Mulanje: Bananas Cassava & and 125 Storeys

• 

• 

• 

• 

Anyone who has connected with a Malawian agronomist working in sunny SA will know that topiary is not just a skill but an institution. Not surprisingly all plants within the confines of a designated Malawi garden are trimmed and shaped into order. That may lead you to assume that Malawi would be an orderly kind of place, not so. All things, other than plants seem to take joy in being disorderly.

SAA decided to follow suit, nearly causing Margaret Ann to end up spending her vacation in the Pink Dakkies rather than hiking Mulanje. They pulled the Blantyre flight and now only fly to Lilongwe. Not very helpful when you find out hours before the flight. Ali to the rescue………..Flights re-booked, disaster averted, Margie arrived happy as Larry ready for a Malawian adventure. Cue dodgy bridge crossing a few kms into the journey.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

First on the list, a three day hike on Mount Mulanje with our trusty guide Snowden. An example of how technology has revolutionised business for some. I found Snowden’s What’s App number on a blog, messaged him and set up the hike. He then asked me to bring him a boom box as he was tired of the fakes sold locally. Done deal.

The Mulanje Massif, an inselberg of syenite and granite. Yes, we had to look it up too. Never-mind, just focus on the word Massif. Otter trail, kindergarten stuff. This was serious business, with most hiking done around the 2000m mark. When you’re not so fit and used to sea level your body lets you know all about it. Snowden aptly refers to the steep climbs as, “Oh My God”. There were a few of those muttered. The reward, unsurpassed, constantly changing landscape. Miombo woodlands, Forest, harsh granite, grasslands and and and.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our first day’s mission was to reach the CCAP Hut. Seems the Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian, missionaries sent to Malawi were highly successful. Faith based organisations are outright the most prominent business in Malawi. In the 1890’s the CCAP missionaries based in Mulanje decided they needed a spot in the mountains as respite from the heat. Good idea. The only hassle was that they didn’t fancy the strenuous hike to get to the chosen spot. No problem, task the local community to build a road, of cut stone, Baines style, to make things easier. Easier for the litter transporters ! The payment for this hard labour, milk and biscuits.

This route is known as the milk path and is reported to be the easy way up the Mulanje Massif! Flip, nothing easy about it, never mind with a missionary on your neck. Just when Margie was about to expire Finley appeared with fresh bananas. Good save. Energized we pressed on. The reward at the end of the day. A lovely warm bucket shower, hole in the floor loo and Lancewood cheese. Imagine all the way from the Garden Route to Mulanje.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Day 2 took us from the CCAP hut across the rim of the old volcano. Chambe, the playground of rock-climbers……….eeek. Every July Mulanje plays host to the Porters race. Community porters, and a few other hopefuls get chance to show their form without the burden of paying clients katunda. A 22km trail run of epic proportions. The winning time for 2019 2:07:06. How?

Snowden had run the trail a few times and enthusiastically told us that we would have the chance of seeing some of the runners doing a practice run. We got up early to make sure we’d meet them on the road. Turns out the practice was actually The Orbis Challenge. Google the full story but basically, sport with a purpose inspired by Dame Kelly Holmes. How surreal, on a sunny day on Mount Mulanje we chatted to Dame Kelly Holmes, offered the runners sweets and water and then carried on with our hike. Its a grueling run, and there were 3 more challenges still to come. We were very surprised to see some of those who’d hit the wall at about the half way mark sipping G&Ts few days later at the posh Sunbird Hotel in Zomba.

In case we were getting too complacent the heavens opened for about the last hour of day 2. Margie, weather guru, called it. Granite turns to glass when wet. Trickles became raging rivers. Easy to understand how hikers disappear on this mountain. Snowden had a few stories for us . The disappearance of Linda, a porter’s perspective, the invisible people and a very clear dislike for the Mulanje conservation trust.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Problem is vast tracts of Mount Mulanje is completely devoid of it’s natural vegetation. Mulanje cedar is near extinction. The conservation trust set about trying to remove the aliens and regenerate the indigenous trees, especially the Mulanje Cedar. However, the venture seems fraught with controversy and ultimately 18 years later, although much of the pine (pronounced Pie nee) has been removed, nothing has replaced it. With the constant demand for firewood the community has tired of the “cause” and are replanting the Pine.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Decades ago there was a massive Pine plantation on these slopes. A cable car transported workers up and down while a logging road was built right up to the Chambe hut area. This is all defunct and the community replanting the Pine trees now walks, transporting goods on their person. This is known as the skyline path. What goes up must come down. Hang in there knees, in a few days you can rest.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Just when you’re suffering from a sense of humour failure time for a swim in the beautiful Dziwe la Nkhalamba waterfall. The mother. Tradition has it that if there was a need, for rain, healing etc, the request was first taken to the mother. If she was unable to provide relief or resolution the community then took the problem to the Father, Sapitwa, the highest peak of Mount Mulanje. Life in Malawi is all about negotiation.