There’s nothing like a reminder of the UK, and down in Thyolo on the tea estates you could be forgiven for thinking yourself in the Lake District, apart from all the tea, that is. Is there anything more picturesque than a rainbow framing Mount Mulanje, poised behind a field of flourishing maize?
New year was spent in the Southern region, flitting between Blantyre, Thyolo and Mulanje. Pete, another VSO with WFP, lives on the Confordzi tea estate by Thyolo boma, in what must have once been a very beautiful colonial house, which still contains some interesting retro furniture and matching curtain pelmets. His kitchen must surely be the envy of all VSOs: large and freshly painted, with an oven, kitchen table, and looks over his garden. He also has the most extraordinary bedroom, complete with walk-in closet and attached bathroom with full length mirror. It might seem extremely odd that I am listing the contents of a house, but for VSOs in this country such items were very strange sights.
Thyolo boma is a blink-and-you-miss-it type place, set off the main road going to Mozambique, but a convenient 40 minutes by minibus from Blantyre. Its setting is beautiful, with the hills keeping it cool, and the fields of tea keeping it green. Thyolo is also a modestly prosperous district, which is unsurprising considering the number of NGOs working there. But the prosperity is visible in brick houses and slightly fewer un-torn clothes than usual. From my perspective, Thyolo has the highest number of supplementary feeding centres in one district, at remarkably close distances from each other.
On New Year’s eve Nell, Pete and I headed to Chitikali, a small village on the main road to Mulanje, situated at the base of the mountain. It’s a really beautiful spot with the mountain running all the way behind one side of the street. Having missed the daily motolo to the Forestry Lodge down a dirt track 10km away, and the start of the climb up the mountain, we braved some bicycle taxis and marveled at the strength of the guys as they cycled us up and down the track in not especially cool weather. Considering we must have been double the weight of their usual load, what with backpacks and water bottles and not being malnourished, it was quite extraordinary how fast we went.
By the time we got to the forestry lodge and had been pounced on by our self-selected guide Edington and entered the park, it was sweltering, and not even the smell of Mulanje cedar made us feel particularly enthusiastic for the climb ahead. Still, a mere 2 hours later and we were swimming in the waterfall about a third of the way up the mountain with Nell doing her best ‘mysterious girl’ impression. It was a perfect stop, and even Edington didn’t complain about the vegemite sandwich we offered. Thanks goodness it wasn’t marmite!
The journey back was made eventful only by a shortcut by the bicycle taxis. It seemed that wading across a waist-high river was for them a shortcut, and somehow I didn’t believe that Peter, by taxi-driver, who was a good 5 inches shorter than me and about half my weight, would be able to carry me. So Nell and I turned back opting for the road while Pete braved some extremely murky looking water.
Chitikali is not one of those places where you would expect to find a pizza oven. Goodness, even Lilongwe has difficulties on that front. Still, there at the bottom of Mulanje Info is a pizza plaza place, and I don’t know whether it was the climb or the trials of the bicycle taxis, but the pizza there is phenomenal. The perfect ending to 2006.
New year was spent in the Southern region, flitting between Blantyre, Thyolo and Mulanje. Pete, another VSO with WFP, lives on the Confordzi tea estate by Thyolo boma, in what must have once been a very beautiful colonial house, which still contains some interesting retro furniture and matching curtain pelmets. His kitchen must surely be the envy of all VSOs: large and freshly painted, with an oven, kitchen table, and looks over his garden. He also has the most extraordinary bedroom, complete with walk-in closet and attached bathroom with full length mirror. It might seem extremely odd that I am listing the contents of a house, but for VSOs in this country such items were very strange sights.
Thyolo boma is a blink-and-you-miss-it type place, set off the main road going to Mozambique, but a convenient 40 minutes by minibus from Blantyre. Its setting is beautiful, with the hills keeping it cool, and the fields of tea keeping it green. Thyolo is also a modestly prosperous district, which is unsurprising considering the number of NGOs working there. But the prosperity is visible in brick houses and slightly fewer un-torn clothes than usual. From my perspective, Thyolo has the highest number of supplementary feeding centres in one district, at remarkably close distances from each other.
On New Year’s eve Nell, Pete and I headed to Chitikali, a small village on the main road to Mulanje, situated at the base of the mountain. It’s a really beautiful spot with the mountain running all the way behind one side of the street. Having missed the daily motolo to the Forestry Lodge down a dirt track 10km away, and the start of the climb up the mountain, we braved some bicycle taxis and marveled at the strength of the guys as they cycled us up and down the track in not especially cool weather. Considering we must have been double the weight of their usual load, what with backpacks and water bottles and not being malnourished, it was quite extraordinary how fast we went.
By the time we got to the forestry lodge and had been pounced on by our self-selected guide Edington and entered the park, it was sweltering, and not even the smell of Mulanje cedar made us feel particularly enthusiastic for the climb ahead. Still, a mere 2 hours later and we were swimming in the waterfall about a third of the way up the mountain with Nell doing her best ‘mysterious girl’ impression. It was a perfect stop, and even Edington didn’t complain about the vegemite sandwich we offered. Thanks goodness it wasn’t marmite!
The journey back was made eventful only by a shortcut by the bicycle taxis. It seemed that wading across a waist-high river was for them a shortcut, and somehow I didn’t believe that Peter, by taxi-driver, who was a good 5 inches shorter than me and about half my weight, would be able to carry me. So Nell and I turned back opting for the road while Pete braved some extremely murky looking water.
Chitikali is not one of those places where you would expect to find a pizza oven. Goodness, even Lilongwe has difficulties on that front. Still, there at the bottom of Mulanje Info is a pizza plaza place, and I don’t know whether it was the climb or the trials of the bicycle taxis, but the pizza there is phenomenal. The perfect ending to 2006.
1 comment:
Thanks for your link Hazel, sorry not to get back to you earlier but until recently things have been a little hectic, what with the Army occupying my street and general chaos reigning everywhere. Some really nice photos here, glad it seems to be going well.
Post a Comment