Home » Malawi » Day 20. Fri 6th May.Mount Mulanje

We leave Lengwe today, although apart from the main hide we have seen very little of the park. It has really been more of a convenient place to spend the night while we visit Ken's project at Mwabvi
We drive back up to Blantyre and then head east to Mount Mulanje. I still haven't seen PAMET the Paper Making Educational Trust in Blantyre. I suggest that it might be interesting to visit but Ken is obviously not amenable to any detours, although he doesn't say why, which is a shame as we have plenty of time.
This is a tea growing area and we pass through miles of tea plantations, with pickers busily harvesting the leaves (they don't look at all like the girl on the PG Tips packet!)

Day 20. Fri 6th May.Mount Mulanje

DaveMidgley
2005-10-22 19:03:22

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We leave Lengwe today, although apart from the main hide we have seen very little of the park. It has really been more of a convenient place to spend the night while we visit Ken's project at Mwabvi

We drive back up to Blantyre and then head east to Mount Mulanje. I still haven't seen PAMET the Paper Making Educational Trust in Blantyre. I suggest that it might be interesting to visit but Ken is obviously not amenable to any detours, although he doesn't say why, which is a shame as we have plenty of time.
This is a tea growing area and we pass through miles of tea plantations, with pickers busily harvesting the leaves (they don't look at all like the girl on the PG Tips packet!)

We arrive in the town on Mulanje around midday. Just as we are about to head up the steep road to Likhubula a couple of guys suddenly jump onto the back of the Land Rover and shin up onto the roof. Ken is quite unperturbed by this - it turns out that these are the guides for the walk up the mountain, Francis and Billiat. Ken knows Francis very well, apparently he got to know him when he was quite young, and paid for a good deal of his schooling.

We are staying at the CCAP (Church of Central African Presbyterians) mission in Likhubula. Ken has warned us that the facilities will be primitive, but it turns out that there has been a major refurbishment and the chalets are very comfortable. The chalets are quite small, with two triple bedrooms each (guests are expected to share during busy periods), and they all have brand new fridges, cookers and furniture. This is obviously not a busy period, in fact we seem to be the only people here. Chris, Blondie and I get a chalet to ourselves, and Ken gets another one all to himself.

Ken has recently bought himself a very fancy SLR digital camera of which he is very proud. It is chock full of facilities and he takes advantage of the quiet afternoon to learn how to use some of the more esoteric buttons, and to practice his technique on the locals.

Ken has warned us about the rigours of the Mulanje climb, which he says can take 7 hours up. There are huts at the top where the climbers will spend the night, and the walk down should be only 3 or 4 hours. Ken has stressed that those undertaking the climb should be fit, and I have been agonising over the decision for several days now (particularly considering that I nearly needed oxygen after climbing twelve flights of stairs at the hotel in Beira). Also, although the blood in my stools seems to have cleared up, I am still a little concerned about the health of my gastro-intestinal bits, and I don't want to be stuck up a mountain if something goes wrong. Finally I decide to skip the climb, although I rather feel that I've bottled out. Blondie had never planned to do it, so it will just be Chris and the two guides heading up the mountain.
Mt Mulange is actually a massif comprising several peaks of which the highest is Sapitwa (3001M). Chris will be climbing Chilemba which is 2355M.
We have a lazy afternoon at the lodge, reading and napping until about 4, and then take a short walk down to the river. I go for a swim, which is cold but wonderfully refreshing, and we drink sundowners on a rock.

Ken cooks a supper of mince, aided and abetted by Francis and Billiat. Because it is a Christian mission alcohol is not allowed on the premises, but I reckon I could risk digging my single malt out the the Disco for a quick snifter. I offer Ken one, only to find that he has beaten me to it and is already stuck into his own (and didn't even offer me one!).

The chalet is situated right underneath a large eucalyptus tree, and we fall asleep to the irregular clatter of seed pods falling onto the corrugated iron roof.