A Three Day Hike - Written by Johnny

Two weeks ago we had a rare opportunity to climb Malawi's tallest mountain: Mulanje. For Chris and I it was our third time, but the first Mulanje hike with the entire family. We had wanted to climb it with our family for some time, but had never had the opportunity. So when friends of ours invited us all to hike it with them and two other families, it seemed like the perfect chance. We would hike up the mountain on Friday, spend a day on the top, and then hike down on Sunday.
Hiking it on a Friday meant Chris and I would have to cram with our school, but thankfully it was still the first week of school and our workloads weren't as huge as they might otherwise have been. We thankfully got it all done, and were ready to go by Thursday evening.
At around 11:30 the next morning we started the climb. It was a bit of a late start (the two previous times we had done it we started at 8) but with 4 families to coordinate it made sense to start a bit later. The hike started with a longish walk through some tea fields before the actual ascent began. The view was nice, but there wasn't a whole lot of shade, so we were all eager to reach the lower slopes of the mountain where there would be a few trees.
Our friend Brody was with us, so me and Chris chatted with him while we hiked. It was nice walking along and talking, but also pretty hot, so we were drinking a lot. One of the neat things about Mulanje is that since all of the water is fast flowing and spring fed you can drink from almost any of the streams along the trail. In our past experience hiking Mulanje there had always been plenty of streams, so me and Chris had advised the family to only carry one water bottle each. It was a bad idea. We were hiking a different trail this time, and it turned out there wouldn't be any water until we reached the top.
After two kilometers or so we stopped for lunch. After grabbing a few bites to eat we set off again, and thankfully some scattered trees now lent their shade across our path. All across the path were huge boulders, and our path wound between them.
As we gained altitude the climb got steeper, but it also increased in beauty. Now majestic views opened up from the edges of cliffs. Some of the places were actually so steep that it required a ladder to get up though! Nearing the top we entered what would best be described as rain forest. Lush vegetation surrounded us, and it was really beautiful.
By this time our thirst was getting pretty bad, since our water bottles had run out several hours ago. Thankfully we found a small trickle of a stream to drink from, and were able to slake our thirst for a while. The hike continued through the rain forest, only opening up shortly before we arrived at the cabin.
Of the three cabins I've been to on Mulanje, this was definitely the best. Although the cabin itself was pretty small, it had a huge wrap-around khonde (a local term for porch), it was nestled between several large hills, and a stream flowed past just meters from us. It was a picturesque location.
After arriving we still had a little over an hour before dark, so we went exploring downstream with Brody. The stream consisted mostly of a series of small waterfalls, so we did a lot of rock climbing. After a while we realized that we hadn't remembered to tell anyone where we were going, so we went back, and then started exploring upstream. After going a short distance that way we discovered that the stream was much less interesting, so we just sat down on some rocks and chatted for a while. I forget the full range of our topics, but it included hiking, theology - you know, the usual for teenage boys. As dark set in we headed back the the cabin.
After a delicious supper of burritos we headed to bed around 8, since we would be getting up fairly early the next morning, and there aren't any lights in the cabin, so there wasn't much to do. Most of the people decided to sleep outside, since the cabin was small. The night proved extremely cold, and I was thankful I had gone to bed wearing long pants and a hoodie, rather than changing into pajamas. Still, I certainly did my fare share of shivering during the night.
We woke up around 6, most of us going to the stream to hang out before breakfast. After breakfast we had a short devotional (those friends are all Seventh Day Adventists, so they worship on Saturday), and then discussed plans for the day. The decision was to split into two groups; one group would go to some good swimming holes, and the other group would climb one of Mulanje's 58 peaks.
The group climbing the peak was much smaller, consisting of me and Chris, Dad, Brody and his father Jason, two other Americans, and our guide. We left at the same time as the group heading to the pools, and for a while our paths went together. Our guide told us that the hike up the peak would take 2 and a half hours from the cabin, and then about 2 hours back. We could also climb the peak, take about 40 minutes going to the pools, and then hike back with the other group. It sounded doable, so we decided to go with that plan.
But plans never go the way you expect them to. It took us almost 2 hours just to reach the base of the peak! The climb was exciting though - we enjoyed climbing Chinzama peak. In a few places it was regular rock climbing, although the slope wasn't too bad. It was a far cry different from the last peak I had climbed - Chambe - the second hardest on Mulanje (the hardest isn't even climbable from on the plateau).
At about 2 we reached the top, and spent about 40 minutes enjoying the view. Then it was time to hike down - which took us a while, as we often had to shimmy down on all fours, with our back to the mountain. Slightly past 4 we had reached the bottom, and the guide confirmed that we wouldn't really have time to reach the pools, so it was best to just head back to the cabin. Granted, we hadn't been going very fast, but it seemed that our guide's estimate of 4 and a half hours round trip had been slightly hopeful!
We arrived back at the cabin just before dark, and although we were all pretty cooled off by now, Chris, Brody and I decided not to chicken out on our earlier decision to take a dip in the stream. After recounting our adventures to the others, we headed out for our "bath." There was a deep spot we had noticed the day before so we headed there. With a lot of joking and daring we jumped in one by one, emerging moments with shouts and whoops. It was fun, but man was it cold! We ran back to the cabin to warm up by the fire.
That night we headed to bed around the same time, and this time I wisely decided to sleep inside. The morning dawned bright and clear, and after breakfast we all packed. One of the neat things about hiking this particular trail was that it was less known, and so besides our group we never saw any other hikers (although there were plenty of Malawian wood "poachers").
The climb down began at about 10, and by 3 we reached the bottom. There was a river just slightly before we reached the cars, and so most of us decided to go for a much needed swim. It was very refreshing, and once again we had fun exploring the river with Brody.
Climbing Mulanje is always an amazing experience, and this time was no different. No two times are the same, and it's something you will never forget!

Our cabin

The group we hiked with

The stream just outside the cabin

A view of the plateau

One of the ladders on the way

Mulanje as viewed from the bottom

Concerning Broccoli, Snakes, and Tear Gas - Written by Chris

Johnny and I love to keep fit as much as we can with our busy school schedules, and this is always an adventure in Africa.

A nearby private school has a 23 meter athletic pool, so we swim there whenever we get the chance. Its length makes it a rare commodity by Malawian standards, although its depth (about a meter or a yard) prevents diving. It is also apparently difficult for management to get pool chemicals, because several times the shallow water has been so murky we could barely see the bottom. As my Dutch friend Rien once said after jumping in, “this water tastes like broccoli!” But hey, a pool is a pool, so we live with it.

Just to add a little bit more of a challenge, we sometimes bike to the pool (which we guesstimate is about 7 kilometers from our house, there and back). The fun part of this is that the landscape is hilly almost all the way, so you are either puffing up a hill or cruising down it and feeling like you own the world.


Running, however, is by far how we get most of our exercise these days. Over the course of three years I’ve gone from being unfit and hardly able to run five kilometers, to having now run two  official half marathons (a distance of 21 kilometers) and several more during training.

Our first half marathon was in May, and it took place near where my friend Brody lives, in Thyolo (pronounced Chyoh-lo). Thyolo is famous for its large tea estates, which clothe the rolling hills in beautiful green blankets. Purple jacaranda trees dot the landscape, and magnificent hills and mountains - including the majestic Mulanje Massif - form a backdrop. The Thyolo run, which Brody also ran in, was beautiful but grueling. The last five kilometers were the worst, a very hot uphill stretch with no water stations. Our time in Thyolo was a modest 2:29:25, but we were happy just to finish. Two weeks ago we ran our second half marathon up on the equally beautiful Zomba plateau, clocking a time that was about 2 minutes faster. This felt good, considering that everyone said the Zomba race was significantly harder. To us it felt easier, but I am crediting that to better training and a home advantage.

Our worst run was a few years ago, when Johnny and I jogged through a valley and inexplicably started choking and crying. An elderly Malawian man passed us, and seemed very concerned for our well-being. He kept saying “oh, sorry, sorry.” At first I attributed our symptoms to the smoke coming from a nearby pile of burning plastic garbage, but no smoke had ever or has ever since had that effect on me. Later we put the pieces together, and decided that the Malawian man had probably figured out the culprit much faster than us: tear gas! There had been some demonstrations lower down in the town that the police dispersed with tear gas, and we are guessing that it drifted up through the valley and into our unwitting lungs and eyes. Thankfully it had lost most of its potency at that point, so the effects of the tear gas didn’t last more than a minute or two. Still, it was enough to make me very thankful I didn’t get the real thing.

Most of our runs, however, are much more peaceful than that. Neither of us are morning people, and so unless we are going for a very long run we normally start around 4PM (remember, we live close to the equator so sundown is always between 5:30 and 6). This allows us to enjoy the coolest part of the day, and sometimes even witness an amazing sunset as we return home. Of course, there are still many runs with an unusual twist thrown in - sometimes we have to jump over a snake in the road (either dead or alive), sometimes we jog through a pack of bored looking baboons, and very often a random group of Malawians will decide to get in on the fun and jog with us for a bit. Malawians are great that way - they really know how to enjoy themselves and be friendly.