Falling asleep to the munching of elephants
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Vwaza Marsh,
Malawi
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Our guidebook (you know, the one we used to have) calls Vwaza Marsh the hidden treasure of North Malawi. While everyone goes and hangs out on the beach, few people come up to this area.
After coming here, its pretty easy to see why. Our guidebook also says that public transportation here is "straightforward." This is perhaps not the truth.
Let us review. From the border we took a taxi to Karonga. From here we took a big bus to the Rumphi turn-off. From here, we took a small minibus to Rumphi itself. Then Erin got food poisoning. Okay, so maybe all travellers don't have to deal with that. But anyway, after Rumphi it really gets interesting.
Vwaza Marsh is 30km from Rumphi on very bad dirt roads. So bad that it seems minibuses don't run the route anymore. Only pickups go. There are two good seats on a pickup. They are next to the driver. The bed of the truck is then crammed with all the humanity, luggage, and animal/vegetables that is physically possible. Then we bump up and down for a long time.
In the usual miracle that is shared transportation, when we arrived in the morning there wasn't anyone currently going to Vwaza Marsh. So we sat and hoped for the best. Suddenly (and probably because of our money), there was a truck going to Vwaza Marsh. Well, not really Vwaza Marsh, but Kazuni, 5km from Vwaza Marsh. Our very friendly truck driver explained that we could pay him a little more and he would take us to the gate. Our lovely guidebook also told us to trust Malawians since they usually don't rip off foreigners. So the price to Kazuni seemed right according to the guidebook, so we said okay and left. Erin was still not feeling well at this point, and she almost backed out. But at this point our backpacks were under 20 locals in the back. So we piled in the front seat and away we went. It was a bumpy ride but we didn't have to deal with it being in the front seat and all. I just watched Erin to see if she was going to need to bolt. At a random point on the road the truck stopped and everyone in the bed of the truck got off. Suddenly we were the only ones and he said we needed to pay him just an additional 2000 ($15) kwacha to cover fuel for the remaining 5km. We had paid $3 each to get the first 25km. Have we mentioned we're tired of the "fuel is so expensive argument"? We were going to walk (even though I was pretty sure Erin couldn't handle this). Eventually I had to pay another 700 kwacha. On the ride back we would descover that we should have paid about 700 for the whole ride. So much for honest Malawians.
Anyway, we finally arrived at Vwaza Marsh, paid our entry fee and were shown to our hut. Vwaza Marsh is a small game reserve, but the attraction is watching wildlife from your accomodation. We couldn't have afforded this anywhere else, when park fees are upwards of $50 pperson pday and lodge accomodation starts at $100-$200 a night. But here, park fees are $5 pperson pday and our hut cost $28. Naturally, it was a little rustic. It was pretty much a reed hut with beds and nets. But it had a nice concrete porch with chairs and a table that overlooked the lake.
At first I was a little disappointed. The lake was a little dry and there was not a single animal to be seen. But Erin was still recovering and we had come here to get away from our troubles and it was definitely quiet, empty, and peaceful. So we took a nap.
I went out to sit on the porch and was watching a ranger passing by when a huge elephant emerged from the bushes about 30m to the right of our camp. It is amazing how quietly these creatures move. He passed in front of our hut and moved across the plains in front and down to the water to get a drink. Then he wandered off. A troop of baboons followed him, chittering and squawking. Erin got went back to lay down. I watched as three more suddenly emerged from the same place and ambled down to the water. I kept calling Erin when elephants came out. Eventually I asked if I should let her know when more came. She said yes. I told her that's good because here comes about 10.
The tne turned into 20 and then 50. We watched an enormous herd pass in front of our hut and move down to the river as a group. Huge males on the outside. Females and quite a few frolicking babies as well. July to September is the best time to see the park's large population of elephants and we were lucky to see a large chunk of them. It was pretty special to sit on our porch and watch this wildlife spectacle from our chairs. We sat and watched the parade for over an hour until things grew quiet again towards the afternoon.
As it began to get dark, various animals began to make noises. There were lots of birds during the day, flying past our hut and scratching in the leaves nearby. Adding to the birds and insects were the loudest of all, the hippos from the lake. They make loud booming calls that echo from the water and travel a very long way. The elephants in the trees made their hoots and trumpets. It sounded a lot like Jurassic Park actually.
After dark we cobbled together a dinner of nasty package soup in a pan, bread, peanut butter, and hot chocolate. We sat outside and ate the dubious looking soup from the pan with our spoons and stared out into the noisy darkness. Erin later went to the bathroom to rinse the dishes. I was standing on the porch and trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from. Then I realized that one of the shapes in front of me was moving. An elephant walked past me maybe 10m meters in front of the hut and stopped to look at me. Erin was walking back, unconcerned. "There is an elephant RIGHT THERE," I hissed. He moved over to munch on a tree to our left, and suddenly the darkness was alive with sounds and moving shapes. I think I saw some hippos, come up to feed, but the elephants came the closest. I stood and watched as several enormous elephants actually came down the path Erin had used earlier, probably 5m from the hut. They knew I was there, and turned to watch me as they trod past. The sound of the herd ripping into trees was all around us. We were in a circle of 10 elephants feeding on trees around our hut.
In fact, we fell asleep to the contented munching of elephants. A very amazing experience.
The next morning we went on a walking safari. This involved an escorting ranger with a big gun. It wasn't quite as eventful as last night, but the guy was great and pointed out all kinds of animal poop. He also was very good with the birds and would make funny imitations of their calls. We saw lots of birds, and small kudus down by the river. It was a beautiful walk. The best part of the hike was coming back along the lake and looking at the groups of hippos. The guide said it was a family but all we could ever see was one or two giant heads going up and down like silent submarines. One of these groups was pretty close and I lingered to look at them. Suddenly, both heads swiveled around to stare at me. Then, like some cartoon, heads began sprouting out of the water like mushrooms. There were more than ten of them, all eyeing us from the water. It was pretty funny to watch.
We checked out that morning and began the transportation game. After a rather obnoxious man tried to persuade us he was the last truck and wanted $30, we started walking and got picked up by another truck that honestly charged us 350 kwacha. Erin got the front seat while I piled in the back. It was a typical African experience. I counted 24 people in the back of the pickup with me, 6 babies and 7 women. I think all 7 of them were breastfeeding. There were several bikes and a couple chickens for good measure. The trip back to Rumphi seemed much longer than the first one. But we did arrive.
Maybe travelling isn't so bad after all.
~Travis
