Mushroom Farm

Best business name seen today : ‘Grace of God Dental. When did you last have your mouth serviced?’

The drive north from Viphya Plateau to the Khondowe Plateau expanded from four to six hours as we encountered road works and broken down trucks and police road blocks galore. That’s all part of the experience though and the countryside just got more beautiful the further we travelled.

The first things of beauty were the huge granite extrusion formations scattered around the edge of the Viphya plateau. One, called Elephant Rock was particularly impressive. (Photo attached). This is an area with amazing geological features because it’s the southern end of the Great Rift Valley - in fact that’s what formed Lake Malawi.

After passing through Mzuzu (Malawis third biggest city) we popped into a town called Ekwendeni. Dr Robert Laws who established the Livingstonia Mission and who I will tell you about tomorrow established a satellite mission at Ekwendeni and it’s still thriving there with schools and a medical clinic as well as a huge church. I popped out of the car to take a picture of the church and a man appeared with keys and insisted on showing us around. It was lovely inside with the original stained glass windows still intact. He said unfortunately their congregation has now outgrown it as it’s now 3000 people!.

The north of Malawi feels very different. It’s hilly, feels more prosperous, lots of trees and so many schools I stopped counting. According to Macdonald, our driver, this is a legacy of the Livingstonia mission and that education- which the mission brought- is highly valued here.

After a ridiculously bumpy dirt road we arrived at a little piece of paradise which is The Mushroom Farm. It’s perched on the cliffs 1000m above Lake Malawi, 10km down the road from Livingstonia. It’s an eco lodge. They grow their own produce, use compost loos and follow all the good eco practices. Our room is a cob house with an open bathroom with stunning views across the valley. Just glorious. We’ve just had a good vegetarian meal with the young American couple who are the owners.

It’s chilly this evening and we are in the bar looking across the dark valley with its starscape of lights in little villages. I will be up at dawn to watch the sun rise over the lake - which is quite enormous and stunningly beautiful. Then a day up in Livingstonia connecting with history.

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