Now I really feel that I have come to Africa! We have had a trip down to the south of Malawi. The original plan was to visit a game reserve called Mvambi where there are the only lions in Malawi. These are two cubs aged 10 and 11 months. They are kept in an enclosure and are obviously very used to people. The South African family who run the reserve were very friendly and welcoming and showed us their family pets, a cerval called Felix, who was a beautiful little spotted cat with enormous ears and a dik-dik whose slender legs looked so fragile I was afraid they would break! It was so hot! We estimate about 42 degrees and I was struggling somewhat. I did feel distinctly wobbly some of the time. Seven of us travelled together in a Toyota Hilux which seats five in comfort inside the car and extras in the pick-up bit at the back. The volunteers who have been in Africa for a while have it all organized and we had a mattress in the back to make it more comfortable. To begin with the three women travelled in the back with the wind in our hair and plenty of laughter, song and girly chat!! The sun was very strong and after an hour or so I could feel that I was beginning to burn and had to cover up with a couple of big wraps. Apparently I looked like a disembodied head, crowned with Karl's Panama hat emerging from a heap of fabric. Jane said I looked as though I didn't have any limbs at all! On the way we had a blow out and had to stop to change the wheel. Although we stopped apparently in the middle of nowhere, it seemed only a few moments before we had attracted a crowd of onlookers all eager to give advice and lend a hand. It was just as well because the jack was damaged and would not lift the car high enough. The car had to be lifted by hand and large stones wedged under the jack, but there were plenty of willing hands and the job was soon done. My heart was in my mouth as the car was lifted with Sam lying underneath it giving directions. I was anxious that he was going to be squashed if they slipped and dropped it, but he assured me that there was enough clearance. Anyway, the operation was done without mishap and the wheel changed and we were on our way again within about half an hour. We distributed K50 notes to the helpful adults and chocolate biscuits and apples to the children, and set off again.
After seeing the lions we were hot and hungry so set off in search of the recommended motel in Bangula. The accommodation was basic and the menu predictable. There was nsima, rice, chips, chicken, eggs, meat and vegetables, but upon enquiring what sort of vegetables we were told that actually today there were no vegetables! We settled on chicken and chips, but even that was complicated! Despite being told that there were only two pieces of chicken and adjusting the order to include a couple of portions of beef, which turned out to be goat, we ended up with four portions of chicken!!
Some of us went off in the car to the river to find out about boat trips for the next day. There was plenty of action down by the river. We saw about 200 cows swimming across from the best grazing area to the shelter where they spent the night. Women were doing the washing, men operated a ferry service, there were children running about all over the place. This is the place where the railway used to cross the river Shire, but apparently some years ago there was an unusual amount of rain and the bridge was washed away. You can see a length of track hanging over the river on the opposite bank, but there is not much evidence of bridge now.
We returned to the motel for more chips, this time with egg and cabbage salad and altogether too many Greens and too much Malawi gin than was good for us, but it was fun! The locals were friendly and we made the acquaintance of a local detective and his young cousin who was called Harris. Harris was well greened up and very talkative and somewhat lacking in inhibitions, but he was a good singer and mostly charming, although he did disgrace himself by running off with and consuming Jane's egg and chips, much to her disgust!
The plan was to get up early and be on the river by eight, but we didn't quite make that! We ordered eggs and bread for breakfast, but apparently they had anticipated our order and the usual breakfast is guess what? … bread, eggs and chips! …and they had already cooked the chips. We washed it down with mugs of smoky tea.
I loved the boat trip, although I was a bit concerned as the balers in both boats had to work quite hard! Apparently there are crocodiles in the river, but we didn't see any. There were many unfamiliar and beautiful flowers and birds. I will try and put some pictures on Facebook.
On the drive back to Blantyre we stopped twice, Once at Nyala Game reserve and once at a lodge called Fisherman's Rest for excellent coffee and cake.
The Game Reserve was my favourite part of the weekend. We saw Sable, Buffalo, Impala, Kudu, Giraffe, Zebra, some unidentified monkeys and lots of birds. It was exciting to stand up in the back of the pick-up with the camera. We got very close to some of the animals particularly the zebra. We stopped in a picnic area for lunch and the occupants of another car asked us if there were any tigers!! They seemed quite put out that for big cats they would have to travel an hour and half further south and then it was just two lion cubs in an enclosure.
It was a good weekend, rounded off nicely by a phone call from Dave, 'Ona and Annie who passed the phone around the family in true Jones style!
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