IT was good to be back in Malawi, retracing our steps to its capital Lilongwe, after our short but magical visit to South Luangwa in Zambia.
After doing a bit of shopping at a smart new shopping centre at Lilongwe then buying the bulk of our food supplies from the friendly street vendors, we set off to see a bit more of Lake Malawi. Once a major slavery centre, the ancient town of lakeside Nkotakota has a bloody history but years of African rain have washed away the blood stains. Today it is has a happy, peaceful vibe and when we arrived there we immediately decided we like the town.
We absolutely loved the Sani Beach Resort at Nkotakota, where we spent a few incredible days. Run by local people, the resort was attractive and comfortable but the helpful staff and gentle local people treated us with such genuine warmth and natural kindness they turned our stay there into a very special memory. While we were staying there they made us feel a part of their lovely little community.
A busy day on the move, after we Nkotakota, saw us breakfasting on ‘real’ coffee and chocolate cake at Kande Bay, a great favourite with the multi-national packbacker and overlander fraternity. Then we headed north to Nkhata Bay, absolutely the backpacking capital of Malawi. This part of the lake was incredibly beautiful but it was a bit too busy and crowded for our taste so we headed west to the remote Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve, stopping at the pleasant and pretty town of Mzuzu to stock up on supplies. The reserve proved fascinating and our campsite, although a bit spartan, was beautifully situated, overlooking Lake Kazuni where big herds of elephant congregated in the evening. However, the reserve seemed rather run down and the staff, inept and annoying. Game drives were most enjoyable even though we were hounded by clouds of tsetse fly.With just a little more care, spit and polish, this reserve could become a real African treasure.
Our next stopover was one of the highlights of our Malawi experience. It is hard to describe the magic of Nyika Plateau, Malawi’s largest conserved area. Visiting this strange, stunning and other-worldly place in the clouds was almost a spiritual experience. As we drove we climbed higher and higher over gently rounded hills rather than dramatic mountains. The air grew crisp and chilly whikle we passed through flower-filled grasslands, rocky protea stands, patches of magnificent woodland and scrubby areas of montane vegetation. The plateau was like a huge, unkempt garden, stocked with an interesting assortment of game – perhaps it was the original Garden of Eden.
While camping there we met up with a party of campers from Botswana. We’d made friends with them at South Luangwa, so we enjoyed a social evening around the braai fires. Some cheeky hyenas were quite keen to join us but were gently discouraged.
Although I had some reservations, Bill decided to try out a shorter 4X4 route back to Rumphi near the main road that would take us to Livingstonia, our next destination. It proved a fairly easy and very scenic route and was less of a challenge than the next adventure we undertook, driving up the steep pass to the lofty Livingstonia. Named after Dr Livingstone, the Livingstonia mission station was established by Dr Robert Laws in the 1870s.
To get there we cautiously negotiated 20 switchback bends, stopping frequently to admire the breathtaking views of the lake. At the top, we found what looked like a replica of a little English, red-bricked village. A strange juxtaposition, this very European place, under African skies and overlooking the lake and Africa’s iconic Great Rift Valley, but Livingstonia was serene and pretty.
We descended, once again stopping often to admire the views from the hairpin corners, and spent the next couple of days at the lakeside resort at Chitimba. Here we met Jo, from England and her partner, Ben, from Belgium, who were working in Arusha, Tanzania and were cycling to Cape Town. We also met Stevie, an Englishwomen travelling through Africa on her own in a converted Landrover ambulance. You come across such interesting people on an African camping trip.
Together with the friendly people who owned the resort and the travellers from Botswana, who arrived shortly after we got there, it was a merry little party that congregated for supper that night. We’d been travelling with a box of South African wine that had sprung a leak and needed to be drunk. Our new-found Chitimba friends helped us sort out this problem at a very convivial beach party on our last night at the resort.
It was also our last night in Malawi. The next morning we headed north through some of the most dramatic scenery we had encountered on our journey. At the border post, helpful officials stamped our passports and welcomed us into Tanzania. Looking forward to the many adventures ahead of us, we were still sad to say goodbye to Malawi.
It is a simply marvellous country and has so much to offer the visitor. Sadly. it is also rather poor and, although we met up with many travellers from all over the world, I don’t think its tourism industry is as profitable as it should be. Perhaps I am wrong but I worry that the warm heart of Africa is not living up to its huge tourism potential.
