A week of hiking – Zomba and Mount Mulanje.

Fri Feb 6th
I left Lilongwe about 11.30am after driving around the city doing various things – collecting things I had lent people at the hospital (avoiding seeing if my patients were dead or alive on the paediatric ward), collecting assessment forms, going to the police station to get a police report for my stolen camera (success!), trying to go shopping but there has been no power for most of the week and the generator in Shoprite is broken so they are closed (have been closed all week). I get the rest of the camping food at nice but pricey Foodworths. Eventually I have the car packed and am ready to leave. Its a lovely hot sunny day, feels like holiday already. I drive to Dedza (about 100km south) for lunch at the pottery cafe and some pottery shopping. Then drive further south, past Liwonde where we were for Christmas holidays, then the road bends east and the Zomba plateau comes into view: steep-sided cliffs arising from the lush green maize and tobacco fields. The drive down is so different that it was at Christmas time: now the maize is so high you can’t see over it, and the tobacco is being dried in open-sided, thatched roof huts by the side of the road.
I drive around the bottom of Zomba plateau into Zomba town to find Kate where she has been working in a rural health centre for a week. Its a town, lots of trees. We drive together up the steep-sided hill of the plateau, and into the mist. Mist combined with increasing darkness makes it easy to get lost and we do! We end up driving down a tiny track and asking a nice man in a hut with a fire the way. We arrive at the trout farm in the dark and are given the option of a very pretty, basic guesthouse as an alternative to camping. Its beginning to rain so we take up the offer. We cook pasta on an open fire by candle light and sleep under mossie nets under a tin roof that is very noisy all night because of torrential rain.
Sat Feb 7th
I awake late because of lack of sleep because of rain. We organised a guide last night and he (Edgar) takes us up the hill after breakfast. We climb up a dirt track, through overgrown forest and then large areas of deforestation. The trees are mainly pine, with some other species mixed in. Lots of beautiful vines and flowers all tangled up in between the trees. We climb to the highest point of Zomba plateau, whish when we get there, all that is visible is the 3-4 communications towers! The rest is mist. Good hike uphill though. We then walk around the edge of the top of the plateau, with intermittent views of the flat plains below. Edgar takes us up to ‘the hole’, a deep hole in the rock surrounded by trees where apparently lepers and naughty people used to be pushed into. There are men desperately trying to sell ‘crystals’ which they have dug out of the side of the mountain. They aren’t very impressive – look more like rocks to me! We have our sandwiches (we made one for Edgar too) overlooking the river Shire running south to the Zambezi from Lake Malawi. Its a stunning view. We complete our 25km circular walk by visiting a large waterfall. The paths are very slippery but Edgar doesn’t slip once. He has plastic loafers on with soles like mirrors. We girls in walking boots slide all over the place. “I am used”, he says.
Home for a hot shower, heated by a cedar-wood fire, then we drive up to the posh hotel up the road and admire the astounding view down onto the plains, and even see Mount Mulanje in the distance. MGTs then an expensive dinner – feels well deserved after a long day in the mountains.
Sun Feb 8th
Up early for another walk with Edgar. This time we take in two view points – named after Emperor Selassie (Ethiopia) and the Queen Mother. Mist is about but not enough to spoil an aerial view of Zomba. We then walk to a natural and a man-made dam, all the time walking through wild and beautiful overgrown forest. We meet Malawians lugging bundles of sticks down the hillside, loads balanced precariously on their heads. We stop to help one girl who is having trouble re-loading her bundle onto her head after resting half-way down the steep, rocky mountainside. Barefoot and 11 years old. That’s a working life for you. The weather is misty and humid. After another hot shower and sandwich back at the trout farm (and a look at the breeding river trout in their rectangular concrete tanks), we drive back down off the plateau. Buy mulberries, passion fruit, and bananas on the way down. Mulberries look like blackberries and taste like blueberries/bilberries. Very good. We had planned to take a new road that links Zomba directly with Mulanje but were advised against this as the road is not yet completely tarred, and our is not suitable for such roads. Instead we head south to Blantyre. Each side of the road tall with fully-grown maize and umpteen stalls selling lots of vegetables, avocado, jackfruit. At Blantyre we head east, 60km along a brand new tarred road to Mulanje. Mulanje town is one road, underneath the massive rock face of Mount Mulanje. We can’t see the top because of low cloud and rain. There are lots of pineapples and avocados for sale on either side of the road. We drive 12km past Mulanje town into the tea plantations (looks so much like India) to meet a fried of our friend Nick in Lilongwe who is a key-holder for the huts on Mulanje mountain. Although the huts are open for all hikers on the mountain, equipment for cooking and eating are only available if you have a key to the store cupboards in each hut. These keys are only held by members of the Mountain Club of Malawi, having friends therefore helps, as we have none of our own pots and pans. We meet Lindsay Ross at his beautiful home in the middle of a tea plantation. He helps us organise our 3-4 day hike in the tourist information office in town, then invites us to stay the night at his home. Hamburgers and chips for dinner, then packing for the mountain before sleeping in a very big bed under a very big mossie net.
The Mount Mulanje adventure
Day 1
We were up Mount Mulanje for 4 days and 3 nights. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Again, nature astounds more than anything else. On day one we left Lindsay’s house after a cooked breakfast (he has one everyday, we just joined in) and several trays of local tea. We stopped at the tourist office to make sure our plans had been communicated to the forestry office, then drove 10km on a dirt road to Likhabula, around the edge of the mountain. It’s a beautiful sunny day but there is cloud covering the mountain top. At the Likhabula basecamp we are greeted by keen porters and guides who obviously don’t follow the rules of the mountain: porters and guides are allocated on a rota basis, so that everyone gets some income each month. We have decided to hire a porter today to help carry our heavy luggage up the steep ascent. Our porter is Patrick and Peter is our guide. Patrick is wearing flip-flops, Peter asics runners. We are swarmed by men selling walking poles made from cedar wood. They are beautifully carved and I remember them being helpful for steep ascents and descents on the Inka trail (remember that Else, we had fun!), we both Kate and I buy a pair. We start walking by about 9am, through leafy trees, getting steeper up a red dirt path, passing men with huge greenwood planks on their heads walking barefoot down the steep path. The trees begin to thin out, and allow a view of the plains below. The valley side opposite is a steep bank of solid rock, water cascading down it at numerous points. The sun is hot. We share the smaller of our two bags, with our essentials in it. Sweat, and wash our faces in each cold stream we cross. By 11.30am we have reached the top of the steep climb, and we’re up on Mulanje plateau. After a wee breather and some chocolate, we stride out through the Chambe basin, devastated by deforestation and bush fires. The mountain of Chambe peak looms above us, a mass of solid rock. But otherwise the scenery is a bit of a mess. We stop at Chambe hut for lunch and bask in the hot sun. Then its another 3 hours, op more than down but a bit of both, through a mixture of open hillside and woodland. Cloud comes down around us but as we near our destination and top the last ridge, it clears and we have magnificent views of the base of the mountain with wisps of cloud coming and going. Over the last ridge we also see the hut (Chisepo)where we will spend the night and the peak we will attempt to summit in the morning.
The hut is wooden and on stilts. There is already a fire going with a kettle boiling and 2 other hikers. We find a pool and strip off to wash off the sweat and dirt. Its very cold but refreshing. The rain starts when we are bathing. We warm up by the open fire, stocked with wood brought in by the watchman (there is a watchman employed by the forestry department that looks after each hut, supplying guests with firewood and water for cooking/drinking, and hot bathing water if required). We cook a mountain of pasta before bedding down on a pile of old mattresses and blankets around the open fire. The porter and the guide sleep with the watchman in his smaller hut. I am very grateful of my 1ºC sleeping bag. Brrrr its chilly. Lovely full moon and a sky full of stars.
Day 2
Up by 6am to prepare for our attempt to summit Sapitwa (in Chichewa this means ‘don’t go there’!) – almost 3000m and the highest peak in Central Africa. After peanut butter on bread for breakfast we start the climb, straight up form the back of the hut in the strong and hot early morning sunshine. Very soon the path becomes very steep, and we have to jump from granite rock to granite rock. Faded red arrows mark the way. We need our hands to clamber over the rocks and make the wide high gaps between rocks. Then there are large slabs of granite, sparkling in the sunshine. We have to walk up these, making sure our feet have a sound hold and we don’t slip. Some places are wet and slippery. After about 1.5-2hrs climbing we reach a slippery bit and Kate decides she won’t go on. Peter and I go on up a bit more, but soon come across an area which he says is impassable. I ask if we can go around it but he stresses the importance of sticking to the path. People have died on this mountain, so when someone who knows the mountain says it isn’t safe to go on, I don’t disagree. We have been defeated by the mountain, but at least we tried.
It is still sunny on the difficult descent but the cloud is rolling in, another good reason for turning back. Legs are jelly after the 45 minute descent, most of which is managed with our hands on the ground behind us – it’s that steep! Cup of tea back at the hut before packing up and carrying all our own kit this time (Patrick legged it back down the mountain early this morning). We head for Lichenya hut, a 4hr walk away. Rain comes in, heavy but warm. Again, the walk is a mix of open hillside and closed, lush woodland. It’s beautiful, even though our view is obscured by low cloud. It’s chilly enough for merino at lunchtime. After lunch we descend onto a lush green plateau. The path is slippery as it zig-zags down and across the grassy meadows. We reach the hut in hot sunshine. I walk an extra kilometre to find a stream and spend the next hour dipping in and out of the crystal clear chilly water, hoping there are no prying eyes!
I cook soup and flavoured rice on the open fire and we chat to a Malawian botanist who is staying at the hut for a week, doing research on indigenous species and collecting seeds for the millennium seed bank. We managed to dry all our damp kit in the sunshine, very satisfying.
Day 3
After sharing bread and peanut butter and tea with the botanist, we walk together with him through tall grass, overgrown bracken, and clumps of tress ferns to ‘the crater’. The crater is on the side of Mount Mulanje, where the mountain drops vertically down to create a crescent shape hole in the side of the mountain. On a clear day the view is astounding apparently, you can see the tea plantations, and Mozambican mountains. But all we see is a sea of cloud! Its still obviously the edge of an abyss though, and we sit and admire wild flowers (e.g. orchids) and nurse our very sore legs (from yesterdays steep descent off Sapitwa) instead. The flora is amazing up here. So many flowers, and the tress fern are an amazing plant (nick-named ‘dinosaur fodder’ because they are such an ancient species, and they do indeed look like they come from prehistoric times!). We have time to notice and admire small things today. Our next hut is very close to our last one, but we take a 10km loop to get there to take in the crater. We reach our next hut – Hope’s Rest Cottage, the oldest hut on the mountain (there is a photo of it on the wall from the late 1800s) – in time for an early lunch of hot soup. Its become quite chilly. This hut is a private one, not owned by the forestry. It has beds and a beautifully equipped kitchen. The watchman is beautifully and polite and welcoming, and help us boil a kettle for tea in a teapot with china cups!
After warming up a bit, we leave Peter at the hut around the watchman’s own fire to dry his wet shoes and we take the 45 minute walk to the edge of the mountain to find some swimming pools in the stream. The view is the best we’ve had so far. Tea plantations, Mulanje town, and the dirt road winding down below. We admire for a long time, overlooking the waterfall where the stream cascades down the rock face. The pools are deep and crystal clear. We wash and splash in the chilly water, and air-dry afterwards. So amazing.
Back at the hut for more soup and a less appetising supper of instant noodles. The watchman brings us freshly-cooked new potatoes and fresh pineapple, much nicer! He is excited by instant noodles so its a fair exchange. Peaceful evening by the fire drying wet socks and shoes.
Day 4
Wake to a cold misty morning, our first so far. We leave the hut by 7am and walk to the top of the coll behind the hut before beginning the 4-5 hour descent. The cloud clears now and again and gives us views of Chambe peak on the other side of this valley, the side we climbed up 3 days ago. The temperature gets warmer as we descend and the path gets slippery. I manage a couple of impressive falls, saved from injury by my rucksack each time. Eventually, with jelly legs, we reach woodland towards the bottom. Lots of butterflies in the sunshine. We have to take a detour to avoid a full river – too full to cross. Luckily the others we crossed today were just about manageable. Through maize fields and a village at the end – its strange to see other people again. I’ forgotten how annoying “Madam I am hungry” and “give me money” sounded! We arrive back to find the car safe and sound, and are immediately approached by the men who sold us their sticks, asking for them back. Apparently they were only rented. These guys are super clever! Quick look around the numerous stalls selling beautifully carved cedar wood before driving back to Lindsay for a magnificent spread of roast chicken with all the trimmings for lunch. He and all his staff are such brilliant hosts! After a delicious hot shower we devour our lunch – I have been so hungry this past 4 days, must be the exertion!
Spend the afternoon watching Lindsay’s staff clean our shoes and very smelly clothes – this really is a different life to what we’re used to. I take Bonzo the crazy jack russel for a tour of the tea plantations around Lindsay’s house, very peaceful and beautiful surroundings, I can see why these people live in this part of Malawi. I would chose this place too. In the late afternoon Lindsay has organised a tour of a tea factory for us. We spend an hour with the production manager going around the factory watching and learning about the tea processing. It;’s fascinating. Lindsay designed and maintains most of the machines in the factory as the company’s engineer. We watch the freshly picked tea arrive in tractor and trailer loads, all the way through to the end product. This tea is bought by Tetley, Typhoo, and Taylors of Harrogate to name a few. We then head to the Mulanje Golf Club to join the local expats for their weekly club night. Food and chat. Very tired and very stiff legs. I will sleep like a log in the big comfy bed without my sleeping bag tonight.
Its amazing how satisfying and contenting living up a mountain or in a wild place for such a short time is. Why is that? I think just because I love it so much. I know my life will have to have mountains and wild places in it on a regular basis!
Fri Feb13th
After another cooked breakfast with Lindsay, served by his cook on the table on the veranda, we drive to Blantyre. We spend the day avoiding heavy downpours by looking around Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (where I will start 3 weeks of work on Monday), having lunch at a posh (ex-pat infested) art gallery, touring the Carlsberg brewery (another fascinating experience, tea and beer making all in the space of 2 days!), and visiting a paper-making workshop. Blantyre is much more compact that Lilongwe and ha a massive shopping centre with a cinema that reminds me of South Africa. The backpackers we have planned to stay in is a drinking hole for the locals. We try and be positive about pitching our tent amongst the noise and the inevitability of heavy rain. I miss the mountain.
Sat Feb 14th
We spend the day at the National Museum of Malawi (a small run-down place with some funny/interesting things on display), eating pizza in the big shopping mall, doing my food shopping for the next 3 weeks as I won’t have a car to go to the shops, and then the afternoon in the market. Its great fun in the market, lots and lots of junk, second hand clothes, new clothes, loads of fresh fruit and veg. I buy a basket and fill it with fruit and veg for the week. We then go and sit outside a posh hotel, drinking beer, and enjoying the evening sunshine. Then to an Ethiopian restaurant for food before drinks back at our backpackers with funny drunk old men. Tomorrow Kate will leave to drive back to Lilongwe, and I will move to a guest house. On Monday I’ll start in the paediatric A&E department in Queen’s hospital.