Blantyre to Victoria Falls

There’s something so refreshing about staying with friends in a home while in the midst of a holiday – getting a sense of the realities of life in a particular place as opposed to just getting the touristy highlights.  After leaving Liwonde National Park we were so privileged to have been staying with Kate and Dom at their place in Blantyre, Malawi.  During this time, we have thoroughly enjoyed such simple things - like being able to make ourselves breakfast and lunch, recoup and enjoy some real rest and relaxation, run around the backyard with Kate and Dom’s ridiculously cute Labrador puppy Shula, and catch up on all of our washing (though that one was all thanks to the lovely Linus who works at Kate and Dom’s place.  We were very spoilt). We were able to experience day-to-day life in Blantyre through everyday tasks such as finding the local supermarket and navigating the fruit and veggie shopping at Blantyre market (with Alick getting his first taste of driving on Malawian roads!).  Kate and Dom gave us brilliant instructions to accompany each task before we embarked, and were so patient with our constant questions while we tried to make sure we were prepared (ie. What’s the best driving strategy to avoid hitting a goat? Are we supposed to pick one of the young boys surrounding our car to show us around and carry our bags in the market? How do we choose which boy? How much do we pay?’).  All in all it was a great experience and we had such a ridiculous sense of achievement on returning from each small venture!

Most notably though, Kate and Dom generously provided us with loads of opportunities to visit and find out more about the community projects they support through their business, the Responsible Safari Company.  We were able to join in project site visits where Kate and one of the Responsible Safari Company staff Chimwemwe discussed potential volunteer placement opportunities for future clients, and developed a greater understanding of a number of both well-established and still-developing social enterprises near the Blantyre and Mulanje area – in particular, Friends of Mulanje Orphans (FOMO), the Nancholi Youth Organisation and the Nchima Trust.  We were both so impressed at the careful consideration given to appropriate placements and tasks when discussing volunteer opportunities, and the emphasis placed on supporting local businesses and social enterprises that helped communities to help themselves, rather than become dependent on outside aid.  We’re struggling to find a decent internet connection that will allow us to upload our photos from this time though will put them onto Flickr over the next couple of weeks.

Toward the end of our time in southern Malawi, Kate and Dom treated us to a weekend away with them at a tea estate called Lujeri, in the beautiful foothills of Mount Mulanje (the tallest freestanding mountain in Central Africa – no, we weren’t tempted to climb it – at least not this trip!).  The Lujeri Tea Estate is a huge expanse of tea plantations, workers villages, drying factories and everything else that goes along with a large-scale team operation – including a sumptuously appointed Estate Manager’s residence, which has been converted into self-contained accommodation.  The house itself is beautiful, surrounded by lush gardens and a wide balcony (perfect for daytime reading and late-night card games), and a pool in the front garden completes the picture. We were also joined at Lujeri by three of Kate and Dom’s friends who are living in Blantyre: Alex (a water engineer working for a firm over here installing water systems in towns and villages) and his partner Millie (who volunteers at a Blantyre orphanage called Samaritans), and Emma (who is teaching at an international school in Blantyre).   All three were great company, and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them all throughout the weekend. Overall we were thoroughly spoiled over the weekend (self-catering in this case meant brining our own food and then having two cooks prepare, serve and clean up after us – amazing!), and would highly recommend an escape in the tea estates to anyone visiting Malawi.  Kate and Dom were so amazingly generous throughout the time that we were with them, and the weekend at Mulanje will definitely go down as one of the (many) highlights of our trip so far.

It felt quite sad to leave Kate and Dom’s place given how comfortable we felt there – we said our farewells last Monday morning and started the 3-day trip north to Livingstone (the Zambian side of Victoria Falls) – with two overnight transit stops in Lilongwe (Malawi’s capital) and Lusaka (Zambia’s capital) along the way – and experienced many more memorable African transit adventures along the way!   We have absolutely loved spending three days taking in the wonders of Victoria Falls on both the Zambia and Zimbabwe sides – truly breathtaking!  We’ve had a wonderful combination of wandering around the walking tracks and enjoying some of the tour options that are only available in the current low waters –the Devil’s Pool (where you can jump into a small pond and sit on a ledge at the top of the falls – thanks Jo and Neil for the recommendation!) and whitewater rafting (which really got the adrenalin pumping!).  Again, we will upload photos from both onto our Flickr account in the next few weeks. 

From here the next chapter of our trip begins!  When we arrived in Zimbabwe we picked up our hire car (a dual-cab Hilux with a roof tent – named ‘Heidi’) and this morning we begin our two week self-drive tour across Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia – today’s destination is Chobe National Park in Botswana.  As we write this post we are in the final stages of packing and provisioning, having had a toast over breakfast to the conclusion of our first month of our travels.  What an adventure it’s been so far and we can’t wait for the next five months to come!!!

Will provide further updates at our next possible internet stop – which we anticipate may be in Windhoek, Namibia in approximately two weeks time.

Tess and Alick xx