The riverbank where we wait reflects the climatic reality of those parts of southeast Africa.
In a year of heavy rains, also in the south of Tanzania and in most of Malawi, the Chire flows in a fiery fashion. The only reason it doesn't invade the landscaped property of Hippo View Lodge is because it is protected by a real wall.
We crossed it to a small improvised pier.
We set sail in a shallow-bottomed boat with a roof. Except for this providential roof, it is open all around, panoramic to match the magnificent river scenes in which we see ourselves. We begin our journey under a blanket of lilac clouds that keep the air heavy.
We saw small villages, clusters of traditional huts and wattle and daub huts surrounded by baobab trees. We passed fishermen from these villages who were collecting nets for aboard traditional boats.
We went through wide channels formed by grass and papyrus that the rains had made grow more than expected. We were advancing through one of them when the helmsman received a call.
Back to Hippo Lodge at the Mercy of the Weather
There were two passengers missing. We had to get back to Hippo View Lodge. As if that wasn't enough, the clouds released the expected downpour.
Fishermen on a boat, under a dense tropical rain.
The fishermen are surprised to see us again, even more so than the heavy rain that is drenching them.
On the third pass through them, with the boat even more loaded, the sun already gives in.
In a mere twenty minutes, it erupts.
It makes an increasingly vast flooded expanse shine, with an exotic lake-like appearance.
Fan palms spread across the vast Shire River.
Large caravans of cumulus clouds, some miles long from base to top, extending beyond and above amphibious colonies of fan palms.
The helmsman keeps an eye on the distance. Here and there, he uses some tiny binoculars that prove to be accessories.
Herd of elephants leave a pond they have just drunk from
The Prolific Fauna of PN Liwonde
As we move up the map, we see countless large animals: hippos by the dozen, scattered among the lush green islets.
As many or more elephants.
Some, in herds; a few, alone, on bathing excursions from the mainland east of the river.
We stopped several times to admire hippos.
In one of them, on the edge of two trees that were victims of the flood, hundreds of cormorants perched bare of leaves.
Cormorant drying itself above the Shire River
Arrival at Chiwambo and Mvuu Wilderness Lodge
Finally, after almost three hours of an exhilarating river safari, we spotted the Mvuu anchorage, at the entrance to the lodge and camp that would welcome us to discover Liwonde National Park.
Two employees greet passengers.
Right next to it, at the base of a portentous euphorbia, a wooden sign welcomes us, in English.
A shot at the bottom clarifies what we were going for.”Beware of Wild Animals”, illustrated by the image of a hippopotamus.
Guides wait for a boat at the small dock at Mvuu Lodge
Some of the passengers went to the camp. We, and others, went to the lodge that was further away from the shore and the dock.
We move on to the communal section of the Mvuu Wilderness lodge, a group of buildings built from wood, thatch and other organic materials, with impeccable ethnic and traditional Malawian elegance.
Mvuu Lodge common room, Liwonde National Park
What's more, they are located right on the edge of the Shire.
Served by walkways over the water that the overflowing river kept, in part, submerged.
Walkways at Mvuu Lodge, above the Shire River.
A Wild Life That Doesn't Forgive Negligence
We cool off in the shade of the dining room, when Cláudia, the manager, tells us something crucial.
“During the day, those staying in tents 1 to 4 can travel on foot, but always accompanied by someone from the lodge. From 5 to 9, they can only be transported by jeep!”
We were going to stay in 5.
We soon realized why they were so careful. The tent was on the edge of a sandy alluvial plain, dotted with fan palms and baobabs.
That same late afternoon, at the beginning of the safari opening ceremony, we noticed that the park staff had wrapped the base of the baobab trees with a net.
A magnificent baobab tree near the Shire River.
The elephants were responsible, as they loved to tear off and eat their shells, which retain water, mineral salts and are fibrous.
They guided us rangers Emmanuel and Jinna. Emmanuel leads us among inhacos, kudus, herds of zebras and impalas.
By bands of ruffian baboons and herds of warthogs.
Baboon descends from a tree with a baby on its back
A Pride of Lions Surprised. And Soon Asleep
Both he and his colleague were aware of the urgency of revealing as many predators in the park as possible to us.
When we reach the southern end of the plain, on the verge of fever trees, acacias and others that make up the local forest, predators become their priority.
They take us to the top of a ledge that reveals a stream with sandbanks as banks.
As we look ahead at the river, we see no signs of animals.
Juvenile lions on a sandy arm of the Shire River
Until, out of nowhere, three young lions appear from the base of the shore, frightened by the noise the jeep had made going up it. Intrigued, they cross to the opposite shore.
They are joined by a mother who is confident of her power.
The lions realize they have nothing to worry about. They watch them for a while.
They lie down on the sand and in the sun, in an obvious effort to stay awake.
Hornbills, one of the most common bird species in Liwonde NP.
We wandered through the bile-green interior of the forest, enchanted by the fluttering and hopping of the hornbills.
Emmanuel begins the return to the shores of the Shire. To the west, the sun was already peeking through the trees.
We stopped at the riverbank.
Piquenique Sundowner on a Stunning Shore of the Shire River
The guides ensure that there are no lions, leopards, elephants or hippos around.
Guides at Mvuu Lodge, PN Liwonde, during a sundowner
While setting up the picnic stand sundowner on the hood of the jeep, remind us that only our common sense could prevent our photographic enthusiasm from leading us into the mouths of crocodiles.
Snacks and drinks on the hood of one of Mvuu Lodge's jeeps
We had strong reasons to be incautious.
The sunset made the smooth surface of the river a reflection of the fiery sky, the whimsical shapes and silhouettes of the fan palms and the upward-reaching arms of the baobab trees.
Sunset over the Shire River and Liwonde National Park.
Herons and flocks of cormorants flew overhead. In the distance, the snoring of hippos enriched a soundtrack to which countless frogs and toads joined.
Darkness surrounds us.
Outside the jeep, we are no longer safe.
The guides summon us to a game drives illuminated by a powerful spotlight that Jinne manipulates, in search of the park's nocturnal creatures.
Heron over the mirror-like waters of the Chire, Liwonde National Park
We ended the tour by returning to the lodge, around a communal bonfire that sparked conversations about sightings and adventures.
The ones of the day.
And those experienced by guests from the bottom up of Malawi. And vice versa.
New Day, New Game Drive
The early morning departure caught us off guard with more lions and herds of elephants. And with a sunny breakfast on the edge of the Chire, unsurprisingly, once again among hippos and waterbucks in amphibious mode.
By that time, we were in awe of the profusion and exuberance of the fauna in Liwonde National Park.
Doubly prodigious in the way it recovered, in a relatively short time, from almost certain annihilation.
Termite mound located on the bank of the Shire River.
Similar to what happened in Gorongous (without the civil war component) and in so many other parts of Africa, that vastness bathed by the Chire became a territory without king or law.
Liwonde National Park: From Destructive Neglect to Lightning Recovery
Local people and others from further away shot at her.
At one point, over 40.000 traps had been set and many of the animals were considered to be up for capture or slaughter as a sort of guaranteed profit.
Elephants drink from a tiny pond
In some cases, those of rhinos, elephants and some predators, of large amounts of money, even if dirty, soaked in blood.
By 2015, the Malawian DNPW (Department of National Parks and Wildlife) had given in to the evidence that it was unable to control, let alone restore, the park.
It involved African Parks, a Johannesburg-based NGO experienced in rehabilitating supposedly protected wilderness areas.
The traps were removed and rangers were placed to monitor the reserve's borders, receiving encouraging pay and rewards.
Guide Emmanuel drives a jeep along a flooded road in Liwonde National Park.
Working with national authorities, African Parks has reintroduced and protected from poaching specimens of the most endangered species, including black rhinos.
In less than ten years, stocked with antelopes, the park welcomed cheetahs, lions and even wild dogs that joined a newly growing population of elephants and hippos.
Herd of impalas on a plain in Liwonde National Park
An Ecosystem Benefited by the Abundant Water of the Vast Shire River
This particular group of animals, together with the magnificent scenery on the banks of the Chire, have attracted the interest of thousands of visitors to southern Africa.
Not even the two years of the Pandemic have stopped a recovery that is continuing at a good pace.
Monitor lizard in the sun
Hippos, in particular, share the waters and shores of Liwonde National Park in impressive numbers. They are, in fact, the reason for the lodge's name: Mvuu.
That afternoon we set sail from the same dock we had arrived at, back to Shire.
Emmanuel takes the helm, with the mission of dazzling us with the panoramas of the river upstream from the lodge.
Hippos protecting their territory in the Shire River.
Still and always, among groups of hippos accustomed to sailing on boats, which allowed approaches that left us apprehensive.
The end of the afternoon brings a new fiery sunset. A squadron of kingfishers detects a profusion of small fish revealed by the boat's progress.
For a quarter of an hour, we admired them focused on focusing on the targets and diving over them to their heart's content.
A river guard monitors the movement of fish in the waters of the Shire River.
Until the sun sets behind a riverside forest of fan palms. The darkness was also unsuitable for navigation downstream.
We disembarked at the dock. We headed to the dining room and had our last dinner on the banks of the Shire. The next morning, under the blazing Malawian summer sun, we returned to our starting point.
Arriving at Hippo View Lodge, we began a road trip to Malawi's supreme body of water: its large namesake lake.
Mvuu Lodge staff on the dock on the banks of the Chire River
How to go
Fly to Lilongwe via Maputo, with TAP Air Portugal: flytap.com/ and FlyAirlink.
Where to stay
Mvuu Lodge: cawsmw.com/mvuu-lodge E-MAIL: [email protected]
Tel.: +265 888 822 398
More information
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