Lilongwe to Livingstonia & Nkhata Bay

Trip Start Apr 03, 2008
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Trip End Jun 25, 2008


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Flag of Malawi  , Nkhata Bay,
Friday, May 9, 2008

From Lilongwe, I opted to head north to check out a place by the name of Nkhata Bay.  Apparently a chilled place on the northern part of the lake, it is well known amongst backpackers who enjoy just spending the days swimming, canoeing, or for those like myself, just to sit and read a book under the sun and enjoy the magnificent scenery.  Two days in Nkhata Bay was all I could handle, as I knew that if I stayed longer my level of motivation would be completely void for further days or weeks to come.  Thus, I left my little hut on the beach and headed further north into a town called Livingstonia, outside of Chitimba (on Lake Malawi).

Travellers typically tend to flock together to places, and for me I headed to Livingstonia with an Irish guy by the name of Peter and a New Yorker by the name of Umber.  The three of us hit a junction on the road, and were told that on the way to Livingstonia there was a camp called the Mushroom Farm.  Again, a chilled out bed and breakfast for 10 bucks a day accomodation, and the plan was to catch a ride up the mountain to the Farm (10 kilometers or 6 miles hike) Can she be more happy
Can she be more happy
 .  Luck was not on our side that day, and rather than scrap our plans, the three of us chose to push ourselves on the initial part of the hike until a car came along that would take us the rest of the way.  Three hours later, we arrived sweaty and completely exhausted at this so-called Farm.  An aussie by the name of Mick owns this place, and I saw neither mushrooms nor a Farm.  Apparently during the rainy season there are countless shrooms around the place.  The Farm itself, with only 3 huts, had incredible views overlooking the Lake and surrounding valley.  In awe, we kept indicating how similar to Capetown this view actually looked, and it took me back to sundowner days of Somerset West at James and Rogers place in South Africa.  Unfortunately, the boxed wine was not as good, nor was the food. 

Livingstonia - we trekked another 5K or 3 miles to the town the following day, to find a nice little town that had been built by David Livingstone back in the early 1900s.  Even today, it is a missionary type town that has had influence by folks like Livingstone, Robert Laws and others.  Kids there were great as were the locals we encountered.  Again, views of the surrounding valleys were awesome.  Back to mushroom farm that afternoon, Peter and I saw Umber off as she had to trek down the mountain to catch a bus the following morning.  I, always putting off strenuous activity if possible, decided to try and get a ride the next morning with a possible vehicle in our camp.  Lady luck really was not in agreement with me though, and I awoke early to hike that damn hill once again, only this time down in a record 1.5 hours.  The 40 pound pack on my back - not fun...
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