For the past three days, I have joined the expat and tourist world. It has been, I admit, very refreshing.
Wednesday morning, I boarded the express shuttle from Namwera to Blantyre at 3am, and by 6:45 was in Zomba.
After a quick breakfast in town, I was picked up by a taxi and driven out of town to a farm for a delightful trail ride. While thrilled to be on a horse again, the setting could easily have been anywhere in the world with nothing specifically remarkable. Ann, the young German woman who owned the horses, was great to talk with and had lots of incites. She came to Malawi with her father while she was in high school and through high school spent six months here, then six months in Germany.
My next stop was my real destination. Zomba Forest Lodge.
I chose it, because it was half way up the plateau, off grid, and had all meals included. It is a little paradise. The lodge is run by a truly delightful British couple who have been there for twenty years and have done major work in restoring and conserving many hectares of forest around their home. Tom shared that the biggest thing has been stopping fires rather than planting trees. Fire is not a naturall part of the ecosystem around Zomba. It is cloud forest and too wet. All fires are man made. The forests have naturally grown back in the areas where they've purchased kept locals from burning for farmland and harvesting for charcoal.
Their house could be set in the garden of Eden. There was a wealth of birdlife, including the gorgeous yellow bellied sun bird, and a small bird colored like a humming bird, but of different shape. There were also Samango monkeys. A cousin, I am sure of the Vervet, but a first for me, and just as delightful to watch. And running all through their forested lot is a network of two plus miles of trail.
Almost as delightful as the real wildlife was the shelf of books that seemed designed to answer all my wildlife questions that have been building up. Be forewarned that I will be writing about chameleon and frog species in future posts.
Thursday, I spent nearly the whole day hiking the Plateau with Aubrey, a guide arranged for me by Tom. The steep sides of the plateau are forested, but Tom informed me that the top is naturally grasslands, although some people now are trying to forest it assuming that all cleared area has been so artificially by logging. Sadly, we did encounter many illegal firewood harvesters all along our hike.
At first, I was skeptical about having a guide. I think that I am a competent hiker with a map and google has proved very reliable on my explorations in Malawi thus far. It really was a job creation type thing, but in the end it was nice to have someone who knew about the plants and could share information about what I was looking at. It did raise once again for me questions about economics. I paid Aubrey 25,000, which is fair. We trekked for hours, and he carried the delux sandwich (really one of the best I've ever had), but a teacher in Malawi makes less than 12,000MK a day. Malawi really is bifurcated between the white residents/those working for foreign NGOs and businesses and locals. Here I lump myself with the locals as I shelled out the equivalent of a months salary in three days. It was worth it for my mental health, as well as being super eye opening and educational. Just to talk with and listen to Tom, Petal, and the two other guests who are long term Malawian residents in the medical NGO world was an education.
Now, I am at my last stop. A quick overnight at Liwonde Safari Camp:
I came to scout it out for a visit from some friends. I am charmed!!! It is a "budget" safari place according to Tom at the Zomba Lodge, but I am delighted! I am not doing any of the game drives or boat safaris this stay and yet in one afternoon from atop the viewing platforms I've seen alligators, warthogs, Impala, baboons, giant kingfishers, and elephants! All for $15 a night and meals about $10 each. As I write, the frogs and bugs are chirping and I can hear the hippos grunting as the come out of the river!
Tomorrow back to Namwera, and Monday back to work.