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| The way down from the mountain - this bridge is actually scarier than the photo! |
Joseph and I left on Tuesday for Mount Mulanje (or the Mulanje Massif, Malawi's 'Island in the sky'). This is the largest mountain in central Africa and I think the second highest in Africa. It is in the southern part of the country, and (if you don't get lost) an almost 6 hour drive. Needless to say, it took us a little longer. The road goes through Blantyre, the commerical capital of Malawi, and the road signs are pretty much non-existent. We stayed at Kara O'Mula lodge, nestled up to the mountain with great views. They first put us in what was almost a tree house. The steps were killers, as the width of the steps and the height of the risers were not consistent. However, after two nights of no hot water, they moved us to another, slightly lower room, that did have hot water. All in all, I would recommend this lodge except that they don't give you change for your fees. We paid in US dollars and they were going to give us change in Malawian Kwacha (which is fine with us).. but they wanted us to 'run a tab' at the restaurant and then 'settle up' when we left - again, OK with us... BUT, then they refused to refund the money we did not spend, saying it is against their policy to give refunds! Trying to explain this was NOT a refund, simply our change from the initial charges was a true Malawian conversation. Needless to say - do NOT come here with US dollars and, due to the difficulties we had getting hot water, I would NOT pay in advance. With that said, the view was lovely and the food was passable. The beds / pillows were typical Malawian, and the towels were NOT nice (my bad - I usually take towels and I did not). The windows had no screens, and the mosquito nets had so many holes it was not worth putting them down. Pretty much the normal Malawian lodge - except for the 'no change' rule!!
I have a guide book to Malawi that showed a road through the northern section of the Massif, through Fort Lister Gap. The history of this Fort is interesting, as it was built to stop the slave traffic through this area (1893) but was not needed at the end of ~10 years and was abandoned. Following this road would let one go completely around the Massif. Oops, looks like that road has gotten so bad it is a goat path now - so we made it ~half way through the gap before we had to turn back. The guide book did describe it as 'peaceful and little traveled'. It was both of those! I will not even stress you with descriptions or photos of the bridges. Our second day we drove to Thyolo to see the tea plantations and to find Thyolo Forest Reserve. The guide book was vague, no one seemed to know how to get there (even the police), so we finally gave up and went to the Likabula Forest Reserve, where we got to do some off roading (not intentionally - it LOOKED like a road!!), ran into a couple young men with their still living dinner, and had tea at the Likabula Forest Lodge. We also had to fend off many of the village men who wanted to be our 'guides' in the forest. We turned them down.
Later that afternoon we walked up the mountain path behind the Kara O'Mula lodge and found a tea plantation, some water falls, and a foot bridge that was (even for us) scary.
All in all a very pleasant trip.
Praise:
Safe travels
Fuel is available
God's majesty revealed in nature
Prayers:
Continued safety
The people of southern Malawi, as the rains have not come as expected the last 3-4 years and it appears they may be facing food shortages later this year.
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