Hiking at Last!

Em and I spent the majority of our last week on the Mulanje Mastiff in southern Malawi. The area is a magnificent granite mastiff with pine and cedar forests, rocky peaks, and clear rivers. Kinda sounds like home, some might say. The area has a system of huts, with fireplaces, water and even hut caretakers that provide security, light the fire and pack your water. We still had one little problem of what to sleep in, and what to cook with. After our time in New Zealand, we had mailed all of our camping gear home. We looked around Blantyre for sleeping bags to rent or blankets to buy. No luck. We had met an expat who had told us about the Mulanje Mountain Club, so we called them. For a small fee we could become members of the hiking club and gain access to their fully stocked equipment rooms at each hut. Problem solved.

A look at a portion of the mastiff from the bottom. This photo was taken at the end of the hike after a knee-breaking descent.

We headed to Mulanje town in the afternoon and after settling into our rooms we watched all three World Cup games in the lounge. Em and I have become quite big fans of World Cup football. Football is huge with the locals in Africa and just as popular with the European travelers we spend time with. A group of four locals joined us for the second and third games, Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia and Germany vs Poland . We had a good time talking about football (soccer) and politics over a few beers.

After heading to the club office the next morning and getting the key for the storage rooms, we headed to the Forestry office by truck. This is where Em would tell you just how packed the truck was. She would tell you we waited for about an hour for the truck to fill and how she swore the bald tire she spotted would burst as soon as we did finally leave. She would then elaborate on how uncomfortable even the locals were and us included. But I won’t go into those details.

We hired the services of a guide for our four-night trip. Not something Em and I really needed, but at $10 per day it made the trip a little easier as we had heard the trails are not very well marked; especially some of the summit trails. Lewis, Em and I headed off about noon for our 1000m-elevation gain hike. Louis wanted to take the steep, faster route since we started a bit late and Em and I agreed. Holy S”^\! We are out of shape.

It is bad enough that we were gasping the whole way up the mountain with our puny little backpacks. To put us to shame, on the way up, we passed at least 10 of these guys who carry insane loads of lumber balanced on their head down the mountain in bare feet!

We arrived at the hut at about 3:00pm and the caretaker quickly started a fire. The hut was basic, but nice, with a great view of Chambe Peak, which I believe is the largest granite wall in Southern Africa at over 5500’ of cliff face. (Yes, Paul, there are climbing routes up the face, and a even a local book on routes throughout the area.) We unlocked the club storage room and found cook pots, wool blankets, and nice mattresses. Later in the evening we were joined by a French couple and a Brit living in Tigard, Oregon.

A cozy evening in the hut by the fire:

The next morning we went for a quick hike about 500m up Chambe Peak to a nice viewpoint, went back to the hut for lunch, then headed off to the next hut at the base of Sapitwa Moutain. This hut was as well stocked, but the rats chased us outside when we went to bed. We moved our bedding to the veranda and slept with a view of the African night sky while the rats ate all our hand soap inside.

The next day was the day of the big climb up Sapitwa, the highest at 3000m. We left at 7:00 am and reached the summit at about 11:00 a.m. The climb was a great scramble over, under and around large granite boulders and the 360-degree view at the top was gorgeous.

Em and Lewis at the top of Malawi (Sapitwa is the highest point in Malawi):


After a well-deserved lunch at the hut, we headed off again for our next stop, Thuchila Hut. We had the hut to ourselves for the second night (the guide sleeps in the caretaker's hut) and tried for the veranda again. This time little black ants chased us back inside the hut.

A look at the Thuchila hut as the sun was setting. The peak we climbed that last day is behind the one seen here.

The next morning Em and I decided to change our route and instead of heading to the fourth hut, we stayed another night at Thuchila and made a nice day-hike summit of another peak. Later in the day four more hikers came in. We spent some time reading and playing Bao.

Em learning the finer points of Bao, and winning against Lewis. It took us three times of beating Lewis before realizing that he was letting us win, so that we would "go home with good feelings about the game". Cute, I guess, but we are too competitive to be handed a game like that!

The next morning we descended to a small village where we waited to catch a bus or truck back to Mulanje and then on to Blantyre. About 50 kids, who just wanted to stare at us, quickly surrounded Em and me. One of them had a homemade football (soccerball) made of plastic shopping bags with string around it. I made two goals on a small patch of dirt and Em and I started passing the ball between us. Eventually we got 4 more kids to join us and we played 3-on-3 football for about half and hour. Football truly is a unifying sport.

For more on the mountain see: http://www.rjc1.demon.co.uk/credits/mulanje.htm

Some more images from the hike.

A look down at the valley we trudged up from:

The two of us atop Sapitwa:


For the geologist father....a nice granite boulder field along the Sapitwa ascent:


A typical valley crossing up on the mastiff:


We are now back in Blantyre at Doogles where we have coincidentally reunited with several travelers we have met along the way...one as far back as in Zanzibar. We enjoyed several beers in the bar tonight over an unexciting football game between Ecuador and Germany. We'll head out to Mozambique tomorrow via minibus.

A special thanks to our faithful moms and their diligence with the comments...we do read and enjoy them!

A quick note on food here....basically, we should have had our cholesteral checked at the end of the SE Asia leg of the journey and again at the end of our time hear in Africa. We went from stir fried veggies everyday and every meal, to nothing to choose from here except chicken, beef or eggs mixed with a whopping helping of grease-laden chips (fries). It's cheap enough, but not too healthy. Veggies and fruit are quite hard to come by...we can't wait to get to the Rover in South Africa and the bigger grocery stores so we can finally cook for ourselves! We never knew we'd miss our kitchen so much!