nyika N.P which is in the NW of Malawi. The park itself straddles the Zambian border and boasts an array of game and wildlife, although spotting some of the big 5 is incredibly challenging. The National Park is the largest in Malawi and it's huge expansive rolling grasslands are home to Zebra, Reedbuck and Bushbuck, Eland and Roan Antelope, all of which you are guaranteed to see in the park. And that we did. Despite not being home to some of ... read more
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Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nyika Plateau December 21st 2010

I realise our trip is long over, but we thought we would make an effort to finish our blog entries. After 2.5 months of non-stop travel, we thought we deserved a break and checked into a campground, luckily situated on the edge of Lake Malawi and unluckily situated on top of a giant anthill. Of course not before suffering through yet another day of African public transport madness, this time involving a bus trip to a small town in the middle of nowhere with no guarantee of an onward bus to our final destination. We had arrived around 5 in the afternoon. With rumours among other travellers of the next bus arriving around 9pm, we knocked back offers of exorbitant private taxi service and invitations to hop on the back of a ute (pick-up truck) for ... read more
Nkhata bay
Shoe shopping Malawi style
Happy Wanderers

Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nyika Plateau September 24th 2010

The directions to the Mushroom farm from Nkahta Bay are to take a dalla dalla, changing at Mzuzu, and head north alone the main road towards Karanga which is the nearest town to the Tanzania border. Get off at the police checkpoint near the town of Khondowe, here you then take the dirt road towards Livingstonia, and the Mushroom Farm is about 10 kilometers. There are two options; either wait at the junction and try to hitch a lift, or walk the 10 kilometers which are all up hill. Stu ended up taking me and another girl who I had befriended called Liselotte, and had also hitched a life with Stu, all the way to the farm. We were both very relieved and grateful as neither of us had realized how bad and steep the road ... read more
The Mushroom Farm
The Mushroom Farm
The Mushroom Farm

Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nyika Plateau July 4th 2010

For the weekend, the Lilongwe interns took the bus up to Mzuzu to join us for an adventure to the Nyika plateau national park. Earlier in the week, I arranged with one of the other professors ‘Edgar’ to rent an old LAND ROVER through his friend who used it to harvest tobacco. Edgar’s friend provided a driver who was also an experienced mechanic, and agreed to pick us up early in the morning on Saturday. When Saturday came around we woke up to an extreme rain downpour, which meant that all our baggage had to be thrown in the vehicle on top of eveyone already packed like sardines in a tin (ten people plus one driver is a lot in a Land Rover for a 6-7 hour drive). On the way there we got pulled ... read more
scenery from Nganda peak

Africa » Malawi » Northern » Nyika Plateau April 6th 2010

Tuesday March 30th I met Tenley in Mzuzu and we stayed at the CCAP Resthouse. It is a relatively inexpensive dorm-like place to stay near the bus depot. We thought it would be easy to get to Nchenachena and start our hike after that the following day - this was a mistake. We should have stayed in Nchenachena and started our hike early in the morning since the first hike is without passing any water AND is about 8 hours. We got to Nchenachena via a bus and a matola and didn't actually start our hike until sometime between 10 and 11. Dan was our guide - he works for Wildlife and Forestry in Malawi. He was awesome. We carried our own packs for the hike, filled with food and cooking materials. I've never done anything ... read more
Hikin' through the village, Nchenachena
Ughh, tired!
Love the flowers.




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