Liwonde National Park is Conquered Despite Setback
Trip Start
May 29, 2007
1
15
41
Trip End
Jul 18, 2007
Liwonde,
Malawi
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Ordinarily I can hold it. This time was different. Nature was calling and it was uncontrollable.
I was in an aisle seat so it was easy to remain unnoticed as I unbuckled my seatbelt and made for the back of the plane.
The back of the plane was quite cramped and the emergency exit was located immediately across from the bite-sized bathroom. As I opened the door to the restroom the plane suddenly hit a bit of unexpected turbulence and I smashed against the emergency exit door, throwing it open. A burst of air threw me to the back of the plane.
The loss of cabin pressure sent the nose of the plane in a downward spiral. We were now headed straight for the earth.
Our new route pinned me against the back of the plane. I desperately tried to make my way to a seat. I reached for the empty seat immediately in front of me with no success. With my arms extended as much as possible, I was able to finger my way to a grip on the head rest.
Faster and faster, the plane fell, gaining speed exponentially. The clouds vanished and the ground came into view. My grip was strong, but the force I was fighting was too great - I could not pull myself forward at all. Stuck in place, I had failed at my only chance at survival. I released the chair and faced my probable fate.
Like a falling rock, we plummeted towards the ground, gaining speed every instant. I could imagine the pilot violently pulling back on his controls to level the plane.
The tiny speck that was Dallas was now a well in view. Downtown came into focus. Buildings became defined and ants became cars. It wouldn't be long.
A few thousand feet away from our demise, the plane began to level. "Would we have enough time?" I thought, pinned helplessly against the back of the plane.
Gravity was too great. In a last attempt at a safe emergency landing, the pilot aimed the plane directly towards a parking lot just milliseconds from the ground.
I was thrown forward when we struck. To my surprise the planed stayed intact. We began skidding across the parking lot at a dangerously high speed heading for a mass of cars.
Death was promised if we struck the mass of stagnant cars. Fiery explosions would surely incinerate all of us. The group of empty cars seemed to welcome a contact as we swiftly approached them.
A collision was definite, and I braced myself with the little leverage I had. Impact.... Darkness.
"Wake up Phil," Aaron said standing with our bedroom door open. "Breakfast."
Taking a moment to orient myself I realized I was not dead, but in my covered bed, wildly dreaming.
This was the start of my day. It would be a good one.
Breakfast was at 8:30. Liwonde National park was the only item on the agenda for the day. Following breakfast we met our tour guide for the day. Mahata was a man of 50 years and was the nephew of Dr. C. Mahata is a farmer who grows maize on a farm just outside of Balaka.
The drive to our destination was about 2 hours. The vehicle we took was a 1992 Isuzu pickup. This truck had room in the cab for 3 small people. Thus, Aaron, Jimmy, and I would sit in the bed for the two hour trip. We had great weather!
The drive over was rather eventful because of the constant number of people walking on the sides of the road. The main road in Malawi is always lined with people. The people are either walking or bicycling. Africans seldom see two white boys in the bed of a small pickup truck and they were fascinated to see this rarity. This phenomenon would become known as the double take.
Each person we passed would look at our vehicle and immediately look away just out of habit. After the short glimpse, the vision would register as two white people, and the person would double take to confirm. We found this hilarious. Women carrying 20 gallons of water on their heads would stop walking and turn their entire bodies around just to catch a glance. Amusement ensued. People riding bikes would disregard their safety just to look back. How comical. In one instant a man walking turned back 7 times as if he didn't believe his eyes the first 6. The 'double take' kept us occupied during what would have been a miserable trip.
The town closest to the park was quiet and charming. We stopped at a restaurant called 'The HDI Restaurant & Take Away' for lunch before entering the park. I found it laughable that this restaurant didn't offer take out and the words 'take away' comprised half of its name. Lunch was good, the usual rice, cooked vegetables, and chicken.
It was a five minute drive to the park from the restaurant. We drove to the entrance and all hopped out to get our admissions tickets. Unfortulately, it was forgotten by the driver and passengers of the cab that the keys were still inside when they locked and closed their doors. We purchased our tickets and returned to truck to be unusable it its state. I don't think they even have locksmiths in Africa, so our only option was to break into the truck. 30 minutes of highly illegal activity later, we were finally successful. We broke into our own truck using tools provided by Mother Nature. By tools I mean a variety of sticks. I found humor in this. Again, the video camera was utilized properly. That will be entertaining to watch.
Finally we progressed into the park. We took a driving tour of the park which meant we had to stay in the truck at all times. This was tolerable but not ideal. Leaving the vehicle would have provided better photo opportunities. We weren't bothered by the rule though. The danger posed by the wildlife kept us well within the confines of the truck.
The drive was awesome! We saw all sorts of wildlife. Antelope, elephants, warthogs, impala, baboons, guinea fowl, and several others were spotted. Between Aaron, Jenn, and I we took over 400 pictures within the span of 3 hours. Yeah, we may have been a bit trigger happy.
The drive home was unexpectedly cool. I forgot that temperature drops with the sun. The cool air blowing against my hot skin lulled me right to sleep. In what seemed like an instant, we were back at home.
The night ritual went unaltered. Back to the clinic tomorrow. This was a solid African day. The journey is still unfolding. More to come.
