TEACHING IN MALAWI: Must Do While in Malawi

Showing posts with label Must Do While in Malawi. Show all posts

Hiking Mount Mulanje

This past Easter break I hiked Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi and it was AWESOME!. Mulanje is a serious, rustic climb that makes you feel like a legit athlete when you're done - 4 days later. It takes several hours just to get to the top of the plateau, never mind any of its peaks The secret to my wonder woman feat: porters. Truthfully, I couldn't have done this hike without them, not with my bum knee (never mind my lack of physical strength).

Heading south on a bus Dani (left) and Cara (right). Optimistic and excited.

Classic "before the hike" pose.

To start the hike we needed to cross this ~~stream~~ river. And no, I didn't gracefully hop along the rocks. I fell in the river and needed a helping hand to climb back on the rocks. I was fine, but my "I am an agile ballerina" ego was a bit bruised.

A view from the top of the plateau.

Often spotted along the trail: me resting.

A common bridge, not too high off the ground. Very slippery.

What I thought our "hut" accommodation was.

What our "hut" actually was.

Rustic (or way better than any "hut" I imagined) interior.

Another view from the top.

Yet, another gorgeous sunset courtesy of Malawi. We didn't hike that peak

And, we hiked alongside a double rainbow. Seriously!

Took a proper photo, too.

Our guide and porters.

The never ending adventures of transport. We took bike taxi's to get back to the main road after the hike. It was a bit scary blazing down those dirt roads at warp speed. I don't know how the ladies with babies on their backs sit side saddle. I white knuckled the mini handle bars the entire twenty minute journey. On the way to the base camp from the main road, I rode on the back of a matola (flatbed truck) wedged between bails of bananas and a live chicken. I swear I don't make this stuff up. Promise, I'm not that creative.

Sharing head space with a bag of who knows what in the back of a minibus.

View from the top of the plateau.

If hiking Mulanje sounds like your forte, it can be done pretty inexpensively. My recommendation is to get in touch with the Mountain Club of Malawi Key Keepers. Most of them are expat avid hikers that have been in Malawi for years and are very knowledgeable. If you're up for the hike, I highly recommend it. Of course, feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Crisis Nursery Donation Visit

Today I made one last trip to the Ministry of Hope Crisis Nursery in Lilongwe to hold and feed the babies. On this trip I got to take with me and the other volunteers a stack of diapers, food, and grooming aids for the kiddos. These donations were made by some of the kids on the ABC campus and a women's Bible study group in San Diego. How cool is that?! The nursery uses cloth diapers most of the time because disposables are very expensive. Sometimes the lack of water and electricity for hours on end prevents the mamas (staff) from being able to wash the diapers, so disposables come in very handy. Thank you San Diego ladies. The diapers were very much appreciated.

This little guy could have been happily held all night.

As you can see from the food on his shirt, my feeding technique could use a little work. Although I suspect he may be a fellow food snob, much like myself, since he kept spitting the cereal back out.

Click here to learn more about the crisis nurseries.

Malawi Football

Not long ago I got to go to my first pro football (soccer) game in Malawi. This was a big playoff game in which the associate pastor from Flood Church serves as a coach. So, some friends and I went all VIP for the event for about $6. Unfortunately, our team (green - and yes, I am a girl) didn't win that day, but it was a good time nevertheless.

Game Clip

Halftime Show

Cheap Seats

Victoria Falls Travel Review

I HEART Zambia!

All of my stories of Victoria Falls are captured here in one easy to navigate post. If you would like to know more about all the great (endless) things to do in Livingstone, Zambia then click here. If you have any questions (how I got there, safety, etc.) don't hesitate to send me an email. Enjoy!

Jumping into Devils Pool on the edge of The Falls - Part 1, Part 2.
River boarding and white water rafting the Zambezi River.
Cliff diving into the raging Zambezi River.
Falling off a cliff on the Gorge Swing.

Victoria Falls: Gorge Swing

One of the activities I had been really excited to do in Livingstone, Zambia was to swing off of the bridge over the lower Zambezi river that connects Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Don't get me wrong, I was a bit nervous about it, but very gung ho. So one afternoon we made the schlep to the bridge to watch the excitement. First, we watched a guy bungee jump by hanging from his legs. The jumping part didn't seem so bad but watching confirmed that I had absolutely no desire to hang upside down for a couple of minutes over a rushing river waiting for someone to retrieve me. I'm up for adventure and fun, but that just looked painful. Everyone I had talked to who had bungee jumped off the bridge said they didn't really enjoy it as much as they thought they would. On the other hand, swinging off the bridge came highly recommended. Up next was a jumper who was going to swing and it looked a little something like this.

Something happened to me when I watched that jumper fall and keep falling - fear. BIG FEAR. Fear I didn't even know I could have just from watching. It came quite unexpected as I am not afraid of heights. I was beginning to second guess my desire to jump. Luckily, one of our group members was recovering from being sick so we were going to wait a couple of days before making the big leap anyway. On the other hand, this gave me a couple of days to fester in my fear.

This was when I realized that I had a very real problem with fear. Swinging off of that bridge was going to be by far the safest thing we did that week. Even if I passed out during the jump, I would still be safe. No one had ever died from jumping and there was still this part of me that wanted to do it. Honestly, it made me wonder how much opportunity I'd been missing out on because of illogical fears. When it came to cliff jumping that week I had chose the small jump on two different occasions. Just moving to Malawi was 8 years in the making. Was I allowing fear to rule my life more often than not? I questioned a lot of my life choices.

I decided to conquer my unnecessary fear this time and jump. However, jumping off the bridge was a bit pricey and as it turns out there was a gorge swing in the area that was 1/3 of the price but only half as high. I was once again overcoming my fears halfway, but I suppose you have to start somewhere. The night before the jump I had difficulty sleeping. My stomache was in knots and I was popping antacids like candy. This sun did rise, I did get out of bed, and I did hop on the truck to take us to the gorge. I decided to put on a brave face and feign excitement BUT I was terrified. Yet....

I put on the harness.

I walked out to the platform.

I shimmied to the edge.

(I didn't dare look down.)

I leaned back.

I fell!

I kept falling!

And, I triumphantly whoohooed, repeatedly.

This swing wasn't about being adventurous, this swing was about not letting unnecessary fear rule my life. I conquered. What have you conquered lately? If you could use a little perspective when it comes to fear Seth Godin's book, Linchpin, is a book I have been reading that views fear from a different angle.

Click here to read more about my Victoria Falls trip.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Victoria Falls: Cliff Diving

If everyone jumps off a cliff, would you? The answer to this childhood lesson is yes. However, the dumbest (most dangerous) thing I did on my Victoria Falls trip was to cliff dive (okay, so it was a jump) into the rushing waters of the lower Zambezi river without a life jacket.

So how did I get suckered in? In the national park that surrounds Victoria Falls you can take a trail that leads to the lower Zambezi river. Along this trail we kept seeing spray painted pink arrows. Initially, we thought it was to guide you down the trail to the water, but once we got to the water we realized that the arrows kept going along the waters edge. As curious as we were to find out where the arrows led, we waded in an eddy current in the river first. Cuz, you know, we have to indulge in every immediate and slightly dangerous thrill that comes our way.

After the allure of the wonderfully cool but not cold water wore off, we followed the arrows. We bolder hopped for a bit and then came across a relatively new climbing rope tethered to the rocks that led to no where but the water. After a few puzzled seconds past it dawned on someone that this was the makings of a rope swing. Not so much a swing, but a means to cliff dive/jump into the water AND pull yourself back to the shore.

Truthfully, I was skeptic but everyone attributes such things to my being several years older than the rest of the group. Regardless of my opinion, everyone jumped and it looked something like this.

After watching my fellow jumpers happily survive, I decided to leap, too.
And now for my feature film cliff jump in HD.

You might have noticed that I didn't jump quite as high as the others, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

Click here to read more about my Victoria Falls trip.

Victoria Falls: River Boarding The Zambezi River

At this point I am starting to sound like a bragger with the craziness I've been up to, but... consider these posts as exposing you to things that you never thought were possible.

With that said, my second most highly recommended adventure to do while in Victoria Falls is to river board and white water raft the Zambezi River.

Catch that? River boarding. I'll pause to suggest you watch the video below before I continue.

Talk about an amazing rush. I am not the best swimmer so I stuck with the class 2 and 3 rapids. Most of the time, I wasn't quite riding the rapids but holding a boogie board at my side while being tossed around the Zambezi, but it was still awesome. Along the way you could hop back in the river raft whenever you wanted and when we encountered a small still patch of crocodile infested water, it was required. The whole thing was a bit scary, but far less dangerous than surfing in the ocean.

This was the best rafting trip I have ever been on by far. Rafting, river boarding, cliff diving, and riding rapids sans raft or board - Amazing! Have I used amazing enough in my posts lately?

We didn't head out to Jungle Junction as the video recommends, but I've decided I should ride in a dug out canoe at some point. If I ever make it out to Lake Malawi again, I think I can actually pull that off.

Click here to read more about my Victoria Falls trip.

Victoria Falls: Jumping Into a Waterfall

How does one get to jump into a waterfall - at the top AND not fall over the edge?

Visit the beautiful Victoria Falls in Africa between September and December. Personally, I recommend the Zambian side.

During the dry season the Zambezi River waters are relatively low.

So low that you can actually walk across most of the 1 km wide Upper Zambezi River.

This is where it gets interesting. At the top of the falls an eddy current forms at Devil's pool. The current flows upstream due to the geology of the river and actually appears to lack any current whatsoever. Translation: if you jump into the river at this one spot, you won't be swept over the edge.

So without further a due footage of the craziness that is Devil's Pool.

You may have noticed that I am not in the video. Well, our group opted to have our pictures taken instead, which you can view in this post. But, the above video captures the awesomeness of what we did. We were all a bit surprised the eddy current wasn't more obvious. Which makes you wonder how anyone ever figured it out in the first place. Really, all that is between you and and a 100+ m drop is a couple of feet of rock. Amazing!

Victoria Falls: The Best Facebook Profile Pic Tutorial

Curious as to how one achieves a Facebook profile pic like this?

Step 1: Travel to Livingstone, Zambia or Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe from September to December. Personally, I recommend the Zambian side. I know, this step is probably going to be your greatest obstacle, but Zambia not only has Victoria Falls but also has the best safari park in all of Africa. Really, Zambia NEEDS to make it onto your bucket list.

Step 2: Head out to Livingstone Island through the Royal Livingstone Hotel. Why? Cuz hanging off the edge of Victoria Falls is an organized excursion that you pay for (and can be booked through any lodging).

Step 3: Hop on a boat that ferries you out to Livingstone Island on the upper Zambezi River. Note the spray from the falls and pray your boat engine works and has an anchor. Just kidding (sorta, not really).