Luwawa Forest Reserve

Luwawa Forest Reserve May 13th and 14th, 2006

Another VSO meeting? But we just had one in Mua….3 months ago. But since it these meetings are held 4 times throughout the year, it was time for another one. At these meetings we discuss some VSO business, but we also have the chance to get together and meet one another. And they give us the opportunity to see another part of Malawi, as they take place in various places throughout the country and usually within the general region the volunteers work in. I am in Lilongwe, therefore I am part of the Central region. The last one was held in Mua when I did my first hike here in Malawi – which you will remember from my Bembeke to Mua Hike posting. And this latest one was in the Luwawa Forest Reserve in the Viphya Mountains.

I was looking forward to this meeting because the Luwawa Forest Reserve is located north of Lilongwe - an area of Malawi I had yet seen. Also, I soon learned that the lodge was located in some mountains and offered another good opportunity for a hike!
From Lilongwe, the Luwawa Forest is about 3 hours – up the M1 for 2 ½ hrs. and then heading east for another 30 minutes on a dirt road. As we were driving to the lodge on the dirt road, we were greeted by these wonderful children running from their houses to the road screaming” Hiiiiiiiiiii!” Then this would signal for the next group of children a little farther up the road….as they would already be standing next to the road waiting for us to drive by waving their hands and again screaming ”Hellooooooooo!”

We arrived at the Luwawa Forest Lodge early enough to go for a quick 3 hr hike before the meeting started. So off we went with ‘map’ in hand. We were told to stay left on the trail, which we did…when we were bushwhacking our way through head high grass we knew we had gone off the main trail. The trouble with hiking here is that the trails are not developed for recreation. These trails have an actual purpose - such as connecting small villages, or forestry roads, so there are many branches of trails and easy to take a wrong one. We did find the main forest road and once we got our bearings, we saw that we had taken too many lefts and ended up on the scenic route  but no worries…it was great to be out of the city and hiking about in the woods!

Meeting happened – blah, blah, blah. After dinner we enjoyed a night under the stars sitting around a campfire yakkin’ it up.

Next day, most folks drove home (not sure why???) however the group in the car I drove up with had planned to do another hike this day. Yea!! Our destination was the Kamwe fire tower, obviously up on a hill (5934 ft/ 1809 m), and we were told to have good views all the way to Zambia. Off we went with ‘map’ in hand. As we left the lodge we passed some boys from the village of Luwawa flying kites on the road. These resourceful kids had made their kites out of tree branches and plastic grocery bags – and they were having so much fun running back and forth along the road while I took photos of them. One great thing about having the digital camera is that you are able to show the kids the pictures right then and there – and they LOVE to see the photos of themselves! Next time, if I do this again, I will have to bring a small photo printer from the states to print off and share the photos.
We said goodbye to the boys and carried on. This trail was a bit better to follow…once we found the right trail turnoff. It led us through some beautiful pine forest, then into a high meadow with views of the surrounding hills. Paul, my hiking buddy, said that the hills in this section reminded him of the hills in England. There was a last short climb up to the top of the hill on which the fire tower stood. To our surprise we were greeted by an actual fire watcher working in the fire tower, with cb radio and all. We climbed the tower and the cloud ceiling was just high enough for us to get good views of the surrounding hills! After lunch, we said goodbye to the fire watcher and hike down through indigenous woodlands back to Luwawa Lodge and an end to another great hiking day in Malawi. I hope to return to Luwawa in a month to bike in the Luwawa International Charity Mountain Bike Marathon Race.

On this hike we saw….

Kids flying their kites:






A Malawi Woodsman:



The trails in the forest reserve are full of great wildflowers:








Cool Trees:




A Big African Beetle:





View from the top of the fire tower:




View of surrounding Mountains:




The Forest Reserve is made up of both pine and indigenous trees. The indigenous trees are protected, however the pines are managed and harvested, meaning that there is a bit of clear cutting going on. What is interesting is the process of how the trees are cut. There is no electric saws used to cut the trees into boards…the trunks are cut by hand. Or I should say 4 hands…








The way back to the lodge:




On the way home we drove through a local market on the main highway, the M1. There is a great assortment of vegetables and beans!!

Lake Malawi – Nkhotakota

Lake Malawi – Nkhotakota May 6th and 7th, 2006

For this weekend, I went to Lake Malawi again…thanks to my friend Roger who took pity on me. I say this because the previous weekend was a holiday 3 day weekend and one that I had planned to go to Cape Maclear with 2 other volunteers, however all did not go as planned…

(Plan 1) - The initial plan was for the 3 of us to drive down with another volunteer in her car, but this ride fell through. Since this is a long ride by public transport, (Plan 2) we decided we would need to rent a car. Then volunteer #1 backed out and since a car rental is just too expensive for 2 peeps, plan 2 was out the window. (Plan 3) Determined not to let a long weekend go to waste, I decided to take a public bus to a closer lake destination - Nkhotakota, get dropped of at the junction and walk the remaining 3 km to the lodge. I made numerous calls to the bus station to find out the correct information of departure and arrival times, and which bus station location and to ensure that the bus would indeed drop me off and pick me up alongside the road. Then after an absurd amount of attempts to get a phone connection to the lodge, I finally got through and reservations made, plan 3 was finalized! However, volunteer #2 did not want to walk the 3 km, so I was going it alone.

I woke early on Sat and took a minibus to the bus station in Old Town at 7:30 to get a good seat on the 8am bus. As I sat there in the busy station, I was so happy that all my effort and determination to get out of town this weekend was materializing into a new mini-adventure!
9am came around and I was still sitting there in the station watching the people next to me get up, load onto their buses and take off to their destinations, then a new group of people filling in the empty places surrounding me, leaving me behind to sit…and wait for my bus to arrive. I listened to the scratchy announcements by the bus attendant of the next departing buses “Monkey Bay, Monkey Bay, Monkey Bay”; “Salima, Salima, Salima”; “Blantyre, Blantyre, Blantyre”; “Mongonchi, Mongonchi, Mongonchi” but no “Nkhotakota , Nkhotakota , Nkhotakota” could be heard coming from this speaker. Then I heard “blah, blah, blah, Nkhotakota blah, blah, blah.” …What was that he said??? I stood up, thinking this may help me understand Chichewa just a little bit better, and strained to try to understand what he was saying about the bus to Nkhotakota. A man saw my confusion and asked if I were lost. No, not quite lost, but asked him if he could tell me what was being said about the bus to Nkhotakota? Luckily he was a man in the know, he worked for the bus service and just came from the garage. He told me that my bus was getting serviced – it appears the brakes were not working and needed to be replaced, which was the reason for the delay and that the bus should be here shortly.
Happy to hear that the bus was soon to arrive and with a new sense of happy energy, I sat back down and starting making friends with the latest bunch of folks around me. I was sitting in one of the few shaded spots, so there were plenty of potential friends about.
10 am came around without a bus to Nkhotakota and my latest friends had once again loaded onto their buses and left me sitting there.
11 am came around and I then decided that I was not going to the lake this weekend. It just wasn’t going to happen. Defeated, I left the bus station and headed to the Capital Bakery for the best comfort food in Lilongwe – a chocolate croissant.

Which brings me to the following weekend…when after hearing about my woes, my friend and co-volunteer Roger decided he’d like to take a trip to the lake and offered to drive me to Nkhotakota for a wonderful weekend! Pictures are below…

On the drive we passed by….
Villages:



Mountains:




Chia Lagoon:




Lots of people walk along the roads. Since most people do not have cars, the roads are used as the main path for foot traffic:




And a little bit of birdlife:








When we made it to the lake shore at Nkhotakota we stayed at the Nkhotakota Pottery. This place is a wonderful and relaxing place along the lake.

The shore:




The garden:




The rooms - I have not been to that many lodges in Malawi, but I think these may be better than most - the view is what makes it!:




The lake view from the rooms:




After a refreshing swim in the lake, we took a walk up the shore to a small fishing village where they were fishing for these tiny fish. These will be dried in the sun before eating.

Getting ready to set the net:




Roger helping pull in the net. The work of a volunteer never ends!




Pulling in the net.






The catch.




Other scenes along the lake shore:












For some reason the boys will stand in these crazy kung fu poses for any picture you take of them.



Enjoying the sunset on the lake with view of the mountains of Mozambique.



Woke well to a great sunrise coming up from behind the mountains in Mozambique: