Hello there. I hope that you are fabulously well and have had another lovely weekend. Here in the Luangwa as temperatures gently nudge up to the 40’s Mkulumadzi has already embraced them, so we really have nothing to complain about. Spirits remain high over there so let’s hear from Svenja & Marco, who have been travelling across Africa for the last 25 years. They run a safari company in Germany called Outback Africa:
“My husband Marco and I just spent two weeks in Malawi, and we put Mkulumadzi at the end which was a great decision. From the drive down the Shire escarpment to the approach of the lodge via the suspension rope bridge it was all really impressive. After a warm welcome fromAnneri and Johan we finally moved into our lovely spacious chalet with the most amazing river view. I must admit I felt tempted to just stay there and let go of any game drives (which another young couple actually did). But we are Germans, serious travellers and curious too, so of course we did the game drives.
JB was our guide, and he showed us Majete’s nature and animals along the network of well-maintained roads. Due to good rains in the first half of the year, most of the park is thick bushland with a lot of undergrowth. So, in many places you can’t see far into the distance. This makes finding the animals more difficult. But JB spotted elephants, giraffe, buffalo, beautiful Nyala antelopes, kudus, warthogs and more. The magic happens when you spend time with these animals, and you realize you are the only ones watching them.
No other vehicle, no other tourists, no queueing for best photo positions, no-one speaking. Just watching and enjoying. Marco was happy taking pictures with his big lens whilst I took the odd video with my mobile or, even better, studied the tongue of a giraffe or the fur of a nyala through my beloved binoculars. After our sundowner by the river, we carried on through the night, and in the spotlight of our tracker we found porcupines and a civet.
Getting up early the next morning, only a quick breakfast, then another game drive with JB, just for the two of us. It was still overcast and I was still tired, so I only caught a glimpse of a movement on the side of the road directly in front of us. There it was – my very first pangolin ever, in more than 25 years of safaris. What an incredible sighting! Marco was quick to react and got a nice shot of him before he crawled into the bush. Wow! That smile just stayed on my face when we left the scene.
Later on we found lions that we watched for a long time from a hide, and a whole lot more elephants. When we returned to Mkulumadzi and told Anneri and Johan about the pangolin, they could hardly believe it and celebrated with us.
The next morning, we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and swayed back across the suspension bridge which is so much part of Mkulumadzi’s magic. Our heads and hearts full of beautiful memories from the sandy shores of Lake Malawi to the sunsets on the Shire River in Liwonde, from the dense forests of the Zomba Plateau to the light green tea fields, from bustling markets to colourful cichlids and from dusty bumpy roads to an ice-cold rock shandy by the pool. Malawi has it all and serves it with a smile on top.”
Wonderful, thanks so much Marco & Svenja! I am super envious to hear about your pangolin sighting!!
In other news… it’s the last week of our Mobile Walking Safaris and for the first time we have got a mobile running into October and whilst the Mupamadzi has stopped flowing there are patches of water which are enormous hotspots for all local animals. John who usually leads Luangwa Bush Camping trips has gone up to do his first ever Mobile Walking Safari so we look forward to hearing all about it when he is back and shall surely update you with the last one for the year.
For now though it’s time for me to leave you to get on with your week and bid you a very fond farewell. Have a smashing week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another.
