South Luangwa and Majete National Parks
Posted on: 20/06/10
South
Luangwa NP.
South Luangwa
National park was very expensive, but a wonderful trip. It is billed as
a four day safari, but as the pick up is in Lilongwe, and the drive to
South Luangwa takes six hours, it is really two days traveling and two
days safariing.My companions on the trip turned out to be a family of vegetarian, teetotal, creationist seventh-day adventists from Tenessee (the mother was a vegan with a gluten intolerance, so I don't think mealtimes were ever the highlight of her day!) which ideologically speaking put us about as far apart as you can get. However, we steered clear of controversial topics, and they were good company. At one point I did ask what seventh-day adventists believe in (because I was genuinely interested) and got a slightly longer answer than I needed, but at least I know now - sort of. (They believe that Saturday is the sabbath, because the universe was created in six days and Sunday is the first day. When I asked how they deduced that Sunday was the first day, it is apparently because Sunday was the day that Jesus was resurrected. How they extrapolated that backwards to the first day of creation I never quite grasped. They also believe that when we die we are truly dead until the second coming when everyone is raised and sent to heaven or hell as appropriate. Even he agreed that, as there is nothing more you can do about it once you are dead, this makes very little difference in practice. So now you know as much as I do!). They were in Africa visiting their daughter, who was volunteering with the Peace Corps in Rumphi (at the north end of Lake Malawi).
We stayed at Wildlife Lodge (the signposts just
said "Wildlife ->", which was a little misleading) which was
beautiful. The lodge is not actually within the park boundaries but
because the reserve is not fenced animals wander freely in and out.
There is a protected zone around the park where people can live, but
are not allowed to kill animals, and scouts are on call to sort out
situations if animals cause problems in the villages. Vervet monkeys
played around (and occasionally in) the dining area. We saw elephant
and giraffe from the bar, and hippos came out of the river at night and
grazed around the chalets. Hippos are one of the most dangerous animals
in Africa, and because of the lodge's proximity to the Luangwa River
guests were not allowed to walk about at night at all. Even though the
restaurant was only a two minute walk from the chalets we were picked
up at 6:30 for dinner, and had to request transport back again when we
were ready for bed.Twice a day, at 6:30 and at 16:00, our guide Sylvester loaded us onto a game viewing vehicle and taken the half hour drive over the river and into the park for two hours of "safari". The evening drive extends well after sunset, and for this Sylvester was joined by a spotter with a powerful spotlight to search for nocturnal animals. The guides are extremely well trained, and can often identify an animal just from the reflection of its eyes in the light.
Wildlife is extremely plentiful, and I saw
several species that I haven't seen before, including spotted hyena,
civet, gennet and - yes! - leopard (although only at night. I would
love to see one in daylight lounging in a tree).We also very nearly got to see a lion hunt. Three lionesses came out of the bush upwind of a herd of grazing impala, and we actually saw them plan the hunt. One lioness circled the antelope in one direction, and one in the other direction, ready to catch them when the other attacked. Unfortunately for some reason one of them came back, and the hunt failed. However at that moment we got a radio message to say that a leopard had been seen, so we left the lions and raced off into the bush, where we were lucky enough to see a male (very briefly) and a female leopard.
Birds were also plentiful, and I got some good photographs. I never cease to be amazed by the image stabilisation built into modern cameras. On full optical zoom mine has a 35mm-equivelant focal length of 520mm, and I don't know what the digital zoom increases that to, and yet I can take excellent photos handheld.
On Sunday we returned to Lilongwe and said our farewells. The others were heading north with their daughter to visit her village in Rumphi, and I returned to Mabuya Lodge to find Marcel, Johanna and family still waiting for the spare parts for their fire engine. Then on Monday it was onto the Axa bus for the eight hour drive back up to Ripple - after some more wildlife shots...
The
Majete Crossover
I did a lot of traveling over this couple of
weeks! Having gone all the way down to Mwabvi, back up to Lilongwe,
over to Zambia, I was now back at Mwaya Beach. I was very pleased to
finally meet Geoff Furber who runs Ripple Africa. However the
sponsorship of Charles Banda to go to Likoma government boarding school
was still having problems, as was the sponsorship of Annie Longwe to do
a driving course (of which more later). Term had already started on
Monday, and as Charles can only travel to Likoma Island in the Ilala on
Mondays, this means that he has already lost a week of boarding school.
However, it was finally sorted, and I believe he started school the
following week.
On the Tuesday I did a quick trip up to Nkhata Bay to drop off footballs (donated by Gaynor), mice (donated by me) and to pick up the belongings that I left there (by this stage I had plastics bags awaiting collection strewn all over Malawi!) and say my goodbyes to A-J, Ezmeekie, Dan and the rest.
Then it was back down to Ripple for an evening of luxury at Nglala Lodge arranged by Geoff, and on Friday I boarded the Blantyre bus to travel south yet again to start work at Mwabvi.
However, this plan got changed at the last minute. I contacted Lindsey and John McDonald, who are members of the Wildlife and Environment Society of Malawi and who live in Blantryre to see if they would like to meet up for dinner on Friday evening. During the meal they explained that they were spending the weekend doing the Majete Crossover. Like the camping weekend at Mwavi this is one of WESM's regular outings, and involves a walk along the Shire river through a section of the Majete National Park, whereby half the party start at the park gate in the north, while the other half walk up from the south, and they meet in the middle. Camping facilities are driven in, they spend the night at the camp site, and then the two groups swap car keys and each group continues their walk, and pick up each other's cars at the other end. They told me I would be welcome to come along, and as I have never visited Majete I made a quick call to Barry and Adele at Mwabvi and told them I wouldn't be arriving until Monday.
Our group of nine people, Lindsey and John, Sue and her son Luke who live in Malawi, Andy and Rachel who were volunteers, Anna a volunteer doctor and
William, who had arrived in Malawi for the first time only six days ago and was
still finding his feet, did the
south to north walk, which starts about 6Km outside the park. We were
off very early (I was picked up at Doogles at 5:30), and had lunch by
the Shire river. Unlike South Luangwa, Majete is fenced, and we were met
at the fence by two scouts (all NPs insist that walkers are accompanied
by armed scouts). There is no gate at the south end, and entry involved
scrambling down to the river, round the end of the fence and back up
again. This is made more interesting by the fact that the fence is
electrified!
Wildlife numbers have increased significantly in Majete, and during the 6KM walk to the campsite in the park we saw eland and many hippos in the river. A short distance from the camp the Shire is joined by a small tributary, the Mkalamadzi, which is free of hippos and crocs, and provided the opportunity for both groups to meet up for a cooling swim.
Three cars had transported everything we needed for a very pleasant evening at the campsite. As I had only joined the party the previous evening I had had no chance to buy provisions so once again I threw myself on John and Linsey's hospitality. However I was pleased to have the opportunity to justify lugging my tent around Malawi for six months.
The northern half of the walk is shorter, about 6Km total, and abounded with wildlife, including a family of elephants being led across the river by their matriarch.
We arrived at the park gate early the the
afternoon and rounded off the excursion with a walk down to the
Kapichiri falls, where Livingstone was famously blocked in his attempt
to navigate up the Shire river, and which now generates a large
proportion of Malawi's electricity.
Finally Linsey, John and William joined me for a burger at Doogles, and I got an early night, ready to resume my trip to Mwabvi.
I did a lot of traveling over this couple of
weeks! Having gone all the way down to Mwabvi, back up to Lilongwe,
over to Zambia, I was now back at Mwaya Beach. I was very pleased to
finally meet Geoff Furber who runs Ripple Africa. However the
sponsorship of Charles Banda to go to Likoma government boarding school
was still having problems, as was the sponsorship of Annie Longwe to do
a driving course (of which more later). Term had already started on
Monday, and as Charles can only travel to Likoma Island in the Ilala on
Mondays, this means that he has already lost a week of boarding school.
However, it was finally sorted, and I believe he started school the
following week.On the Tuesday I did a quick trip up to Nkhata Bay to drop off footballs (donated by Gaynor), mice (donated by me) and to pick up the belongings that I left there (by this stage I had plastics bags awaiting collection strewn all over Malawi!) and say my goodbyes to A-J, Ezmeekie, Dan and the rest.
Then it was back down to Ripple for an evening of luxury at Nglala Lodge arranged by Geoff, and on Friday I boarded the Blantyre bus to travel south yet again to start work at Mwabvi.
However, this plan got changed at the last minute. I contacted Lindsey and John McDonald, who are members of the Wildlife and Environment Society of Malawi and who live in Blantryre to see if they would like to meet up for dinner on Friday evening. During the meal they explained that they were spending the weekend doing the Majete Crossover. Like the camping weekend at Mwavi this is one of WESM's regular outings, and involves a walk along the Shire river through a section of the Majete National Park, whereby half the party start at the park gate in the north, while the other half walk up from the south, and they meet in the middle. Camping facilities are driven in, they spend the night at the camp site, and then the two groups swap car keys and each group continues their walk, and pick up each other's cars at the other end. They told me I would be welcome to come along, and as I have never visited Majete I made a quick call to Barry and Adele at Mwabvi and told them I wouldn't be arriving until Monday.
Our group of nine people, Lindsey and John, Sue and her son Luke who live in Malawi, Andy and Rachel who were volunteers, Anna a volunteer doctor and
William, who had arrived in Malawi for the first time only six days ago and was
still finding his feet, did the
south to north walk, which starts about 6Km outside the park. We were
off very early (I was picked up at Doogles at 5:30), and had lunch by
the Shire river. Unlike South Luangwa, Majete is fenced, and we were met
at the fence by two scouts (all NPs insist that walkers are accompanied
by armed scouts). There is no gate at the south end, and entry involved
scrambling down to the river, round the end of the fence and back up
again. This is made more interesting by the fact that the fence is
electrified!Wildlife numbers have increased significantly in Majete, and during the 6KM walk to the campsite in the park we saw eland and many hippos in the river. A short distance from the camp the Shire is joined by a small tributary, the Mkalamadzi, which is free of hippos and crocs, and provided the opportunity for both groups to meet up for a cooling swim.
Three cars had transported everything we needed for a very pleasant evening at the campsite. As I had only joined the party the previous evening I had had no chance to buy provisions so once again I threw myself on John and Linsey's hospitality. However I was pleased to have the opportunity to justify lugging my tent around Malawi for six months.
The northern half of the walk is shorter, about 6Km total, and abounded with wildlife, including a family of elephants being led across the river by their matriarch.
We arrived at the park gate early the the
afternoon and rounded off the excursion with a walk down to the
Kapichiri falls, where Livingstone was famously blocked in his attempt
to navigate up the Shire river, and which now generates a large
proportion of Malawi's electricity.Finally Linsey, John and William joined me for a burger at Doogles, and I got an early night, ready to resume my trip to Mwabvi.
