We slept in on Monday morning because in the middle of the night we had been woken up by the hippos grunting and snorting. We could also hear something outside munching on the grass. We tried to look out of our windows but it was too dark to see. When we looked out of the window in the morning, we could see vervet monkeys in the trees and elephants in the garden. On the way to the restaurant for breakfast we went past several elephants. They seemed to be all over the place. After breakfast we organised our move from the chalet to the safari tent. Our tent was great. It had a concrete verandah and had twin beds and bedside table. Out the back was our outdoor bathroom - an area surrounded by bamboo screens with a shower, basin and toilet. We had to store our food in the communal kitchen to keep the baboons and elephants from breaking into our tent to steal it. However the elephants were hanging around the kitchen and tent area so it was after 11.00 am before we were able to move into our tent. There was a lot of excitement as a big bull elephant had lain down under a tree for an afternoon snooze near the restaurant. We went for a bit of a walk around the camp area and then to the lagoon where we saw a family of banded mongeese and a couple of elephants.
At 3.30 pm we went on an evening game drive. We had a cup of tea and some slices of cake before jumping on to our game viewing vehicle with our guide and driver Malama and spotter Aaron. Before we had reached the Mfuwe entrance to the park we had seen an elephant (who stood on his hind legs to reach some succulent leaves), puku, white fronted bee-eater, African fisheagle, yellow baboons and vervet monkeys. Inside the park we drove over the Luangwa River where we saw hippos and a 3 metre long Nile crocodile. Then we saw a Crawshay's zebra (no brown shadow stripes), great white egret, common impala, lionesses and young male lion next to the remains of a buffalo kill, an African white backed vulture, a hooded vulture and a waterbuck with a yellow billed oxpecker. We stopped for a drink on a grassy river bed two hours into our game drive just as the sun was setting. After our drink we set off again, this time with Aaron manning a strong spotlight. We saw a night jar, giraffes, spotted hyena, rust spotted genet, African civet, and a white tailed mongoose. We were just on our way out of the park when a small leopard ran across the road in front of us. So all in all it was a very fruitful game drive.
We went for dinner once we got back to Flatdogs Camp. After dinner we were escorted back to our tent and Tyson (the night watchman) showed us a hippo who had come up into the camp to eat "sausages" from the sausage tree. We also watched the hippo "make toilet" on a bush – he dispersed his dung with rapid flicking of his tail!
On Tuesday we made it to the restaurant just in time to gulp half a cup of tea before heading out on our combination walking safari/game drive with Robbie our guide and Jones our scout, who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle. We drove some way into the park, parked the vehicle next to some scrub at the edge of a small clearing and got out. While Jones was loading his rifle, Robbie pointed out some Lilian's lovebirds and some long tailed glossy starlings. Then we began our walk. We walked in single file with Jones and his rifle leading the way. Robbie showed us how to identify zebra, giraffe, puku, impala, porcupine, civet, hyena, elephant and kudu droppings and how to distinguish between buffalo, giraffe and zebra hoof prints. The civet droppings showed how a particular tree was germinating from excreted seeds. We walked for a couple of hours, stopping to look at various birds, trees and animal droppings. The little five are the ant lion, leopard tortoise, rhinoceros beetle, elephant shrew, and buffalo bird. Robbie told us about the seven year life cycle of the ant lion and how they excrete by shedding their skin. We saw a termite mound of the type which grow fungus. We were able to get quite close to a dazzle of zebras before they became uncomfortable and moved away. Back in the vehicle, we spotted hippo, buffalo, jacana (sometimes called Jesus birds because they appear to walk on water), bushbuck, waterbuck, lions, white browed coucal and yellow baboon. On the last part of our drive we looked at a rhinoceros skeleton next to the lagoon and came across a large herd of buffalo crossing the road. Every so often one of the buffalo seemed to panic and the rest of the group would follow suit, galloping across the road in fright. We stopped to admire a pair of African fish eagles and as we did so, Keith caught a glimpse of a beautiful civet with yellow and black markings slinking into the bushes next to the vehicle. We headed out of the park spotting a hammerhead, African gymnogene (or harrier hawk, which changes colour of its face from yellow to red when excited and has a double jointed knee to allow it to put its talons in any direction into holes in trees to capture snakes, lizards, and baby birds), Retz hermit shrike and about thirty elephants. Back at Flatdogs Camp, Keith went for a walk with the camera. He saw hornbills, baboons, vervet monkeys and blue waxbills. After a swim and relax by the pool where we talked to a Dutch family, Keith went to the lagoon where he saw female puku, the mongeese and a water monitor climbing up a tree.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, we were woken by the sound of hippos making toilet, tramping and munching through the garden. We arrived at the restaurant at the same time as the Dutch family only to discover that they had forgotten about us and had packed away the early bird breakfast of cereal and jams as everyone had left for the game drives. The waiter started putting the crockery, cutlery, cereals and jams back out again and as soon as our backs were turned, the monkeys ran inside the restaurant and started stealing the cereal. They were very bold and we spent a lot of time chasing them away from the table. The waiter took the cereal back into the kitchen so one of the monkeys stole a dish of jam instead! He wasn't able to run very fast holding the jam in his front paws so he dropped it and we were able to retrieve it.
After breakfast we talked to the Dutch family. They were driving to Chipata to drop off their vehicle (which they had rented in Malawi) and it was being driven back to Lilongwe which was our next destination. They contacted the car rental company and arranged for us to be given a lift in the vehicle from Chipata to Lilongwe.
We went back to our tent and collected our back packs and met Geoffrey (our driver) at reception. We loaded our packs into the back of a very beaten up Toyota 4WD. It had a piece of chip board instead of a rear windscreen and one of the windows in the very back was made out of a clear plastic bag. The road to Mfuwe was not bad – it was terrible. There were two sections of tarred road but the rest of the road was unsealed, and littered with rocks and potholes. Geoffrey drove most of the 130 kms at 30 kms per hour so it was almost four hours before we arrived covered in a fine layer of red dust at the Crystal Springs Hotel in Chipata where we had agreed to meet the Dutch family.
We paid a quick visit to the supermarket and changed our remaining Zambian Kwachas into Malawian Kwachas. The largest denomination note we got was 500 Malawian Kwachas – equivalent to around USD 3 so we had big wads of cash. Then set off for Lilongwe with David from J&K Car Rentals. From there the journey was a breeze, the border crossing was painless and the road was tarred and straight.
We arrived at Lilongwe at 2.00 pm and David dropped us off at the Mufasa Lodge. To our horror it was full and the next hostel that we tried was also full. We went to the Budget Lodge and managed to check into a dingy room with twin beds and shared bathroom. Then we went out to find out about transport to Monkey Bay. We walked to the Lilongwe Bus Station via a couple of local minibus stands. We walked across the Lilongwe River and on the banks we could see some markets and a shanty town with people bathing in the river.
On Thursday morning we decided to try and catch the early bus to Monkey Bay and we caught a minibus to the Lilongwe Bus Depot. We saw a guy getting bashed up by a crowd because he had been caught stealing. We arrived at the bus stop at 7.30 am and the bus was already three quarters full. We managed to get some seats at the back which had heaps of legroom. A young trendily dressed preacher spoke and sang to the bus in Chichewa and took donations. The trip took four and a half hours passing numerous small villages and roadblocks. Whenever the bus stopped it was mobbed by people selling drinks, samosas, fruit and vegetables. We met Robert from the UK who was a part owner of Mufasa Rustic Lodge (called "Rustic" because no electricity) at Monkey Bay where we were heading. At Monkey Bay village we drove 500 metres on a dirt track to the Mufasa Rustic Lodge and got our first view of Lake Malawi. The setting was stunning with a 50 metre beach between two headlands, blue water, a huge baobab, and no people apart from the staff. We climbed up a steep goat track to the top of the kopje behind the camp. We had views over the adjacent bay, an island over the channel, Lake Malawi as far as the eye could see, rice paddies on the other side of a swamp, and behind us the Monkey Bay settlement. There were dassies on the rocks below us and we could see African fish eagles in the distance. We had lunch with the staff at 5.00 pm! Then we spent the next couple of hours having a beer with Robert while they prepared dinner. We ate dinner by candlelight and at around 7.30 pm and after chatting for a while, we went to bed.
On Friday we woke up as soon as it became light. Keith went for a walk while Suzie stayed in bed. After breakfast we walked to the harbour where we saw the weekly Ilala ferry and some baboons in the trees near the harbour. We went and had a look at a rather dilapidated boat called the Chauncey Maples and then we walked across the airstrip to the Venice Beach Backpackers to have lunch and see if we could use the internet. Back at Mufasa, we had a swim in the lake and Keith went for a paddle in the canoe.
After breakfast on Saturday, we walked into town to catch a matola (light pick-up truck) to Cape Maclear. We waited for 20 minutes for a matola to fill up then we climbed on board, stepping over bags of sugar, biscuits, cane mats and seated ourselves on a sack of clothing. We set off down a bumpy dirt road to Cape Maclear. It was a 45 minute drive past a couple of "brick factories" where we could see grey mud bricks drying in the sun. In some areas the grey bricks were piled up in kiln-like stacks with holes underneath to allow for fires for firing the bricks. Some kilns had been lit – the exteriors were covered in mud and the bricks were changing from grey to orange. After being dropped off by the matola we walked along the gravelly beach to the Mufasa Cape Maclear Lodge where we put our camera and laptop on to charge. We strolled along the beach and along the main road looking at some of the crafts stalls. Then we headed back to the Mufasa Lodge for a delicious fish lunch. After lunch we walked along the main street to catch a matola back to Monkey Bay. We got dropped off at the hospital where we managed to get some Coartem anti malaria treatment pills. Back at Monkey Bay, we took a walk down to the swamp near the entrance of Mufasa and saw fireflies flickering on and off above the grass. It was really magical.
After breakfast on Sunday, we walked into town to catch a minibus to Mangochi for the first leg of our trip to Liwonde. On the way into town a guy in a small late model Toyota van stopped and offered us a lift to Mangochi. When we arrived at Mangochi we were swamped by touts trying to find out where we were headed next. Our bags were grabbed out of the rear of the van and a scuffle between rival minibus operators ensued with some punches being thrown. Eventually we managed to retrieve our bags which had been placed in different minibuses and put them into a minibus that was nearly full but we ended up sitting around for almost an hour while they crammed more people and luggage in. Finally the minibus was push/clutch-started and we headed off only to stop a couple of hundred metres down the road to pack a couple of sacks of dried fish on top of our back packs behind our head. When the minibus started again we were covered in a fine layer of white flakes which smelt of fish. We arrived in Liwonde about an hour later and got dropped off in the town after crossing the Shire River. There were no rooms available at the Shire Camp but the owner organised three guys to take us to the Bushman Camp by bicycle. One bike took our packs and we each went on the back of another. Half way there a clapped out 4WD stopped and took us the rest of the way. We arrived at the half constructed camp and checked into the dorm after chatting to the owner, Darren. The dorm had an earth floor and no electricity!! Luckily there was plenty of space as we only had to share it with four Irish medical students. We went for a walk to the river bank which was actually marsh and lagoon with the river proper some distance away. We walked along bush paths seeing lots of signs of hippo and some fresh waterbuck dung. We returned to the camp and had a fabulous dinner at a big communal table with all the other guests and we were munched by the mosquitoes. We had a shower and went to bed to the sound of hippos grunting again.
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