Day 11. Sun 20th August.
Liwonde
My watch alarm does not go off and I very nearly miss the dawn walk (It
turns out that I have set it for 5:30pm instead of 5:30am, but I don't
discover this until tea time).
The walk is very pleasant but there is not a lot to see, although the
guides are very knowledgeable and educate us on the various plants, and
the tracks and droppings of the animals that have been wandering around
during the night. Each time I do this stuff a little more seeps in.
We return to the lodge for a quick breakfast and then at 7:45 we are
off on a boat safari. This is always the highlight of a trip to
Liwonde, and we are not disappointed. We are with the same group of
Southern Belles as yesterday (at least one of whom has obviously
already spent a good deal of the morning putting on her make-up,
although why anyone would want to wear make-up on a boat safari is
beyond me - I often find that people who are, allegedly, from my own
western culture, are actually more incomprehensible than the Africans!).
We get some wonderful views of hippos splashing, elephants drinking and
crocs just lying there, as well as all sorts of birds including Jacana
or Jesus Bird (because it appears to walk on the water), Malachite
and Pied Kingfisher, Yellow-Billed and Open-Billed Stork, Goliath Heron and
Lesser Masked Weaver, as well as myriads of Fish Eagle, Cormorant and Ibis.
Photographing birds with my little digi is an exercise in futility, but I do my best and get a few worth keeping. I've not seen
any of Liwonde's specialty, the rare Boehm's Bee-eater, this year,
although I got several
good pictures of them last year.
Technically
our 24 hour stay is up before lunch, but we decide to pay the extra and
have lunch before we leave. After lunch we chat with Daniel, a young
media studies student who is getting experience by making a film of the
lodge for Wilderness Safaris. We profess ourselves
willing subjects, so he sets up his equipment and interviews
us on our experiences at Liwonde. Today a Wilderness Safaris promo
video, tomorrow Hollywood!
We are just relaxing over coffee when Elson the driver turns up. Of
course, he has not been back to Blantyre at all, which would be a
ridiculous waste of fuel. He has spent the night at a cheap guest house
in Liwonde town, and has apparently been sitting in the car park since
11 o'clock.
Paying is a little complicated (1 cash, 1 card and 1 travellers'
cheque) but we get it sorted out eventually and set off back to
Blantyre. Elson is very excited because he has seen several animals on
his drive across the reserve. We tend to forget that most
Africans live the whole of their lives without ever seeing a
wild animal.
We get back to Blantyre late afternoon, and split the cost of 75 litres
of fuel (which seems a lot, but there is a strong smell of petrol about
the vehicle and we suspect he may have a leak), plus some money for
Elson to cover his accommodation, and a tip.
The
three of us sit in Doogles' bar and drink beers for a while. It has
been a most enjoyable weekend, and we are all extremely glad that we
did it. Maureen and Pam return to their hostel at about 8, and I
have a few more beers, and end up chatting to a guy called Martin who
is doing some sort of research into the evolution of fish in Lake
Malawi (the lake is so large and so old that it has more or less
evolved as an ecosystem in its own right, and there are several species
of fish in it that exist nowhere else in the world).
At nine o'clock they close the bar, so I retire to bed to get a good
night's sleep. In the morning I must get back to the education project
- it feels just like the Sunday night before a working Monday.