D&D in Africa

Malawi 3: Mulanje Mountain

October 2, 2008

Our last stop in Malawi would be our visit to the Mulanje Mountain Massiv. Millions of years a go a bubble of hot magma streamed to the earths crust and cooled slowly, forming erosion resistant granites and syenites. Over time the material around the bubble eroded away leaving only the Mulanje Massiv towering above the plains around. The flanks of the massiv are extremely steep, leading up to plateau like areas that lie inbetween the various peaks. The highest peak is called ‘Sapitwa’ in the Chichewa language of the locals, which means ‘don’t go there’. With 3002m it is the highest peak in southern Africa and of course we wanted go there . Unfortunately Martin did not feel very well since the night before and so Jacqueline and I set off alone with our porter ‘Billiet’ the next morning. The first ascent onto plateau level was strenous and I was soaked in sweat from the relentlessly burning african sun. We took the Chapaluka Path up the mountain which often runs among trees and crosses streams. The landscape is phenomenal with the steep cliffs towering above, rainforest like vegetation near the streams and the loud sounds of thousands of crickets in the air. After almost two hours of steep climbing we reached the Chambe Basin where the vegetation changes to fir trees and forests of the famous ‘Mulanje Ceder’. We still had three hours ahead of us to the Hut at the foot of Sapitwa which we reached just after 14.00h. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the huts. A solid construction of wood, a large single room with a fireplace in the middle. Because only one other hiker was there, we managed to score one of the few sleeping mats and spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the veranda holding our feet into the cool mountain breeze.

Me on the steep climb up to the plateau level

After the first steep ascent the landscape opens up to the up and down of the ‘plateau’

The next day started in the wee hours of the morning when we crawled out of our sleeping bags at 4 am. We joined Rob, the Englishman we met in the hut, for the climb to Sapitwa Peak. The early start ensured that we could do the ascent in the cool morning air and escape the heat. It was a magical climb in the dim light of the dawn seeing the surrounding mountaintops bathed in the first golden rays of the sun. After a first steep ascent followed a long part over, past and under huge round boulders. Here and there the path led through depressions with low knotted trees that were full of lichens hanging from the twisted branches, while the sound of our footsteps was muffled by the thick layer of moss covering the ground. It was a very mystical atmosphere in these thickets and made the ascent to the sacred mountain even more special. At the top we had an awesome view of the surrounding massive. Unfortunately the view into the distance was obscured by a thick haze that covered all of the plains. From this high up the dirty air below becomes visible that all the bushfires and old diesel engines running on salad oil pollute. I took another deep breath before we started the descent – the sun was gaining in strength by the minute and even on 3000m it started to get hot.

Dawn on the ascent to Sapitwa Peak

Me on one of the large boulders near the summit

The peaks of the Mulanje Massiv seen from Sapitwa Peak

3000 m above sealevel!

Me on the summit of Sapitwa the highest Point in Southern Africa

After descending to the hut and resting for a short wile to recover our strength from the 5 hour summit tour, we continued to walk to Chambe Hut. On the way we passed a huge forest fire that seemed to have gotten completely out of control. The whole side of the valley was on fire! After we had traversed the burned area we reached the other side of the fire. There we found a small band of people that seemed to be trying to get the fire under control. Four women were sitting on the path, each with a bucket of water in front of her. They had carried the water up from Chambe Hut, which was still 20 min walk away. In the bush we noticed three men with something resembling pesticide sprayers, which they were obviously using as fire extinguishers. But the sheer size of the fire made them look tragically ridiculous with their little watersprays. I felt sad for the destroyed beauty of the forest being burned away, but I realized that there was nothing they could do. It would need massive resources like helicopters or planes to douse a fire of this size and I doubt that anything like that existed anywhere in the whole of Malawi. On the final stretch to Chambe Hut I noticed a few fire barriers cutting up the mountain slope and my anxiety that the fire might spread to the hut was calmed. The hut was great again and we spent the rest of the afternoon learning how to play the Bao Game from our porter and the hut warden.

Scorched earth after the bushfire had burned all the grass

J., our porter Billiet and me learning to play the Bao game

Chambe Peak as seen from Chambe Hut

On the last day of the hike we only had to descend back down to Likhabula. On the way we made a little detour to a waterfall with a large pool at it’s base and washed off the dust from the hike. When I returned to the Forest Lodge I went to buy a pocket Bao game made from Mulanje Ceder and played a round with Martin over a beer. Tomorrow we will head east to Mozambique and the Indian Ocean marking the completion of our traverse of the African continent.

Steps ground into the bare rock by thousands of bare feet using this path to carry timber down from the mountain.

Likhabula Falls – a refreshing place after the sweating in the hot sun

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