July 26-28: Mount Mulanje

First, somehow the short video of my cheetah sighting in Liwonde National Park didn’t make it into the composite, so I uploaded it separately here:

Liwonde National Park addendum (1.5 minutes)

After leaving Liwonde National Park I headed southeast to the Mulanje Massif, also known as Mount Mulanje, which is a large inselberg or monadnock (i.e., isolated mountain rising up from the surrounding plains) in southeastern Malawi. Mount Mulanje actually contains several peaks, not just one, and is more akin to an isolated mountain range. I climbed Sapitwa Peak, the highest point on the massif at 9,849 feet, which is the highest point in Malawi.

Here’s what the Mulanje Massif looked like as I approached it – a bit intimidating realizing that I was goint to ascend to the top of that beast and beyond to the hidden peaks (note the tea farms on the lower slopes):

Mount Mulanje is essentially a huge mound of granite formed by subsurface magma bubling up to form one giant massive, along with several places where the magma broke through to form the distinct peaks. I was extremely relieved to find out that the entire massive was granite, which forms a really nice surface for traction, otherwise I would not have been able to ascend the steep slabs of rock or safely hop from boulder to boulder along the ridge to the summit of Sapitwa. My route took me up the main valley shown in this photo:

Prior to the trek, I camped near the trail head outside the village of Likhubula while I got myself organized for a two-night backpacking trip into the high country. Day one involved passing by some beautiful waterfalls on the way up to a high mountain basin and then over two passes before descending to a mountain hut at the base of Sepitwa Peak – a total climb of 5,000-6,000 feet over 7 hours. Needlesstosay, I wasn’t in the greatest shape for such a climb after having been mostly on my butt for the past two months, so I suffered a bit – mostly because I let myself get dehydrated. I had a great night stay in the hut, enjoying the company of Aiter and Natalya from the Basque Region of Spain, and then did the grueling 2,000 foot slog up a 45 degree slope on bare rock slabs followed by boulder hopping, squeezing through rock tunnels and eventually making it hand over hand to the summit. The weather was perfect for the hike and the views were stunning – except for the dense smog from all the wood burning both from brush fires on the Massif as well as every household in the region burning wood for cooking and heat. We descended the peak, did a litte R&R at the hut – sorely needed after the 5.5 hour summit excursion – and then trekked for another 3 hours back over the same 2 passes we climbed getting to the first hut and then on to the head of another basin, where a delightful hut awaited my tired feet and legs – not to mention the cold pool in the stream next to the hut. Had another great night with my spannish friends, and we were even entertained by our guides with music and dance. Next day, I did the gruelling descent from the massif. I will include a few slides of the mountain landscape and the huts here, but see the video if you want to see the progression of my trek and hear me give a few side notes about the landscape:

Here’s a video following the progression of my trek in case you want to see a bit more of the trek and here my commentary:

Mount Mulanje trek video (15 minutes)

Ok, I’m off to Majete Wildlife Reserve and back to my usual safari lifestyle.

See you there.

New Species:

1. Mountain wagtail