I’ll start out with the lingering point.  It feels wrong to me to take two days out of the trip to go on safari.  Even after the experience I think it would have been better to stay on campus.  The trip leader was pretty adamant that we should go on safari.  This is where life on Earth began.  You can still see nature undisturbed.  You’re in the middle of the savanna; the wilderness; the circle of life. 

We got three choices. The top recommended choice was to cross the border to Zambia and go to a big game park.  For choice number one you get two jeep safaris and get to see all the top African animals: lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffe, hippos, zebras. The alternative was to stay in Malawi, but go to the south end.  For choice number two you get a river boat safari and a jeep safari.  Additionally the accommodations are nicer and you get some good cooked meals.  You’ll see elephants and hippos, but the others are more rare.  Option three was to stay near the college and spend the day at Lake Malawi.  This choice is more relaxing and you can relax by the lake.  One note about the lake.  Before going in the lake it’s recommended to observe 15-30 minutes since hippos can hold their breath 15 min and might be lurking under the water. 

All the college interns did option number three since the other two are significantly more expensive.  Up to this point I haven’t touched much on the Live Love Malawi staff.  Blessings is the leader and the original staff member.  Now there are 8-10 members.  They work for the organization full time.  They got invited to join the safaris to keep and eye on the azungus and help with translations.  There were only a few people from the US that went to Lake Malawi– mostly people that had been to Malawi previously. 

I let the kids vote very we went.  There was three of us so unlikely to be a tie.  Finally the choice was to go to the river cruise (both kids picked this one)– option 2.  It was about 180mi drive each way, but 6 hours of driving.  This was on the ‘highway’ with tolls.  It’s really hard to imagine, but the time tells a lot.  The very best case was there was a paved two way road with one lane in each direction.  Even on this road the driver has to avoid bicycles, motor bikes, and carts pulled by donkeys… and pot holes.  Lots of big pot holes.  Villages lined the highway; many more villages than I could try to count.  At each village there are street vendors, speed humps, and more of everything else mentioned.  I can’t tell if the road is under construction, under repair, or falling apart.  Some sections have very poor pavement.  Some sections look relatively good.  Some sections they force you to leave the pavement and drive on an assortment of dirt roads to the right or to the left of what would be the main road– usually we are directed to one side for a while, then cross over to the over side, then back again, then on the pavement for a while, back into the dirt.  There is no rhyme or reason I can find, but the dirt is always still a two way road.  We were on a standard class school bus.  There was one charter bus that went to Zambia, but the reviews on that weren’t much better. 

We stopped for lunch.  We stopped for gas.  We stopped at gas station rest stop.  Honestly, the gas station rest stop was my favorite.  Lunch had a good restaurant and clean restrooms.  However you can imagine a small restaurant trying to serve two bus loads of people at once.  It was pretty slow.  The kids didn’t really know what to order.  I was generally grumpy.  I forgot to mention earlier about the part where we had to wake up at 5:00 for a 6:00 departure after a busy day and late night before.  At the gas station stop very few people cared about getting out.  We could easily shop for snacks and be on our way.  Also, the street vendors love busses at the gas station.  I was interested.  We were waiting.  Why not talk to them?  I got to shopping and bought a few small things I wanted.  That attracts even more street vendors.  Look at my basket of stuff!  I’ll give you a good price!  You need to bring this home!  I bought a couple more things.  Then my hands were literally full and I couldn’t even get to my wallet.  Sorry guys,  I need to set this stuff down… and I should be done shopping.  They knew they couldn’t enter the bus, but now they were trying to sell to anyone in earshot sitting on the bus.  Sorry team; I accidentally brought the mall to you.  When’s it time to start the bus back up so we can get going?  I put my stuff away and took out my book so it was pretty clear my shopping was complete. 

Finally we arrived at Kutchire Lodge around 3:30.  They were quick to point out that we were now in ‘nature’s preserve’ not the neighborhood park.  Don’t leave any food in your rooms otherwise the monkeys will break in and eat it.  Almost on cue there was rustling and shock as a monkey jumped in the bus, grabbed sack lunch, and ran back off into the trees.  “Don’t leave the door or windows open on the bus”– maybe they should have started there.  The rooms are spread out on the preserve and most don’t have a phone.  Absolutely don’t leave your room at night since that’s when the hippos eat.  If you need something or there is an emergency just yell and someone will come to assist you.  Now just relax while we prepare lunch. 

They started checking people into their rooms.  Some were big with many beds.  Some were small.  Some were in the trees.  Some had solid walls.  Some were mostly bamboo.  Some were mostly netting.  Lunch was out on the patio, which was pretty nice (both the patio and the food).  There was an attendant there with a slingshot and pebbles to keep the monkeys away.  One still managed to grab an apple from a table in the blink of an eye.  We were right on the river.  You could see the neighborhood hippos just relaxing in the distance.  Our room was smaller with two beds and mostly made out of bamboo.  There was a small bathroom where you could see through the bamboo to the outside.  There was a shower, but I’m pretty certain it just ported cold water to your head.  We were just up the river on the sandy shore next to the hippos.  If you don’t know anything about hippos just wait until the next story.  Anyway, it’s time for the river cruise. 

We left at 5, but closer to 5:30 since people were late and the ‘jeeps’ don’t always start.   We find out jeep is a loose term.  Actually they had Toyota Hilux from the 90s with nearly 500k km on them, which translates to a lot of miles.  It’s a pickup, but they welded three bench seats above the bed with the third row more hanging off the back than being above anything.  Anyway, we needed to ride in these jeeps to get to the boats for the river cruise.   The boats were nearly similar age and construction.  There were made out of wood and the benches had cushions so the comfort was similar to the jeep.  There may have been a water leak, but we just redistributed the weight and were good to go… once the motor got started.  I’m not good with boat motor sizes, but it looked and sounded like a gas powered weed whacker in the US.  It took about 30 tries to fire it up then we were good to troll along this river full of crocodiles and hippos.  “Don’t touch the water.  We don’t want to attract the crocodiles.”  

It was a lovely day for a sunset cruise.  The water was calm.  We could easily see the elephants on the shore.  Have to been on Disney’s River Cruise?  It was a lot like that actually.  You don’t need to worry about the hippos unless they wiggle their ears.  That means they’re angry.  Just don’t get to close.  We were enjoying the hippos, taking pictures in our little wooden boat.  Then this pontoon boat with a single couple on it comes racing by– compared to our tiny motor.  It was clearly chartered and I assumed they told the guide they wanted to get closer to the pod of hippos so they could get a good picture.  Then I thought they must not have seen the hippos at all because they headed straight towards them.  All the hippos went under water.  Thanks a lot! Now we can’t see the hippos either.  Good thing there are plenty of hippos in the river.  We kept going on our merry slow way.  We saw lots of hippos, elephants, birds and a couple crocodiles by the shore.  It was a nice relaxing ride. 

As we were heading back we saw the pontoon boat near where it was before.  Our guide took a look and said in English “This is not good”.  They were talking about bit in Chichewa. “Ooh! That is very bad!”.  Their motor is in the bottom of the river.  One of the hippos wiggled their ears and charged their boat.  We saw an army post so we stopped there to ask them to get help for them.  Then we putted our way back into the sunset. 

We got a warm dinner and went straight to bed since it was another early morning tomorrow.  One of the hotel staff would knock on our door to make sure we weren’t breakfast on our way to the patio.  I will say the wild carnivores in Africa are quite– nothing like desert coyotes or mountain elk in Arizona. We feel asleep to the bugs and weren’t disturbed until our guide arrived. 

The jeep safari was also a drive.  We left one nature preserve to go to an official ‘wildlife park’. “It’s not safe to leave your vehicle.”  “Don’t drive off the marked roads.” “Caution.  Dangerous animals”.  There were no enclosures.  The gates were just to keep people from wandering in without a jeep.  We saw a lot of Impalas, some of them fighting.  Lots of monkeys again.  We saw Kudo, waterbuck,  warthog. The drivers all have radios to message about the sightings.  Someone saw a cheetah, but it ran into the brush.  My kids started wishing for a national geographic adventure.  “Hey cheetah! There’s plenty of impala over here if you’re hungry”.  He must still be full from last night.  We stopped to rest near a toilet and a sign about dangerous animals.  I walked towards the brush about 20 feet and was quickly scolded by the Live Love staff.  “Please, just stay by the jeep.”

Then they let us out by the river (where we know the hippos and crocodiles are).  “This is a good place to stretch your legs and take pictures.”  They turned off the jeeps so I guess it must be safe enough…  We got back in the Jeeps after 15 min.  It’s time to head back, but wait the jeep won’t start– of course.  I’m not sure why the driver thought this was a good place for a push start, but he told us we have to get out and help push it.  It fired back up and you can imagine we jumped back in pretty quick.  The other tidbit about the river is it’s illegal to fish in it.  There are plenty of good fish, but apparently the crocodiles will take an easy catch of a fisherman.  There are still many instances each year even though it is illegal– enforced by the crocs; punishment… not pleasant. 

I got sufficient adventure on my safari.  The jeep ride reminded me of Disney’s Indiana Jones ride.  We were in the back seat getting through side to side and holding on so we don’t fall off the back.  There are no lap bars or seat belts.  We had at least 4 hours riding jeeps.  We got a light lunch and then it was time for the bus ride back.  It was like the way here, but in reverse.  I was still grumpy at the lunch stop, but both kids got some food.  We got back to the college around 8:00.  I wonder how the other team did?  They’re not back yet…

This is all second hand information, but we have a shared folder to post photos and videos.  It sounds like the bus rides were similar.  On one of the busses the driver missed a speed bump and everyone went flying up out of their seats.  At the border everyone had to disembark the bus and go through 3 security check points; once without bags, once with bags, and once again for good measure.  This was and hours long process each way.  They took two jeep safaris.  This wildlife park is much bigger with many more jeeps radioing information.  There was a lot of time driving with sudden stops for the finds.  The first went into night time so they shined flashlights on the animals.  Water buffalo makes for a good meal.  Apparently the lions will leave you alone when they’re busy feeding.  There are plenty of gruesome scenes if that’s what you’re interested in. 

I can attest by they photos and videos that they saw all the promised animals.  Interesting enough no one posted any photos of the food or accommodations.  Apparently they ate picnic style during the jeep tours.  The rooms sounded like semi-permanent tents with cots for beds.  It sounded like they had closer to eight hours on the jeeps.  One of my friends was on a mission to find a chameleon in the wild.  The jeep drivers aim to please and ended up with a win there too.  

I didn’t ask how many miles they drove each way, but the border crossing was just as long coming back.  Maybe they didn’t have a nice little restaurant with clean restrooms to eat lunch.  They got back after 10:00, but at least the college kept dinner warm for them. 

Let’s not forget the college students at Lake Malawi!  They had a fun and relaxing day at the lake.  There were no hippo sightings.  They were back at the college that night and had a full day to sleep in, relax, and do whatever they wanted.  Maybe it was important for us to go on safari so that the college students actually got a day of rest!