Mbedza Volunteers Tom and Bree explore the Beauty of Malawi

Hi Everyone, 

Having now spent 6 weeks in Malawi as volunteers with Mbedza, we -Bree and Tom- have had some amazing experiences seeing both the culture and the natural beauty of this country. From climbing its tallest mountain to coming face-to-face with its wildlife, we've had so many incredible experiences in our free time that we both want to talk about. So for this reason we have written this blog together!

To start off our exploration of Malawi’s beautiful nature, we spent a weekend climbing up Mount Mulanje- or Mulanje Massif as the locals say! The mountain is situated an hour from Blantyre, and is the highest point in Malawi at 3,000 metres and the third highest mountain in Africa. Our guide Pitman was amazing teaching us new Chichewa phrases as we went - Osatopa! We enjoyed our five hour hike to our camping spot, making sure to stop for the excellent views, even spotting Mozambique in the distance. We found it particularly interesting to observe some local children descending the steep mountain whilst carrying heavy bundles of firewood on their heads to provide for their families. We found it impressive how easy they made it look running in flip flops as we scrambled up in our professional hiking shoes, stopping every half an hour for a celebratory banana. Once we reached the top, we stayed in a cabin situated in a tranquil clearing. After a dip in the nearby stream and an outdoor bucket shower, our guides cooked us Nsima as we sat around a fire under a blanket of stars and they told us stories about over-confident mountaineers who had been lost to the treacherous mountain. Suddenly we felt very lucky to have their expertise! This gratitude almost evaporated however when they woke us up at a freezing 4:30am the next morning. Dreary-eyed,  we managed to race to the summit in time for a magnificent sunrise. As my (Tom’s) first ever hike, to be above the clouds with the panoramic views was one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever seen and something I will never forget. I (Bree) would like to say the views on the descent were equally memorable, but I think we were a bit delusional by our lack of sleep by this point. Once we reached the famous waterfalls, I was quick to cancel swimming plans and instead take a nap on a rock in the centre of the water! The trip was finished with a well deserved pizza in Eric’s car on the way back to Zomba as the sun that we had watched rise that morning, sank back down on the horizon. 

Tom and Bree with their guide Pitman on Mount Mulanje

After another week or two of volunteering, we visited Cape Maclear on Lake Malawi, which ranks among the top ten biggest lakes in the world. Feeling like we were on a mini holiday thanks to the picturesque beaches and sunsets, we stayed there for 6 nights at Fat Monkeys lodge. On several days, we visited the Mbedza’s Chiyambi Nursery in Monkey Bay. This was a heartwarming experience as we read the children stories, sang nursery rhymes and tried (extremely unsuccessfully) to implement a British-style queuing system for the slide during break time! It was also great to make the journey to the lake with two of Mbedza’s finest-Richard and Jessie- who, despite being incredibly busy training local villagers in the Tiyeni method, managed to carve out some time to have fun with us in the evenings. Some of the other highlights of being there included: a boat trip which took us snorkelling and eagle-spotting off Thumbi island, the rowdy Malawi Independence Day celebrations and a surprise visit from some of the senior Mbedza staff and board members- which we made sure to smarten ourselves up for! The best meal we ate was definitely some fresh Chambo (a fish found in the Lake) tacos prepared by a Malawian chef in his home’s kitchen at Black Pepper Cafe which took over an hour and a half to arrive. Very authentic! Next time your food takes 20 minutes to arrive instead of the usual 15, think of the man in the Black Pepper Cafe chopping in slow motion with such attention to detail and who was so proud of his business that he asked us to come into the kitchen and watch. After relaxing and recharging at Lake Malawi, we returned to the ever so slightly faster-paced lifestyle of Zomba city.

A meal out with the Mbedza team

Views from Fat Monkey’s Lodge in Cape Maclear

We spent our penultimate weekend in Malawi treating ourselves to another getaway, this time at Kutchire Safari Lodge which was suggested by Jess, our ‘guy in the chair’ back in the UK. It turned out to be a great suggestion. We went on two game drives through Liwonde National Park. On the first,  we came head to head with a tusked elephant ready to charge just metres from our jeep as well as a hippo, antelope and wildebeest. After an early start on the second day, our luck seemed to have run out bar a few warthogs. Bree wants to add that the warthogs were a highlight for her- they’re just so cute! This was until our guide got a call to say there was a pride of lions close by. He raced to the source of the call, almost knocking over some impala in his haste. And indeed, there was a pride of eleven lions which we got extremely close to. Maybe too close! Our accommodation was lovely, but definitely thrill-seeking! Yes, our wooden hut was free to be accessed by the Big 5, making us their dinner. I (Bree) originally wanted to stay for two nights, but after only sleeping an hour in fear of being a lion’s midnight feast, I was glad to return back to Zomba and live to tell the tale (Tom thinks I’m being dramatic). 

On safari at Kutchire Lodge, Liwonde

We’re writing this after we’ve just got back from safari, on our sixth weekend. It feels strange to be counting our time left in days rather than weeks! Outside of all these trips, having 6 weeks in one place is a unique experience because of the unexpected people who become part of your life. Whether it’s the students we’ve tutored for hours about verb tenses and sentence structures, the man who sells us chips for lunch on the side of the road every week or the little girls next door who shout ‘Hi’ at us every time we get back to the Gaphouse and bang on our door until we agree to play with them, it’s going to be sad to say goodbye. 

Thanks for reading our blog and we’ll speak again soon at the end of our trip to summarise our whole Malawian experience with Mbedza. If you want to read more about our first impressions of Malawi or what a week volunteering for Mbedza looks like, be sure to check out our previous two blogs! 

Tom and Bree