Nkhotakota: Tongole

As Florence’s wheels slowed the camp attendants, Precious and Evance, sprinted down from their living quarters to welcome me. Poor chaps were so bored, hadn’t had a guest for a while. Lucky me. They helped pitch the tent then settled in for a chat. Only drawback , the Tongole were out in full force. Any one who has played squash, danced or hiked with me knows how well my sweat glands work. In the 30+ degree heat my sweat glands were in fine form and the Tongole were having a feast. While I was batting Tongole, the camp manager arrived. He took one look at the moving black cloud around me and offered to open a chalet that I could just sit in for a bit.

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Like Liwonde, Nkhotakota is being managed by African Parks. They took over 5 years ago so the regeneration is still in it’s infancy. Animals are rare. I saw water-buck, warthog and baboons. But the bush is prime. Somehow the trees have survived the quest for charcoal and wildlife is slowly being reintroduced. On the first evening I joined a British couple on the sundown trip to the waterfall. First a stop to stand on Livingstone Rock. A great slab of granite (I think) jutting into the Bua river. Story goes that Livingstone camped there during his quest to find a inland route from the Indian ocean. The Malawians have a soft spot for old David. His determination to put an end to the slave trade, the lasting memory.

As usual Malawi produced. The waterfall impressive. The sunset stunning. The guide obviously agreed that it was worthy of a photo.

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You may have guessed that the Pygmy Kingfisher has alluded my twitching abilities. No longer. Here’s the photo to prove it. The early morning guided walk followed a loop down to the river and back. The accompanying ranger (compulsory) thought it helluva funny that we were looking for birds not animals, He soon got into the game , in typical Malawi customer care style. I did take a look at his rifle after seeing fresh elephant spoor. He proudly told me it was a 4 something (sorry Brett can’t remember). Guaranteed to stop anything with just one bullet. So hope we don’t need to test his aim.

Aaron, the guide was very knowledgeable and told all sorts of stories along the way. The one I like best was on how he could tell the difference between male and female elephant dung. Apparently males can only manage to do one thing at a time, whereas females can multitask. Sound familiar? So a male elephant poos in one spot. The female however, is so talented that she can continue walking while relieving herself. Now that’s multitasking!

To escape the Tongole I drove to the only water hole in the park. I’d be safe from flies in the Florence right? Wrong. Tsetse flied love a big white car. Even while the car is moving the tsetse swarm around, stop and it sounds like you’re in a hail storm. Still all good until I spotted a bird and without thinking opened the window. Bam. Game over . Oh the stinging tsetse flies in the crocodiles eyes, remember that song. I have the welts to record each bite. As fast as I swatted, more bit. When I got back to camp Precious sorted the remaining offenders out with a liberal dose of Doom. In the morning the dashboard resembled a killing field. Yay Doom.

With not many mammals around you start looking at the smaller stuff. This spider was having his evening meal on the tree next to my tent. At night their eyes shine like diamonds.

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How to clear the road Malawi style. These guys were on their way off duty. Nothing like getting all sweaty in your smart going home clothes.

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Thanks Precious and Evance you made Nkhotakota a treat