Southern Malawi

After a crazy week of travel in northern Mozambique I headed straight to Monkey Bay on the southern tip of Lake Malawi to decompress. I stayed at a rustic little eco lodge with a pod of hippos living nearby that you can hear at night! What they didn't tell me before I arrived was that due to cyclone Freddy the lake levels were high, which meant I had to wade through thigh high water to get there. I was only worried about the leeches and schistosomiasis (fresh water parasite) at the time and only learnt about the hippos and crocodiles in the area after! Luckily on the way back out a couple of days later I got a lift on a canoe. Next I went to Cape MacClear a few km further along the lake for more of the same, except with a more lively backpacker scene, where I met some nice people to chill and go on a sunset boat trip with.
Once I felt sufficiently rested, I got back on the minibus to head to Zomba, the old colonial capital with some pretty nice historical buildings. Zomba rests at the base of a high plateau which I went on a nice hike on to see some view points of the area, and a nice waterfall. Next I went onto Mulanje, the highest mountain in Malawi. To climb it would be a 3 day hike which I didn't have the time or the energy for, so I settled for a nice day hike on the mountain, seeing more nice viewpoints and waterfalls. My favourite part was visiting the tea plantations in the area by motorbike which looked really striking with the luminous green tea leaves, the burnt red earth, and the mountains rising dramatically out of the landscape in the background.
Then onto Blantyre which I used as a base to visit Satemwa Tea Estate, one of the oldest tea estates in Malawi, established in 1923. I went to Satemwa for a tour of the plantation and to perform a tea tasting. All of the tea was excellent, and the cream tea that I had after in the fancy estate house was even better!Read more