Lake Malawi: Monkey Bay and AWA

Went from Lilongwe (red circle on left) to Monkey Bay (red circle on right)

My first Lake Malawi trip was arranged by our boss/Malawi tour guide Meagan.  On a Friday afternoon we piled into an oversized land cruiser and headed for Monkey Bay on the southern part of the lake.  We saw a lot of the country side on our drive and the sun setting behind the mountains provided some particularly stunning views, but these views came at a cost.  The enlarged land rover we were using was of course without functioning headlights.  Now, if Malawian roads had any lights this may not have been too big of a problem, but that not being the case we were quite literally in a race against the solar clock.  With 20 kilometers to go, we hit absolute darkness and pretty much just blasted our horn the entire way with the emergency lights flashing so that people and other cars could get out of our way.  Moving through the town at a crawling speed, we still missed the turn off for the Mufasa Inn where we were to stay.

Our expertly constructed tent

After finally arriving, we had to construct our tent.  With headlamps on, and thick swarms of bugs making it difficult to breathe and see, we assembled the tent in a prime spot right off the water.  We hung out for a bit, listening to the music on the beach around the bonfire and then hit the tent for the night.

A view from Mufasa Inn beach out to the bay

The next morning we all started with a nice swim.  It was a hot day so it felt nice.  The bay was beautiful and we'd been assured that the hippo and crocodile were on the other side of the bay.  We swam out to an island and scaled the rocks where I had my first foray into barefoot rock climbing (or any rock climbing for that matter).  I pushed through the fear (and repeated scrapes against the rocks) to make it to the top where we were rewarded with a stunning view of the bay.  After managing to make it down and avoiding the giant snake in the rocks we swam back for a nice, relaxing day on the beach.  Later we made the big return swim to the island and completed the climb so we could get our sunset view from atop the peak.

View from the mountain - to the left is where the hippo hung out, to the right was our camp

Sunset on the mountain from left to right: Mike, Meagan, Me, Mel

That night there was a big party and we met a bunch of people (peace corps, engineers without borders, Malawians, etc).  There was a live band and it was a fun, late night. The next morning we were all tired and went for a refreshing swim.  My body was still sore from all the swimming the day before but the water was cool and nice.  After a breakfast of PB&J’s and a lot of reading, Mike and I realized that Mel had been out swimming for a long time and was so far out that no one could see her.  We went out swimming to look for her and 200 meters out from shore we were able to climb some rocks and spot her off in the distance out past the bay at the far end where the land opens back up to the full lake.  I knew my body was drained from the swimming today and yesterday but I’m out in Africa to challenge myself I thought.  We finally caught up to her and decided we might as well climb the only mountain we hadn't yet conquered which required yet more grueling swimming.  


The following is an excerpt from Mike: "the swim over was a rough one.  Once out of the bay, you are exposed to the two foot swells that throw giant gulps of water right down your throat at the most opportune moment. adding that to the fear that we were no longer in 20 foot deep water but now close to 50 feet, and had been warned by Godfrey of the GRS Malawi team "not to go deep" when swimming in Lake Malawi (he would not be more specific than that, which confirmed my beliefs of the mythical Lake Malawi river monster). The three of us finally made it to the base of the mountain, and began to scale the vertical face. Matt was making great progress in his first weekend of bouldering, and before long we had climbed higher than the fish eagle nests. looking out over the vast lake, unable to see across to Mozambique, we realized one thing: we were leaving soon. It was now 12:15 and we were over a kilometer swim from shore, and our transport was leaving exactly at 1. "

Our problems started when we tried to reach that far shore in the distance

It's at this point that the real problems started.  After rock diving back into the rough waters I realized there was no way my body was going to make the swim.  Being knocked by the swells I gave Mike a look and he knew.  I got myself back to the rocks just as my leg cramped up fully and I pulled myself to a brief but vital safety still a kilometer from our camp.  From here I had to fend off the local baboon who’s territory I’d encroached on and avoid snakes in the breaks between the rocks.  The coast was practically impossible to traverse as I slowly made my way around a small bay climbing up, down, between, and around giant boulders and rocks.  Finally, after a punishing 400 meters of climbing, Mike reappeared with a small paddle boat.  The lake was stubborn though and he couldn't get close enough to shore to get me without the boat being smashed into the rocks.  I'd have to make it out.  I carefully got myself out to the edge and waited for the right tide before diving in and avoiding the swells to reach the boat.  We pulled ourselves on board and paddled back just in time to make our ride back.

AWA (Africa Wins Again) we all agreed before we sped back to Lilongwe managing to arrive before another headlight issue derailed our return.  It was a good weekend.