Mulanje Mountain: A road trip in Malawi

Workers at a tea plantation on the way...

Planning or the lack of it!

Mulanje Massif Mountain is a large isolated range of rocks south of Malawi, near the town Blantyre. Its a popular destination with those visiting the country, especially those who love mountains and trekking. The mountains are absolutely majestic and the trek is rather demanding physically.

When I went to Malawi, I had absolutely no plans of visiting any specific place, though I had kept a few days to explore the country. In fact, I didn't even know about Mulanje until I spoke to a few in Lilongwe about things to do in the country. As luck would have it, work took me to Blantyre and I finally made plans to do some trekking. My days in Blantyre were extremely busy and I didn't even have time to check anything online about how to go about doing this trek, or how much would it cost me (I was a solo traveler and wanted to spend as little as possible).

The road is not a highway, but charming nevertheless

I had planned to move out of Blantyre at six in the morning, but all efforts of waking up before nine failed! I still had little idea about how to go about this, so asked the receptionist at my rather fancy hotel about how I could do this. He had little idea and I was losing on precious time. I decided to take the plunge and make the plan by asking people on the way in the bus. I took the first bus out of town towards Mulanje, hoping that before I reach there I would have fair bit of an idea about my next three days. Luck had always favoured me in the past for things like this, and I was more excited about the unknown and unplanned!

The Road Trip

If you want to visit hike on the Mulanje, the best way is to reach Mulanje or Chitakale and start the hike from there. I did a small road trip to take me there - two mini buses, some walking and finally a bicycle taxi :)

You can obviously take a taxi as well, but the prices are steep and it's not half as much fun as taking the mini buses, especially if you are new in the country. I was offered a taxi for Malawian kw 45,000 which is fairly high. Doing a bus trip is way better as it allows you to meet people, see the life at the numerous stops on the way, and you can also get some travel tips from your co passengers and driver. The start of most conversation is 'Muli Bwanje?' which translates into 'How are you?'. Malawians are extremely friendly and would always be willing to help. Using a few words from their language does wonders :)

My co-passengers 

A typical mini-bus that plies on the road of Malawi

I took a bus from Blantyre to Limbe and the trip took about 30 minutes and costed Malawian kw 200. When in the bus, I sat next to a couple of young school girls who giggled every time I spoke to them. But I could see them looking at me (when I looked out of the window) and talking :) When they finally got off near their school, they said bye and wished me luck for hiking on Mulanje and then broke into another round of giggles! I was amused, but found them really cute. Its not often that pretty young girls look at me :)

I changed from Limbe to another bus for Mulanje. No direct buses go between Blantyre and Mulanje. This time I sat on the front seat and seated next to me was Blessings who had a diploma in Electrical and Electronics engineering. However, we ended up talking about India more. For him it was a far away rich country where you could travel to get cured of illnesses and also for higher studies. I had to bust some of his myths about India though! He has worked with an Indian businessman and had good opinion about Indians in general. In fact people seemed more apprehensive about the Chinese (who are fairly new to the area) compared to Indians who have been here for a few centuries now.

There are two ways to reach Mulanje - one is longer and passed through se gorgeous yes estates while the shorter one is a little less attractive but much faster. My taxi took the longer route and I was actually quite happy about it :) Made friends with the driver as well and he had many suggestions to give.

Chitanje on display - can't forget those colours and prints!

As you can see, cycles are very popular with the locals...

The one town on the way which really got me interested was Chonde at the beginning of Mulanje district. The place was full of bicycles and shops on the sides of street. It reminded me a little of India but the stuff looked very different and nice :) Women here wear something called Chitanje or Zitanje - its a long piece of cloth with bright colourful prints. There were very many shops selling these, something similar to how sarees are sold in India. By this time I was also more confident and took out my camera to click people on the streets. I was old that the market happens every Tuesday and Thursday.

In Mulanje 

And finally the mini bus stopped at Mulanje bus stand after about two hours of travel. The walked to the 'Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust' office but it was unfortunately shut due to some differences with the locals. There is quite a bit of controversy about the trust with some people favouring its presence while others completely against its existence in town or Mulanje. I spoke to at least two people in detail about this, and both told me the same story but from different sides - and they were both equally convincing. I guess that's how truth is, its contrived.

Ah Mulanje! The first sighting :)

Airtel is huge there and everyone sells these top-up cards there - including the egg guy :)

As I came out a young lad came to me and offered me a lift to the InfoMulanje office in the neighbouring town. I offered him Malawian kw 200 as tip for dropping me and he smiled, took the money and left. I learnt much later that his cycle was actually cycle taxi, which is quite common in the area. There is a separate set of handles and leg rest for the pillion rider. I must admit, the ride was quite fun :)

Here I was  at the end of my trip and ready to start my expedition to the summit of Mulanje - Mt Sapitwa. The next three days ended up being some of the most exciting in recent times, they challenged me physically, emotionally as well as spiritually.

If you love road-trips as much as I do, you will find this guide very helpful: Packing list for a road-trip.