Thursday, 22 March 2012

Lower Shire valley safari, Majete game reserve, Chikwawa

As you leave Blantyre on its southern exit and head towards Chikwawa, the straight road soon becomes a winding road. The road snakes its way down a steep mountain side as you descend into the lower shire valley. And all you can see are rolling hills that blend into the horizon.

From the decent the shire river can be seen, winding and carving its way on the flat plains. The shire river drains Lake Malawi, which empties into the Zambezi then eventually the Indian Ocean.

The game reserve is only about 70km southwest of Blantyre, the commercial capital of Malawi so it’s not long until you reach the game reserve entrance. African Parks (Majete) Ltd. is the local company established by African Parks for the management of Majete Wildlife Reserve. Majete Wildlife Reserve is 691km.sq, and lies at the low attitude of about 100m. African Parks' vision is to restore, develop, and manage the Reserve in order to demonstrate biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource utilization for the benefit of the people of Malawi in general and local communities in particular.

It is an area of undulating and hilly country, covered in tall deciduous woodland with beautiful grassy glades and occasional patches of thicket. To the east it is mixed acacia, leadwood and marula savannah with scattered stately baobab trees and patches of ilala palms.

It is home to the elusive black rhino, elephants, buffalo, nyala, waterbuck, bushbuck, bush pig, impala, zebra sable, eland and hartebeest and many other animals. Most of which we saw, of course except the 'elusive' black rhino.

The game drive takes you through many roads within the reserve, each route specific to certain animals. There are over 150km of new roads within the Reserve.

Within the game reserve is the shire river. Hippos can also be seen in the river trail.

The Shire River forms part of the eastern boundary.

A dam was erected within the reserve that provides a dynamic force to generate power for a hydroelectric power station. Despite the intrusion wildlife thrives. An elephant could be seen in the distance, in the marshy area close to the dam.

But throughout the day we barely saw an elephant close. But when the sun started setting, there it was, right in front of us.

But as the sun set and the stars appeared in the navy blue sky, it was time to head back to Blantyre. It was a day well spent.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Chewa story of Napolo the ancient rain serpent

Many mountains in Malawi are closely associated with the spirit world and when mentioned or talked about with others stir up feelings of fear and curiosity among many Malawians. Many locals are really superstitious and their beliefs are quite strong. It is at these mountains where shrines in the past were erected. Some shrines were dedicated to ancestors such as past chiefs who were the guardians of the mountains, other were shrine dedicated to other things, things such as rain. At Kungoni cultural centre in Dedza, there are wall paintings depicting rituals praying for rain.

And to the Chewa people the spirit of rain was an entity or being that manifested itself as a colossal snake. The python in Chewa is closely identified mythologically with water, rivers and deep pools, and thus with rainfall. And this is depicted in a lot of Chewa art, stories and writing.

The enormous snake is named Napolo. And when mentioned, quite a lot of people will remember the stories behind it, but the newer generations will probably not know. Napolo was portrayed as a spirit, as a vicious wild animal or as a snake and these terms are used interchangeably. Napolo tends to be seen as a huge subterranean serpent-spirit, associated with water.  It was said to dwell in the mountain in a deep sacred pool, at the place of spirits. 

 It is invisible, but it has the form of a huge snake, and it is active like a wild animal destroying people and property as it makes its way, at intervals, to the lake and with it comes rain. It was depicted as having left the deep sacred pools within the mountain and as having moved to Lake Chilwa, coming down as or with water. Napolo was further described as having torn up trees and having separated or detached the earth or soil from the mountain causing landslides. Like other spirits it is said it cannot be seen but if one does see them, the person would surely die.

There were cases in which Napolo was said to have moved from one area to another causing widespread death and destruction as it snaked its way to its destination.

In Zomba, in 1946 there was extensive devastation when several bridges were washed away and many villages were destroyed by a huge deluge of water that came down the mountain after torrential rain on the plateau. It was said Napolo had moved from the depths of the mountain to the swampy Lake Chilwa.

And in Phalombe, around Mulanje mountain, in 1991 Napolo was said to have move again. After torrential rain in southern Malawi the people in the neighbouring villages felt like the whole mountain was coming down on them. There was a flash flood and land slide. Boulders cascaded and trees tumbled down with the muddy deluge that completely swept away all the bridges on the Phalombe-Mulanje road and annihilated the region of Phalombe killing hundreds of people. 

Since then there have been yearly seasonal flooding in the lower shire valley, but no floods of immense proportion around these mountain areas. Has Napolo found a permanent resting place in the sacred pools? Or is it a matter of time till it wakes and wrecks havoc once again?

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Malawian Village Life, Chilipa, Mangochi

They are so many words that can be used to describe village life in Malawi, but the best word to use is simplicity. I didn’t have a real feel of village life village life till this learning by living experience because my grandparents moved to towns and cities. But it was a valuable experience and an eye opener because only then do you see how happy people are even if they don’t have a lot of money or luxury things.

We set off early in the morning from the commercial city of Blantyre and headed towards Mangochi. Before we reached the town of mangochi we diverted into the mountains. It was a dusty winding trip that took us virtually into the middle of nowhere. Then eventually we arrived in a small community, Chilipa village.

When we arrived, we received a warm welcome from the family that was hosting us. The head of the household was a traditional healer so that was quite interesting, i will write about traditional medicines in due time. But the atmosphere was warm, and quite simple. No hooting of vehicles, whistling of trains, roaring of trucks and not to mention the daily commotion of trading areas. It was just rather quiet, with occasional laughter of children and distant stir of people in the nearby market.

We entered the rectangular compound which was enclosed by dry grass, at a gate which was placed at one corner. There was the main house on the immediate right. It had a small veranda and within it were few rooms and a small storage area.

And the kitchen was on the left. It had an open cooking area and was covered in dark soot. There were cups and plates that were placed in a rack right outside the kitchen entrance, as well as a pile of firewood.

On the opposite end was the bathroom, which was just a slab of concrete or a flat rock, and a pit latrine. Each was in a separate enclosed area. There were two of each, one for men, and the other for women.
There was a smaller hut in the centre of the compound, and this is where the grandmother lived. Next to the hut were clay pots which were covered and were used to store water.

And to the far right was a small rectangular house where we stayed and next to it was a maize granary. The house had two rooms. We brought in our supplies and beddings and we set up.

We left the compound and explored the community. We came across other huts and houses in the village.
We came across a huge baobab tree, some blossoming mango trees and livestock.

When we returned to the compound the sun was already setting and our feet were really dusty. We cleaned ourselves, had our supper which included nsima, rice, beans and fish. After we ate we turned in for the night.

At dawn the compound was already full of life, the children were getting ready for school, the head of the house was making cups whilst receiving occasional customers wanting to buy traditional medicine. His wife was drying seeds to prepare a traditional drink as the family’s contribution for a wedding. They also had ducks which were already wandering about the compound.

 It was quite chilly and we thought of taking a bath but decided to postpone that till late afternoon because it was extremely dusty and we were just going to get dust in minutes. We had our morning tea with sweet potato, then started to explore the compound. 

The head of the house hold told us to get ready because he wanted to show us around. We did, and soon we had set off. He showed us different places and various plants and their uses. We passed by the market and saw all the various things that were for sale.

He also showed us the village's clinic.

And we also passed by a maize mill where women go to have their maize ground into flour and where they can also buy already processed flour.

We came back, had lunch and met with some of our classmates. The day went by so fast we had dinner which included nsima, fish and cabbage and then we turned in.

The next day was different. Besides the lady of the house brewing the traditional drink, the children didn’t go to school and the head of the household wasn’t doing much work. When we got up he told us to get ready because we were going to the mountain to fetch fire wood. We hurried and took our breakfast which was tea and fritters.

 Everyone got ready, and the lady of the house put on hold what she was doing. It was a long journey, over an hour and a half just going there.

There were quite a number of things around that distracted us from the time we were walking. We came to a stream where we found women washing their clothes, children bathing and ducks wadding in the water.

We passed fields of cotton.

And we also passed fields of African bird’s eye chillies.

The landscape was mountainous and rocky. It was dry season so there was dry grass and trees.

Eventually we reached the base of the mountain and we started to hike up. When we reached the top we could see the areas surrounding the village.

The head of the house started to cut the trees with his sharp axe. His wife was gathering up the pieces and tying them up into a bundle to be carried. It wasn’t long until they had enough wood and were ready to set off.

When we arrived the sun was setting, we took a bath, had our supper and went to bed. You could hear children sing and dance around a wooden fire as stories and jokes where told. It’s part of their life, village life, community, happiness, peace, love, and simplicity.