Acclimating to Malawi

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We acclimate to Malawi in Blantyre, the country's commercial capital with a compact downtown and complete lack of public space. But within a couple days, we are each sitting on the comfortable rear rack of a bicycle, rolling through quiet villages to Liwonde National Park. Rapidly recovering from years of unchecked poaching, Liwonde offers scores of hippos grunting through the night, gigantic crocodiles, huge baobabs, rich birdlife, and a parade of 22 elephants across the river.

From here we head to Zomba Plateau. This is our first serious hiking in a while, so we work up a thick sweat as we ascend Chilemba Peak. As we pant and gulp water at the top, the barefoot 6-year-old who was on our heels the entire way trying to sell us her hand woven hot pads makes a final valient attempt at a sale. We give her a dollar to go back to her village and stop humiliating us, and tell her to take her 3-year-old sister with her.

Finally, we hit Mulanje Massif, a 260 square-kilometer, peak studded granite plateau. It rises from bright green tea plantations, partitioned by intricate mortarless stone walls, and scattered with giant purple Jacaranda's. We hike up through rapidly changing habitats: lush tropical forest, followed by Malawi's version of oak woodland, and finally high-elevation scrub - accompanied by waterfalls all along. The trail is essentially a steep set of stairs. We are led by Rushad; he has been our most-excellent host back in Blantyre, but in this instance, hasn't the courtesy to even break a sweat. We stay in small huts dotted across the plateau, each with a fireplace, good water, and fantastic view. (jjk)

More southern Malawi photos

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Comments

[stan L.]

appreciation
terrific pics of southern Malawi!. Looks like a beutiful and fascinating spot to spend some time.