The 'Best of' tour

Two weeks away from the computer and lots of great stories. Dale and Jeannie took us on a 'best of' Malawi adventure. This country continues to amaze me with its beauty and the warmth of the people. It is 'The Warm Heart of Africa,' a deserving title.

Now, on to our adventures...
Downtown Lilongwe:
Todd and I had a great time exploring downtown Lilongwe. Lilongwe has a huge clothing market, so we decided to try our hand at some bartering. We spent the day in the market looking for shoes and long sleeved shirts. We had the entire shoe market looking for UK size 10 athletic shoes for Todd. They found all sorts of great colors, some of the 80's persuasion, black, gold and red never looked so good. Muzungu is the word for white person, historically traveler and since most travelers were white it became the coin word for us. And because we are Muzungu's we are charged different prices, so the bartering was very funny. But in the end we both succeeded in finding our desired items.
Spent a fun evening at Good Fella's bar drinking Carlsberg. Carlsberg's slogan is 'Probably the Best Beer in the World!' It makes me laugh every time I see it. Carlsberg is probably the best beer in Malawi because it is all that is sold here. I am ready for some variety.

Zomba Plateau:
Saturday morning we headed down to Zomba. We stayed at the US Embassy Cottage.

You would think we were high class or something with all these connections. The cottage was a slice of heaven. Up in the forest, well, what is left after all the cutting, a nice lake and beautiful waterfalls. Sitting on the back porch listening to the wind blow through the trees reminded me of my summers up in Canada. So quiet and peaceful with nature moving around you, simple observations of movement, and no worries on the mind. I sat and watched Vervet Monkeys catapult themselves across the tree tops. They were the exception to the quiet as they moved with calculated chance versus grace.
We did a great hike up the river to William's Waterfalls. Todd and I couldn't resist the falls.

A quick removal of our shoes and shirts and we were drenched in freezing water, laughing and splashing about. It was great! And even better, no chance of Bilharzia, a nasty organ eating worm that swiss cheeses your insides, because the water was moving rapidly. Don't worry mom, we are going to get tested for this nasty little thing when we get back to the states, just in case.
The view from the Plateau was nice, but very hazy. Realistically, smokey but hazy sounds more natural. The people love to burn, fields, mountain sides, rubbish, etc. The idea is to rapidly reinvigorate the soil, but the amount of burning is unbelievable. It feels like you are wrapped in a bubble of haze sometimes because the visibility is so low.
Also on the Plateau, we saw men with bikes piled high with wood. They buy a permit, load up their
bikes and sell the wood at the bottom. Some may wear shoes aka flip flops, but many are barefoot.

The sheer amount of strength it takes to go up and down the mountain with all the wood is amazing. I am still in awe of the physical day to day tasks Malawians endure just to feed their families. It is hard to get upset about clear cutting when you see the effort they put in for a small amount of wood and subsequently money. It is all simply incredible.

Mt. Mulanje:
From Zomba we ventured to Mt. Mulanje, the highest mountain in Southern Africa at 3,000m (9,800ish ft). It was hard to get perspective of its size because the haze hindered or view of the mountain. The idea was to summit the highest peak, Sapitwa. We arrived on Dale's birthday at the base lodge. A nice celebration full of bubbles and cured meats was the start to our mountain adventure. Oh, I can't forget the cake...it was fabulous in all aspects of the word. A round cake with white icing, nice pink rim with 'Happy Birthday Dale' spelled out in with individual little sprinkles, both the colorful ones and the silver balls, the little finger indentions barely visible through our candle lit ambiance. Like I said, fabulous!
We set off from 750m with 6 porters, 1 cook, and 1 guide. What a hike! I will admit to being a little soft these days, but even if I was a little more svelte I still believe this mountain would've been a rough haul. Although my lungs and legs burned the scenery kept my mind busy. It was stunning. We
passed waterfalls that wrapped around boulders the size of small houses into grand pools. Lush forest with the sound of birds chirping, then up to the plateau. Where broom grass and elephant tongue flowers, beautiful purple flowers with bright yellow stamines, dominated the view. Then we tracked over, under, and through a burned pine forest. It was up the mountain, across a plateau, down through the cedars, which smelled great, up the other side of the mountain for roughly 8 hours. Finally, we made it to Chisepho Hut elevation 2,200m. So when I say we hiked up, it was pretty much all day. The best part...it took the porters less then half that time. Amazing!
The hut was simple with one room, double sided fireplace in the middle, and a couple of windows and a couple tables and chairs.

When we arrived there was tea waiting on the table for us, not too rough. I may have been tired but I will admit that porters are a luxury I am starting to enjoy. It would have been a much harder journey with full packs. The hut was a bit stuffy since they were burning cedar, a nice but overwhelming aroma. No running water or electricity, so we played cards by candle light.
Todd and I decided to sleep outside. It was beautiful! The milky way dominated the sky. And the stars, unbelievably bright. I am still getting used to looking up and not recognizing the constellations. No big dipper to keep me grounded. Now, I can find Scorpio, which looks pretty cool but I have trouble with the southern cross. Supposedly, the easiest constellation to find in the southern hemisphere. The big dippers southern cousin. The moon is another amazing thing. It shines with an orange hue, simply spectacular.
So anyway, the next morning, summit day! Todd, Dale, and I summited Sapitwa.

It was probably one of the most fun hikes I have ever done. The first 45 minutes was straight up, over flat sheer faced rocks. Then we got into huge boulders. My mind was consumed with the next move. Jumping from boulders, crawling through crevasses, finding the right grip on the rocks,meandering through a juniper thicket, etc. It was great! The peak didn't come into view until we were 10 minutes from the top. Kinda strange to get perspective when you are almost at the top. We embraced what view we had from the top, oh the what the view may have been without the haze, we will never know. We were able to see the hut and the plateaus we traversed the previous day. A quick snack and a photo shoot at the top later and we were headed back down.

The down was also fun until we got to that sheer rock face and steep incline. It was slow
going. I am not ashamed to admit that much of my descent was on my rump. I have turned into a klutz and lack concentration, so with the prospect of plummiting face first down the mountain with one wrong step, my backside seemed to be the safest bet. With sore knees and hands and a great sense of accomplishment we returned to the hut for a quick lunch before another 3 hour hike to Tuchila Hut (2,000m).
This hut was built in 1908 and was very different from the first one. Still no running water or electricity, but it had three rooms with fireplaces in two, good size windows and a nice porch. The drop toilets at this sight were much more disgusting. I would have rather dug a hole, but with our
entourage of people, there was little option but to use the drop toilet. We opted for a night under a roof, the stars were consumed by the haze and we were simply exhausted. I did take my first bucket bath. You stand on a board propped up by a couple of rocks and use a bucket filled with water to wash. It consisted of squatting and splashing while trying to avoid the window. Let's say, it made me feel clean enough for the moment but wasn't what I would consider to be efficient.
That night, Steve our guide went to look for crystals for me. There was an amazing amount of quartz on the mountain, primarily smokey and milky. Once he saw my interest in the crystals he volunteered to go digging for more in a secret spot he knew. And that night, he did and managed to find some beautiful treasures for me. While we waited for him, I found me first geode. So for this crazy rock lover, I was in heaven. I did feel a tad guilty for adding extra weight to my bag. Hopefully, the porters didn't notice.
So to finally get us off the mountain...we hiked down, down, down. From 2,000m back down to 750m. They gave us useful cedar walking sticks to help our descent. I don't generally use a hiking stick so I found it to be a little bit of a hassle with moments of usefulness. Unfortunately for Todd, who was in front of me, and Trouble, one of the porters/guides behind me, they may have endured some slight taps on the ankles and shins do to my misplacement. Oops. We were rewarded with a great swimming whole and cold beers at the end of the hike. We all stripped down and jumped in. The cool water was excellent, so was the beer and bag of chips. I am a sucker for salt. A beautiful day to round out our mountain experience.
We enjoyed a nice lunch back at the lodge and then were off to our next destination, Lake Malawi via Zomba. Oh yea, we purchased a beautiful cedar chest from some local craftsmen. It made for an interesting ride; four people, two large cedar chests, one large cooler, two backpacks, two suitcases, and of course random miscellaneous goods from a week of road tripping. All in all, it was all worth it!