Out & About Spring 2018

TRAVEL

African HEAT

T hink you know Africa? Time to think of Malawi. It’s a country of misty plains, tall mountains, tea and coffee plantations, resurgent wildlife and friendly smiles. It has soft, white beaches that will make you think you could be on an Asian or Caribbean island, even though it’s nowhere near the sea. JAKE COOK explains all and rounds up some of the best experiences in Malawi

away by the array of brightly-coloured fish. In fact, did you know that originally, many of the fish in tanks in doctors’ and dentists’ waiting rooms came directly from Lake Malawi? MISTY MOUNTAINS If you like walking, you’ll love Mt Mulanje and the mist-shrouded Zomba Plateau. Driving up via emerald-green tea plantations, you’ll reach the almost 10,000ft high mountain that locals call the Island in the Sky , with Mulanje Cedar trees that stretch over 100ft tall. Further north, the Nyika Plateau wouldn’t look out of place in the Scottish Highlands, although, admittedly, you’re a lot less likely to find zebras roaming outside Inverness. At night, guides will try to lead you to the best areas to see leopard. Currently there are thought to be more than 100 of the cats here, one of the region’s densest counts. And, it’s a top spot for ornithologists: between April and October in particular many migrating birds are passing through. WILDLIFE ROARS AGAIN If you want to see wildlife elsewhere, then the lion reintroduction programme at Majete is a success story that is definitely worth experiencing. Not much more than 10 years ago most of the wildlife had been poached out, but now it is the country’s only Big Five reserve and its recovery has been truly remarkable; more than 2,500 animals have been reintroduced, and lions are breeding with success, as are black rhino. Another reserve, Nkhotakota, has been part of the #500 Elephants relocation programme, backed by Prince Harry, and which is the largest elephant translocation in history. Elsewhere Liwonde National Park has received the country’s first cheetah, and plans are advanced to reintroduce a pride of lions. Such is its success and momentum, that one of Africa’s top safari operators is opening a new luxury lodge later this year.

DESCENT TO LIKOMA My small propeller plane was on final descent. Water below as far as the eye could see, but we were nearly 400 miles from the Indian Ocean. How could I describe the colour beneath me? An almost translucent turquoise aquamarine, summed it up best. And then, suddenly, rushing up to meet our wheels, land. A village here, sandy beaches there, that absolutely wouldn’t be out of place in the Caribbean, and stocky baobab trees, standing guard. We came to a halt on the tarmac. The door opened and a wave of heat poured in. A broad smile at the bottom of the fold-out stairs. Welcome to Likoma. AN AFRICAN SECRET Malawi is something of an enigma, certainly when it comes to travel. It’s a secret, though, that’s getting out: television network CNN named three locations there among its ‘26 must-visit places in Africa’ list recently. No other country had more. It’s a landlocked nation sandwiched in a long slither between Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. As I found out, its namesake lake has beaches that could rival islands in Asia or the Pacific. Snorkelling in its clear waters, you’ll be blown

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