Buffalo Maulings and Flaming Sambuca
October 13-14
Lengwe National Park was out getaway for the weekend, down in the south of the country in the lowlands of the Shire Valley (prounounced shee-reh now, although undoubtedly coined by the Brits several decades earlier). We had decided on a nice romantic night away from the fast-paced social scene of most weekends… therefore having our umpteenth flaming sambuca at the Illovo sugar plantation sports club at 2.30 in the morning wasn’t exactly what we had planned.
It all started innocently. A beautiful drive down the Thyolo escarpment drops towards Chikwawa, 40km south of Blantyre. This road is a stunning vista over the low lying Shire valley, stretching as far as the eye can see some 600-metres below, intersected by the snaking contours of the Shire River. Although shrouded somewhat in the mists and dusts that await the upcoming rains to wash them away, the views at every turn are nothing short of awe inspiring.
After driving through the non-descript little market town of Chikwawa, Lengwe National Park sits another 20km south, with the road taking you through the cane fields of the monstrous Illovo plantations to the park gates. The park itself is a comparatively small expanse of thicket and open grassland that abuts the Mozambican border in the tapering southern tip of Malawi. Little known and even less visited, this place is home to a varied animal and bird life which we were keen to have a relaxing look at. Only a few minutes drive along reasonable dirt tracks, Nyala lodge is a relaxed sprawl of rather upmarket air-conditioned rooms then a simple but quintessentially African eating and sitting area complete with bar and restaurant.
After pitching our tent in the secluded openness of the ‘campsite’ under the watchful eye of many a bold vervet monkey, we hit the lounge area for a mid afternoon Green. Now this is Africa: sitting back on sofa chairs as you sip your beer, positioned perfectly only a couple of hundred metres from a rather active hide, or watering hole, as you watch baboons, warthog and guinea fowl meander around the scarce drinking water.
It all started innocently. A beautiful drive down the Thyolo escarpment drops towards Chikwawa, 40km south of Blantyre. This road is a stunning vista over the low lying Shire valley, stretching as far as the eye can see some 600-metres below, intersected by the snaking contours of the Shire River. Although shrouded somewhat in the mists and dusts that await the upcoming rains to wash them away, the views at every turn are nothing short of awe inspiring.
After driving through the non-descript little market town of Chikwawa, Lengwe National Park sits another 20km south, with the road taking you through the cane fields of the monstrous Illovo plantations to the park gates. The park itself is a comparatively small expanse of thicket and open grassland that abuts the Mozambican border in the tapering southern tip of Malawi. Little known and even less visited, this place is home to a varied animal and bird life which we were keen to have a relaxing look at. Only a few minutes drive along reasonable dirt tracks, Nyala lodge is a relaxed sprawl of rather upmarket air-conditioned rooms then a simple but quintessentially African eating and sitting area complete with bar and restaurant.
After pitching our tent in the secluded openness of the ‘campsite’ under the watchful eye of many a bold vervet monkey, we hit the lounge area for a mid afternoon Green. Now this is Africa: sitting back on sofa chairs as you sip your beer, positioned perfectly only a couple of hundred metres from a rather active hide, or watering hole, as you watch baboons, warthog and guinea fowl meander around the scarce drinking water.
We also got talking to Max, the Malawian-born Italian owner of Nyala, about the recent buffalo mauling we had only this morning heard about. Two days previously Phoenix school – a private primary school in Blantyre – had been on its annual educational safari park field trip. They were here for the night and at the time out on a walk to the main hide, opting not to take a scout given Nyala’s long history of not enforcing the park rules that all walks must be accompanied by an armed ranger. Unfortunately a surly old single male buffalo was also out for a walk to the main hide, and these two parties don’t blend very harmoniously. As the kids came around a bush, they were set upon by a somewhat surprised and therefore spooked animal – and an animal not exactly renowned for its friendliness. One of the teacher’s husbands reacted quickly, and rather heroically, by putting himself in the line of the charge between the buffalo and the children. As the kids scattered everywhere the guy realised that the buffalo was going to batter him and he promptly attempted to run… a little too late. He fell as he turned, probably saving his own life, and was gored on the ground as the charging beast passed him. Having enough time to stand as the buffalo wheeled around, he jumped behind a small tree for protection. With that the buffalo promptly charged again, this time completely uprooting the distracting tree and hurling the guy metres through the air in the process. The guy was then obviously trying to defend himself by kicking out at the animal as he lay on the ground, because the repeated goring of the buffalo’s horns tore shreds of skin and muscle from his inner thighs and lower legs. Having a moment of respite, the savaged guy then managed to clamber under a larger tree with good cover, blocking the line of sight, and with that the enraged beast, a herbivore at heart, lost interest in his little victim and sauntered off to do whatever buffalo do after goring something to within an inch of its life. Twenty minutes later, having been alerted by the returning kids, Max arrived to find the guy, blood everywhere, his belt as a tourniquet around his worse leg, stumbling toward the safety of the lodge. Several hours later he was being attended to at Mwaiwathu Hospital in Blantyre, southern Malawi’s only reasonable private hospital, having survived something that not too many live to tell the tale of, with not a single school kid injured.
With this lovely news to digest, we set off on our own little safari – driving – in our low clearance two-wheel drive Marino, something the roads in this park allow. Now a game drive is good fun even at the worst of times, but there’s something unique about doing it yourself in your own vehicle, adding that extra element of excitement to it all. So for the next hour and a half we crept along spotting countless numbers of nyala, impala, kudu, duiker, warthog and buffalo, along with a fair few impressive birds – the latter we know next to nothing about. The animals, although quite wary of the rather unusual grey beast that we were travelling along in, were often found lingering on the road literally metres in front of us. All in all, a brilliant little outing… and no close encounters with buffalo which was an added bonus.
From here, things turned rather messy. Being the campers we are, not wanting to spend too much on a dinner at the lodge, we had brought our own pasta and red wine. With this in our stomachs we joined the others at the bar… Max and a nice couple we had met briefly at the Lake of Stars weekend. Catherine, a 26 year old American Peace Corps volunteer, is working on environmental sustainability programs in the park and living in the nearby village with no running water or electricity – surprisingly agreeable and not too over the top for your average Peace Corps worker – and Justin, a young South African archaeologist helping to set up an archaeology department in one of the colleges in Malawi. After a couple of drinks we set off in the back of Justin’s ute for the Ntchalo Sports Club, a focal point for many expats around here, located right in the middle of the Sucoma (Sugar Corporation of Malai) sugarcane plantations operated by Illovo.
On the way, with dust swirling around our heads in the open tray, we were treated to a little lesson on the sugar plantations by Max. The 6-carriage long trucks that run 24-7 carting the freshly cut cane to the processing plants weigh in at 14-tonne per carriage when fully loaded. The sugarcane, once it has had its sugar extracted, yields not only ethanol, methanol and glycerol sold for local production, but also molasses to regularly coat the roads and keep the dust down and finally a byproduct that can be burned down and used as fuel. This fuel is then channeled back in for power to run the plant as well as the nearby national park, something which is necessary given Escom’s inadequate power supply from the national grid. Sugar is not the only product of the plantation either, with a few fields being donated to the growing of maize which is used by the government in times of national food shortages (something which occurs all too often here). Although Illovo itself is one hundred percent foreign owned, each arm of the production other than the processing itself is subcontracted out to Malawian companies, meaning that everything from vehicle hire and maintenance through to cane field planting and upkeep is putting Malawians into employment. So all in all, this enormous creation seems to be doing quite a sustainable and commendable job… from what I can gather anyway.
Twenty minutes drive after entering the plantation gates – laying testament to the sheer size of this operation – we arrived at the sports club, a concession to everything foreign. The rest of the night was a series of drinks forced upon us by overly friendly and big drinking South African expats as we watched the English beat the French in the Rugby World Cup semi-final (that is, after we had all finished watching African Big Brother… with Malawi in the final five, who wouldn’t be watching!). By 3am we were once again travelling the molasses laden roads back to Lengwe, somewhat inebriated, having had anything but the romantic night for two we set out for.
