Malawi – Last trip to Liwonde

30 April - 2 May

 

Hello everyone!

 

We’re into the final couple of months of life in Malawi before moving on to a new adventure later this year. When you’ve been in a place for almost six years, you have favourite spots and areas which hold special memories. One such place for us is Liwonde National Park. Time for one final safari weekend before we start our own safari away from the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’.

Cheetah cubs playing

A monkey reminding us of the perils of safari life

Liwonde is a four hour drive from Lilongwe. Being the end of the month, there were plenty of police on patrol. The feeling here is that police officers may try to find any tiny problem at this time of the month in order to bring in a little bit more cash, either for the force or for themselves. One young officer asked us to show that the water to wash our windscreen was working at one point. I politely informed him that I was going to drive off, and he then wished me a safe journey.

Internet photo of a common sight on the M1

Sign at the car park deck

We had splurged on the ‘posh place’ to stay in Liwonde, which is called Mvuu. This is the local word for hippo. Plenty of those about on the river as we crossed from the car park to the campsite.

Our place in the 'camp': splurge

Hippo chilling in the water

 

The car park itself is a short drive from the western park entrance. We had an interesting event returning from the camp two days later. The boat was heading to a small group of elephants on the way to the car park. Naturally, the elephants had turned away and gone through the trees by the time we got close.

A boat before us got a lot closer to the elephants

They moved away as we got closer

 We did get quite close to them, however…as one of them was stood in the road as we tried to drive between the car park and the gate. We had two local staff with us. I asked them what to do. “Respect the elephant,” was the reply. All well and good, but I wasn’t convinced that it was going to respect our shoddy Toyota Rav4. It soon moved on, allowing us to leave.

It got a little bit closer than this before moving away

We’d had other close encounters with elephants in the main area of the park. A herd had passed in front of us, with some of them seeming a little bit irritated by life.

Elephants on the road

This one wasn't very happy...

Soon after driving by, we heard some trumpeting. Normally this is fine; an elephant will blast some noise and mock charge before doing anything. One of this group decided to skip the foreplay and start bounding after us. Thrilling once it’s over!

 

Another brief thrill – far too brief – was the glimpse that some of our group had of a rare black rhino. I…didn’t see it. I was trying to identify a bird in the guide’s book when he whispered, “Rhino, rhino, rhino.” I looked up and straight. I didn’t see it. Hannah looked up and right. She saw it for less than a second. Sometimes you get lucky.

It was over there somewhere!

The birds in Liwonde are worth the time to learn about, even if they may result in you missing a glance of a rhino. We saw some unusual species, such as hawks and parrots, during our drives. The most beautiful was a purple-crested turaco. Again, it was only a split second in which its wings flapped and showed its incredible colours.

I think this is an African harrier hawk

Grey headed parrot

Many sightings were fleeting. There were a couple of interesting exceptions. We saw a genet on one of our evening drives. I then saw another one a bit later...sat in front of the entrance to the restaurant. Again, no idea what to do. It moved away pretty quickly, and I was later told that this particular genet was more domesticated.

The main exception were three cheetah: a mum and two cubs. We sat for over half an hour watching them. We easily could have been captivated for longer.

There are about 20 cheetah in the park

These cubs were a few months old

You may notice that one of the cubs has an issue with its eye. We were told that it was suffering from conjunctivitis, which is apparently quite common in wild cats. Didn’t stop it from playing, though.

Many cheetahs here are tagged

The park hadn't decided on whether to intervene to help

The mum wasn’t up to much for a while, aside from sitting majestically or flopping on the floor. Suddenly, her mood seemed to change. We’d spotted why: a lone male impala had come into view. Watching the cheetah go to work was fascinating, like witnessing a life-or-death game of hide-and-seek. The cheetah used the bush as protection and peered around different ways to size up the best plan.

Momma about to prowl

The target

 Alas, it didn’t work.

Tired after a brief chase

Other animals playing hide-and-seek included a porcupine and a crocodile which our guide estimated was about four metres in length.

Bush pigs are nocturnal so we were lucky to see it

Part of the massive croc

Plenty of antelope as well, including a group of beautiful sable.

A beautiful female kudu

Sable antelope

The first time I came to Liwonde, in 2017, there were no large cats so far fewer predators. Since then, some of the smaller antelope have found some interesting hiding places. The enormous baobab tree below is one example.

You need a man with a gun to walk around

Inside the baobab

They think it is well over 200 years old

A weekend to savour, not just because it will be the last time I see these animals in the wild for a long time. Probably won’t get an elephant standing in front of my car in the next place, either…

Love you all,

 

Matt