From Abre's link
On Africa's golden pond
Malawi has a diversity of landscapes unrivalled in Africa
Piers Moore Ede
Saturday September 2 2006
The Guardian


A boy shows his catch from Lake MalawiPeering out of the tiny Cessna, I get my first view of Lake Malawi, one of Africa's most majestic inland lakes. An endless pea**** blue, fringed by cotton-white beaches and stretching for more than 500km between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Livingstone called this "the lake of stars", due to its glittering surface, but it is beneath the waters that its riches truly lie. More indigenous species of fish can be found here than any other lake on earth.

Half an hour later, and I'm on Likoma, the larger (at 17km) of two small islands in the far north of the lake, reclining on the terrace of the beach bar at Kaya Mawa, a lodge whose name aptly translates as "Maybe Tomorrow". Will Sutton, one of the owners, pours me the first of what I'm certain will be many Malawi gin and tonics, and I cast my eyes, with some awe, over the bay, surrounded by mango trees and ancient baobabs, which he has chosen to call home.

"Until the late 1990s, there was hardly any tourism here," Will explains, going on to tell me about the late Dr Hastings Banda, the despotic ruler who supported the South African apartheid regime, forbade Malawian women from wearing trousers and generally ran his country into the ground. "But since Banda's ousting in the mid 1990s things have begun to change. Malawi is unique among African countries in the diversity of its landscapes, the beaches and, well, as you'll see, the people are just the friendliest on earth."

"Kaya Mawa's not exactly easy to get to," I point out, citing the long flight to South Africa, another to Malawi, then the Cessna to Likoma island.

"Isn't the remoteness part of the charm?" he asks. "Besides, you had it easy. Some of our volunteers come by land and lake steamer. Even from within Malawi, it can take them two and half days!"

I return to my room in preparation for a swim. Room is rather an understatement. It's actually one of 10 stone and teak-framed thatched cottages, complete with a mahogany four-poster bed, an open-air shower, and a sunken stone bathtub. A private terrace leads to an equally private wooden pontoon.

Flippers on at last, I leap into the warm, luminous water. All of a sudden, I am in a wonderland. Everything is silent, the lake envelops me, my eyes boggle. The national park is a sanctuary for the biologically unique, often brightly coloured little fish called cichlids, and as my eyes accustom to the light I make out clusters of them, shining like a handful of flung coins. Further out, I see flashes of violet, lemon-yellow and emerald.

Two days later, feeling rather like Adam ousted from the Garden, it is time for the next leg of the journey. Another beach lodge, but this time on the Mozambiquan shore of the lake, a mere hour's ride from Likoma by speedboat. I needn't have worried. If Kaya Mawa amazed me, Nkwichi Lodge, set in the 600km Manda Wilderness, simply beggared belief.

The story goes that Lola, an aid worker helping Mozambiquan refugees, was flying over the lake one day when she looked down and saw a Robinson Crusoe-like stretch of coastline. It lodged in her memory. Several years later, she and four friends returned there with the intention of setting up a luxurious though socially responsible beach lodge. To my mind, what they've achieved is one of the most special places in the world.

Nkwichi, means "squeaking sand" in the local dialect and it is the beach that first draws attention. It is pure powdery white, like caster sugar, and when you walk on it, it really squeaks. Just off the shoreline, you may see a ragged Arab dhow passing, the local form of transport here since the 19th century. Inside each of the seven lodges, you'll find minimalist luxury, with bedposts carved out of old tree trunks, lanterns, and an expansive mosquito net. The outdoor bathroom is an experience in itself: while brushing my teeth that night, I saw a Pel's fishing owl (one of the largest and rarest owls in the world), watching me sagely from a branch.

What's particularly memorable about Nkwichi, though, is the way it feeds back into the local community. If the idea of living the life of Riley in a third-world country sits as uneasily with you as it does me, then look no further. Staying at the lodge provides wages for up to 50 local members of staff. Their salaries each support up to 15 members of their direct families. This means that by staying at the lodge you will have an impact on the lives of 750 people. More than that, the lodge has built two schools and runs a farming project teaching permaculture to the local community. As Malawi faces regular famines, projects like the Manda Horticultural Project are making a tangible difference.

Another hair-raising plane ride takes us north on to the elevated reaches of Nyika plateau. Laurens van der Post explored the plateau in the journey that would later become his classic Venture to the Interior. "It was so unlike anything else," he writes. "It was deep in the heart of Africa and filled with the animals of Africa and yet it was covered with grasses of England."

Van der Post's description is a fitting one, although I might have chosen Scotland. Undulating grasslands stretch away into the distance, punctuated by the occasional patch of evergreen forest. Chelinda, the only lodge within the national park, further confuses me. Huge timber cabins with log fires remind me of the Alps. Nonetheless, at 8,000ft, the thick walls and crackling logs are more than welcome in the evening chill.

The thing to do up here is horse riding. The experience of riding out at Nyika is something not to be missed. Abassi, our guide, has a knowledge of flora and fauna that would give David Attenborough a run for his money. Around us on the plain he points out helichrysums - the yellow everlasting flower - orange mallows, swan flowers with their two wing-like petals. Birds such as the Schalow's turaco one of the most spectacularly colourful birds in the world, flit from the trees. Abassi, who must have seen all this a thousand times, almost shouts with delight at each new discovery.

Best of all is the game, which struts around us unafraid because of our being on horseback. Almost 100 mammal species have been recorded in the national park and today we see reed bucks, roan antelope, common duiker, eland, and a herd of zebra. Although we aren't lucky enough to see a leopard, there are plenty of them about. Some sources suggest that the plateau's population of around 150 individuals is among the densest in Africa.

When our final night arrives, we sit round the dinner table at Chelinda talking, unsurprisingly, about Malawi. What makes it so special? How can the fourth poorest country in the world market itself in a way which can compete with the established tourist industries of Kenya and Botswana? The conversation continually returns to two things. First, Malawi has a diversity that's almost unrivalled in Africa. Where else can you be scuba diving or kayaking in the most tropical water one day, and galloping along a high plateau in search of duiker the next? But the second point is the most important. Malawi has a moniker "the warm heart of Africa", and the hospitality has to be experienced to be believed. You won't be asked for money here, or fleeced by exorbitantly priced lodges. Rather, you'll be met with pride, optimism, and people who know that their country is a very unique place indeed. I don't see how they can fail.

· Piers Moore Ede's Honey and Dust is published by Bloomsbury at £14.99.

Getting there

South African Airways (0870 7471111, flysaa.com) flies Heathrow-Lilongwe via Johannesburg for £870 rtn inc tax.

Where to stay

Kaya Mawa Lodge, (wilderness-safaris.com) US$240. Nkwichi Lodge (mandawilderness.org) US$125. Chelina Lodge, Nyika Safari Company (nyika.com) US$290. Prices are per person per night based on two sharing, including all meals and activities except horse riding (Chelinda) and motorised watersports (Kaya Mawa).

Further information

0115 982 1903, malawitourism.com.

Country code: 00 265.

Flight time: London Johannesburg 11hrs; Johannesburg-Lilongwe 2hrs 20mins