Liwonde and Zomba

I had my first chance to play tourist this past weekend with a little IPMP trip to Liwonde National Park and the Zomba plateau. I’ve been traveling with work a little bit, all around Malawi, but I have to say, it feels really great to strap on the backpack, crush in the back of a minibus and head off somewhere new. On the road again! Even if it is just for 4 days, it is good to be moving. Kelly, Christine and I – who were all in IPMP together – as well as Lucas, another Canadian with Students Without Borders, met up for the weekend to explore Liwonde National Park. We had planned to spend two full days in the park, but ended up having quite a bit of time stretching before us, so we headed up to the Zomba plateau for a change of scenery and some respite from the heat.

Rather than having to read an account of our entire trip, I WAS going to put together a little photo essay for you, but unfortunately, even the 'good' internet place doesn't seem to have the capacity to upload anything significant. So I'll write about our trip, and hopefully, someday, there will be pictures to come...

Our first morning in Liwonde, about 5:30 am. We went on a game drive that started at 6, which sounds pretty early, but after sleeping in an (apparently) 2 person tent with Kelly in the sweltering heat, I was up and moving at 4:45. You can get a lot accomplished in your day when you get up before 5! A leisurely coffee and rusks in the quite hours of the morning, looking out over the flood plains of the Shire river is just about heaven.

Liwonde is not really the park to go to if you only want to see the Big Game animals like Lions and Tigers and Bears (oh my!). They do however have their fair share of antelope-type animals. Here is a herd of Impala watching us watch them. We also saw Water Buck, Sable, Warthogs and many Baboons. It is the dry season as well, so you’ll notice (if there was a picture)that everything is pretty dry. Chinguni Hills Lodge had a bit of a water shortage problem, which one has to understand, but which makes you learn to be strategic when trying to get a shower!

The highlight, of course of the game drive was the elephants. They were a bit far away from the jeep, so we were lucky enough to be able to get out and walk a bit closer to see them. The highlight of Liwonde was the canoe safari, and I think the highlight of the canoe safari was the cool straw hats they gave us to wear. That, and of course, the hippos. Hippos are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa, mainly because they are so territorial. These guys didn’t seem to be too bothered by us and even though they were just minding their own business, we still didn’t attempt to get too close.

After a game drive, canoe safari, lunch, dinner and two naps, we felt we’d done pretty much everything there was to do in the park, and so, with another whole day stretching ahead of us, we decided to take full advantage of our days off and head to the Zomba Plateau to explore.

Zomba used to be the old seat of the colonial government, and it is easy to see why. Not only is it beautiful, but the highlands offer some respite to the heat of the plains. It is quite gorgeous, and much cooler – enough so that we got cosy and comfortable by the fire in the evening in our little guest cottage at the Trout Farm. Yes. The Trout Farm. I believe that K-Bar was in Seventh heaven! It’s actually a really cool place to stay, and not only did we learn all about aquaculture, but one of the men there took us on a four hour guided hike of the Plateau. I felt a bit like I was hiking through a primeval forest, with the huge ferns and Dr. Seuss-esque trees (called Aurrcaria, I believe?) and we passed a number little waterfalls, before we came out at the top of the Plateau for a gorgeous, if a bit hazy view of Zomba town.

All in all, a great weekend. Pictures to come... hopefully...