To Mumbo Island
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2008
1
8
25
Trip End
Aug 04, 2008
Mumbo Island,
Malawi
Saturday, July 19, 2008
On the boat out to island, we sat on the roof with three young backpackers who were going to the self-catering Dumwe Island. After dropping them off, we continued on to Mumbo Island. The lodge has a perfect setting, in a cove with boulders, a small beach, tents set up above the clear water on a separate island, connected by a swinging bridge.
We were given a quick briefing by Pam, the resident manager, then taken to our tents - numbers 4 and 5 - clearly the two most private tents, although none are too public or even disappointing in any way
View from our tent, Mumbo Island
. Paul and I took #5, which overlooks an island - a pile of rocks, really - where fish eagles nest. Our tent has the most exposure to the wind from the north, and the sound of waves crashing against the rocks. Plus, it's at the end of the path. Lovely!We settled in, enjoying the hammocks until lunch time. Lunch was delicious: corn cakes with chutney, potato salad, and fresh fruit. After lunch, Paul and I chatted for a while with Pam - who is from Canada, had been living in London doing high-tech stuff, met someone from Mumbo who said they could use some help; one thing led to another, and now she is starting her second year here.
Paul and the kids snorkeled in the afternoon, seeing many cichlids. The wind had calmed substantially, and it was very pleasant out.
At 16.30h, we set out for the sunset cruise with the only other guests (an American couple - he was a physician who just spent two years working at a pediatric AIDS clinic in Lilongwe; she had grown up in Nigeria; they were touring places before their return next month to the States). The lake was almost like glass - very calm. We circled the island, seeing birds and a cove or two (including a cave where a large crocodile, which had floated on a log from Mozambique, they think, had lived), then we paused on the west side to watch the sun set
View from our tent, Mumbo Island
. With all the smoke on the horizon, the sun turned a deep orange, the streaks of clouds illuminated briefly, then it was gone, lost in the grey depths of the smoke. We sipped our gin and tonics, chatted, and enjoyed the growing dusk on Lake Malawi. Returned to our tent to shower - we had requested buckets of warm water on our return during the sunset cruise - and all of us managed to shower with only one bucket of water. Being sailors pays off. Then, we sat with the kids on our deck and chatted until dinner.
Dinner was also delicious -curry with sambals. Paul and I shared a bottle of Riesling (great with the curry), and the four of us stayed talking for two and a half hours; in fact, we offered to extinguish the kerosene lamps so that the guys could go to bed. Eventually, we made our way back to our tent, to settle in for a comfortable - but very windy - night.
