Malawi: Lake Malawi, Liwonde, & Zomba

Malawi: Lake Malawi & Zomba

Malawi was a country that we intended to visit for a few days, which gradually became a few weeks; I say gradually, as nothing happens quickly in Malawi, except perhaps your falling in love with it. They call it the warm heart of Africa and we couldn’t agree more, despite it being one of the less developed countries we visited, it was also where we saw the biggest smiles and met some of the most wonderful people.  It was our first experience of the delights and challenges of African public transport and our first request for

a bribe at a police checkpoint that lead to a fruitful misunderstanding (more about that when we get to Zomba). We swam with shoals of colourful cichlid fish in Lake Malawi, fed sea eagles, played beer pong, learned how to play the fun yet infuriating card game “Game of Mao” (can’t talk about it though!) as well as the local favourite game; Bao – which helped us while away many a lazy afternoon. Our safari thirst was quenched at the Liwonde National park, where we stayed at the Liwonde Safari Camp with a collapsible Dutch owner (just add Jamesons!); and saw cheetahs for the first time. Last but certainly not least we enjoyed spectacular hiking on the Zomba plateau, where we shared an old colonial cottage with newly made travel friends, hosted by some inspirational volunteer doctors who live on an old tobacco plantation.  Malawi was epic!

Arriving into the capital Lilongwe late one evening, we had a one night stay at the Kiboko Town Hotel, where we were greeted by a very friendly night shift manager. We told him of our plans to get to Cape Maclear the following day and he immediately told us that he had a friend who needed to drive in that direction anyway and could give us a good deal.  We managed to negotiate a fee of $80USD, which was quite pricey (as it was a 5 hour drive) but was about $20USD cheaper than the other private taxis we had been quoted.  At that time of night, and with the other option being dipping our toes into public transport; we bit the bullet and paid up. The ride was comfortable, and a lot quicker than the bus would have been (despite a few pit stops along the way, as the driver had some errands to run), and so we arrived at the Funky Cichlid hostel, on the banks of Lake Malawi for some downtime…

The hostel itself is great, a nice space right on the lake with a very relaxed and friendly vibe. They have a lake-side beach with sun loungers and volleyball nets as well as a space where they allow local craft sellers to sell their wares to residents, this space is rostered to spread around the opportunity amongst the local community. The managers were really welcoming, attentive, and helpful which was fantastic and really helped us to relax. After spending the previous weeks on the road through Africa on an overland tour with someone else setting the pace, it was nice to relax and do nothing for a few days. There are plenty of things to do around the lake area, and the guys at Funky will help you with any questions you have about what’s available and how to book. You can hike, rent a kayak, take a boat tour of the lake and nearby islands, or maybe snorkel with the fish and then feed the eagles at sunset (this one is well worth doing!).  In addition to all the organised activities we really enjoyed taking walks through the village, where you will be met by lots of friendly locals and super sweet children who will melt your heart.  There are lots of places to buy a bite to eat or a beer and most of all it is a great place to just chill and enjoy the sparkling lake views.

Speaking of chilling, there is a feeling of time standing still in Cape Maclear, and while I am no cosmologist I just had to find out more about this phenomenon…

Aside from a couple of the activities mentioned above, life was basically 3 meals, pots of coffee, numerous beers, lounging around with new friends and reading/writing; and we carried out our duties with gusto! We were able to catch up on our blog; as well as planning the next leg of the journey. We stayed a total of 6 nights at Funky’s, but our feet began to itch so eventually we decided it was time to move on. We had met some fellow long-term travellers at our accommodation in Lilongwe and bumped into them again in Cape Maclear one day; we sought them out to see what their next move was and decided to travel together to Liwonde National Park, for a couple of days of safari…

Malawi – Liwonde National Park

We were encouraged by our new friends to take the plunge with public transport and so we experienced our first minibus ride, oh the joys!! Malawi minibus travels are unique, take a standard minibus, add another row of seats; put a levered seat on the edge of each row in the aisle and fill until full to bursting (which is at approximately 24 passengers versus the factory standard of 15). The buses drive around towns honking their horns, or with the conductor shouting their destinations from the (sometimes functional) sliding door; trying to fill the bus before moving on along their route. You may find yourself holding someone’s child, next to a live chicken or a bucket of fish; you may find yourself bent into a position that experienced contortionists take years to perfect in order to squeeze one more person or item into the van, all to the tune (mercy) of whatever music the driver wants to listen to at ear splitting and distorted volumes!! I will forever associate Michael Jackson’s Heal the World with one particular journey. There is no experience like it – believe me, and afterwards you will be happy to take any mode of transport without complaining; from now on the likes of Easy Jet will seem first class.

We arrived at Liwonde Safari Camp, which is a rustic lodge and campsite within the national park boundaries,  so we had the added excitement of potentially being eaten/trampled on after dark! Despite the presence of hyenas, elephants, owls, warthogs; and the elephant shrew within our camp, we are still alive to tell this tale. We chose a safari tent for our stay here, but the dorms are large and nice so if you are working on more of a budget then they are well worth a go. Game drives and boat rides are available from this camp with morning game drives and afternoon boat rides being the most popular; we took game drives for both as the morning drive we took was very eventful (we saw cheetahs!). The park itself is particularly scenic with grassy plains, rocky hills, wetlands; and lots of Baobab trees, it really adds a great backdrop to your photographs. We were fortunate to see 3 cheetahs in a wooded area. We were challenged by territorial elephants, saw a hippo that had left the wetlands to live out its final days, a bushpig out past its usual curfew; and a wake of vultures picking clean a corpse; this place seemed so naturally wild in comparison with the likes of Addo Elephant Park in South Africa. Malawi isn’t one of the most well-known safari destinations, so you are likely to have the place almost to yourself. We saw abundant wildlife and really enjoyed the authentic and natural setting.

One evening we were lucky enough to have a long chat with the owner of the lodge, over a few whisky’s, which made for a very interesting conversation about life in Malawi as an expat, the national park and its environmental challenges, politics and more – we learned a lot. Our night was only cut short when the owner thought he saw an elephant behind us and toppled off his chair, after which he decided it was time to call it a night. We would highly recommend a visit to Liwonde if you are a fan of wildlife and safaris, you won’t regret it.

From here another minibus ride took us to the city and former capital Zomba, this region is known for its historical buildings and for its hiking. There are several trails available on the Zomba Plateau as well as many ‘guides’ keen to accompany you; we were lucky enough to find a very knowledgeable guide who had been guiding on the plateau for 10 years. He arranged transport for us up to the Plateau and then took us on a hike that began at 8am in the morning and lasted about 8 hours; our route included heading to the top viewpoint, Chingwe’s hole, the Potato path and William’s waterfall – some of the inclines were strenuous but incredibly rewarding.

Before that though, we explored Zomba town and its markets, where you can buy fresh produce or beautiful  Malawian wax fabric in a plethora of colours and prints. It is a town very much in the colonial style, with some once-splendid buildings, which have seen better days, but still retain their old-world charm. We ventured up to the plateau to look around ahead of the hike day, stopping into the Sun Bird hotel where we enjoyed a cup of tea with some nice views, but when the bill came we did not like what we saw! A word of warning – always check the price list before you order; no matter where you are, or what assumptions you make about somewhere. We do not recommend visiting this hotel for tea.

While in the area we stayed in a fantastic AirBnB at a place called 7 mile (presumably because it is 7 miles from town). Sitting on a tobacco farm, in a grand old plantation bungalow are 3 apartments that are managed by 2 retired surgeons who volunteer at the local hospital. They have 2 of the apartments for themselves, but the third is for use by any visiting medical volunteers doing a temporary stint at the hospital. When there are no volunteers, it is offered on AirBnB for a small cost ($15 USD p/p when we stayed), to help cover their costs.  With this rental you also have the benefit of a Toyota Prado for rental at around $25 USD per day, it’s quite old (1980) but it’s a Toyota; so, will probably run for at least another 20 years! Lastly, but by no means leastly you have access to the housekeeper, who for a small fee will cook your meals, and do your laundry; great news if you are travelling and want some clean clothes and a home cooked meal! The workers on the property and their families are very friendly and we really enjoyed our stay. We even had two extremely playful Rhodesian Ridgebacks, who we adopted for the duration. The location is quite remote and isolated, but this adds to the charm and experience and the views are to die for.

Talking of the car, we had an interesting experience at a police checkpoint one afternoon on our way back to the estate from Zomba. The policeman manning the station engaged us in some casual conversation, just asking where we had been and what we had been up to; but then he began to turn the conversation to what he wanted. We had been to the market we told him, to get some food to cook dinner, and he said that he was hungry too; and what did we have for him? He said he wanted Fanta, but as we didn’t have any we apologetically passed him a couple of oranges. When we got back to our accommodation we told one of the surgeons what had happened, it was then that he filled us in that Fanta is the code word that the Malawian police use to ask for a bribe, so you can imagine the look on the policeman (and his colleagues) face when we drove off with him stood holding an orange!

From Malawi, we would head for Tanzania…