Malawi: from Liwonde to Lake Malawi [4/4]

We get another opportunity to view wildlife in Liwonde National Park, also managed by African Parks. Arriving at Mvuu Camp by boat, we soon understand that what it lacks in style and intimacy, it makes up in warmth and authenticity.

The location is outstanding and I cannot keep track of the hippos playing hide and seek in front of our cottage.  I almost shout of excitement when a mother elephant starts swimming across the river with her baby.

I want to run towards them to take a few shots, but I remember that we spotted a crocodile right there hiding in the grass, when we were on a boat safari earlier in the day.

Tom, our guide, is a self-taught walking encyclopedia. I wish I could record all the fun facts that he shares. On our last day at Mvuu, we go on a walking safari, accompanied by Tom again and a discreet ranger from African Parks. We stumble upon a buffalo in the distance. Tom gestures at us with a very serious face, indicating that we must change direction. And everyone bends under the foliage, ushering and smiling of excitement at the adventure that we are living.

We stumble upon a buffalo in the distance. Tom gestures at us with a very serious face, indicating that we must change direction. And everyone bends under the foliage, ushering and smiling of excitement at the adventure that we are living.

Taking the road again, we stop at another community-based organization called CISER, operating on the shores of Lake Malawi. The founder takes us on a tour that leaves us in awe of the efforts accomplished to keep local children out of trouble by giving them access to education.

We finally make it to Pumulani on the shores of Lake Malawi, for our last two nights in the country. I am absorbed by the many encounters that we have made during this journey: eye contacts with countless children smiling at us, jokes shared with the guides who looked after us with warmth and pride.

I am overwhelmed with emotion, thinking of all the places in the world that never make it in the news.

I close my eyes by the pool, reliving all those tiny moments from our trip, and two Chinese teenagers emerge from nowhere, a boombox in hand playing the song My Way in Chinese, right there in the warm heart of Africa. I cry and I smile. It’s been a memorable journey in so many ways.