Gareth in Malawi

Friday evening at Mvuu Camp in Liwonde National Park, and I was hoping to prepare a basic supper for Sue and I in the communal self-catering kitchen. I decided to camp two nights, rather than staying only one night in the expensive chalets, and in order to save more money I planned to cook rather than eat in the restaurant. The woman on the phone had assured me, "Yes, there’s an old fashioned hob with four hot plates." The stove was in fact really REALLY old fashioned, and required one to make and stoke a fire under it! So Sue and I went for the restaurant anyway, which turned out to be the Friday night "boma dinner", out in the open in the shelter of a wooden boma, with central fire, and traditional music and dancers. All very "African", and luxurious, the sort of thing my parents have been to but I’d only heard about. After dinner as we were leaving one of the waiters asked if he could escort us back to the tent. I confidently said no, I had a torch, and proudly waved by Petzl headtorch at him.

"Ah but what if you meet a wild animal? That is not big enough." He swung his massive torch spotlight into view, and I conceded that his light was stronger. (Still, he couldn’t wield it on his head, ha!) So we walked back to the camping area, sandy ground with thickets of thorn and other trees providing shade and some privacy. Earlier in the evening, when exploring the camp and putting up the tent, I startled some baboons, almost bumped into a solitary bushbuck, and photographed some warthogs, all wandering calmly about the campsite. The whole of Mvuu camp is open – that is, not enclosed by fences – and the wild animals can wander in and out at their leisure. Read the rest of this entry »