Mount Mulanje: Malawi's Island in the Sky





Chambe Peak

So we spent five days on the Mount Mulanje massif.  It was an incredible five days.  It is not something to be underestimated and I must say we did take the first day's short (7 km) hike a bit for granted.  It is supposed to be the rainy season, but we were able to time our visit perfectly.  It had dumped rain for two weeks before we came and had dried out for four or five days before we began our journey.  Despite some of the warnings to "not go up there," we found our experience to be very enjoyable.  It did rain on us every day, but we also had some great weather that allowed clear views of some of the amazing peaks. 


Our first day entailed a late start and a stiff climb up to the Chambe Basin and a stay in the Chambe Hut.  We were the first people to stay there in at least five days.  Right as we made it there in the waning light the rain started.  The watchman came over and started us a fire and we made a nice dinner in our own luxurious hut as the watchman and our guide spent the evening in their own hut. 



Jon on one of the steep climbs



The next day woke clear and sunny and a climb revealed the beauty of Chambe Peak and Chambe Basin even more than the evening before.  We were again surprised by the difficulties of the trail that did not switchback as we were accustomed to but rather climbed straight up one hill to go straight down the other side.  I found myself huffing and puffing as we climbed to a small pass and dropped down to the Chisepo Hut, where we were also the only people.  Again no one had been there for some time; maybe two or three weeks.  As we made it to the hut around 11:00 a.m. the clouds, which were already lowered all around us and the rocky hillsides, opened up and let out rain for the remainder of the afternoon.  In the evening we had a wonderful sunset.





Sunset view of watchman's hut from Chisepo Hut

We woke early the next morning to try to climb the highest peak on the massif, Sapitwa.  We had a fairly early start but we made it to the more difficult section and found wet slabs.  They weren't too hard to get up, but we were slipping a bit.  We knew that if it rained it would be much harder to come down.  It had rained by about 11:00 a.m. the day before and the clouds were already building and starting to lower.  We asked our guide, Edwin, if the route was any harder higher on the mountain.  He said it became a bit easier for a while and then was even tougher than what we had already passed.  We climbed up through to the easier section and then came to a difficult step still below the hardest part.  As we were already in and out of the clouds we decided it would be best to turn around and not take any chances.  By the time we would make it to the top we would have no views and it would rain on us, making the slabs even more slippery and dangerous.  It was hard to turn around, but we had still made it to a beautiful spot.  We learned the true meaning of Sapitwa;  "Don't Go There."  We climbed back down to the hut and made our way to the next hut, Thuchila, where we pulled in right as the rain began to fall.  We again had the place to ourselves.

Carrie and Edwin on the trail

On the fourth day we left the Thuchila Hut and began a longer and difficult hike to the Sambani Hut.  It started out on difficult trail, which was just steep, angled, wet slabs.  After a long climb we were rewarded with incredible views of the interior of the massif.  We dropped to the Chazama Hut for lunch and saw leopard scat all over the trail.  The hut was perfectly situated surrounded by mountains.  We wished we were staying there for the night.  But we carried on over one final hill and then had some of the easiest and loveliest hiking high on the plateau with mountains jutting up in all directions.  We hurried through this section, however, as the rain had come in hard and was accompanied by a lot of lightning and thunder.  The waterfalls, birthed of rain, started flowing everywhere we looked on every mountain.  At last we pulled into the Sambani Hut, where the watchman came over and started a fire for us to dry our clothes and to cook.

The heart of the Mt. Mulanje massif

The next morning was clear and sunny again with no trace of the rain from the evening prior except some mud and puddles on the trail.  We crossed a couple of rickety bridges on the way to the top of the last climb.  Then we made our way down the long, steep descent to Fort Lister forest office.  Someone had been through in the previous week or two, but no one had stayed in Sambani for over one month.  We had seen no one else on the trail.  We only saw our guide, Edwin, and the four watchmen in our five days.  We did see signs of cedar poachers and did see one guy off the trail with his dogs poaching the rock hyrax.  Other than that, it felt like we had the whole massif to ourselves.  It had been rainy, but our timing had been so good that we really only were wet from the rain once in the five days.  It was a beautiful place and I hope that someday we can return.