Emma's Peach

Emma took this amazing photo and called it her "peach." Sometimes we get so focused on seeing the big things, we want to see the Lions, Leopards and Elephants we miss out on the more special, hard to see things. It's a bit more like life isn't it? We get so focused on the BIG picture and the small things that matter, that make the difference pass us by. I'd like my life to count for the small things, would like to learn from ants who only see and experience a small part of their large and essential life. And I hope I have enough patience and passion to do what I can in that moment knowing that I am part of a bigger plan/operation. Thanks Emma!

(Ps. I am dedicating: Everything will be alright-The Killers to you!)

Sunset

This is the most magical time of the day at Nkwichi

The sky becomes

a kaleidoscope of color changing every 5 minutes like a chameleon having mood swings. It affects the water which turns dark and illuminated by reds and pinks and yellows. It even reflects on the white sand that absorbs the color of the sun. At this time; the bush gets louder as monkeys, baboons and thousands of birds settle in for the night. Sometimes you can see a few female monkeys carrying their young ones like pouch bags scrambling to collect one last meal of berries before the sun disappears.

the fire is lit and cold gin and tonics are served, everybody talks about their day, their lives back home and how they want to change the world. Peanuts are passed around along with delicious canapes.


The water looks calm and the fishermen float past

homeward bound with tonight's dinner still writhing and gasping for its last breath. The waves gently slapping against the rocks are constant and in the distance you can make the thin dark outline of a heron contemplating on a rock. And suddenly its really dark, like a dark cloak has enveloped us except it has many holes that allow in bits of twinkling light, the stars, which appear one at first signaling the beginning of yet another night in paradise then suddenly; millions twinkling and making shapes that tell stories that have been past on for hundreds of years, shapes that guide us and give clues of our future.


There is no moon tonight but I can make out a dozen or so dark shadows moving swiftly towards the glowing fire. Its the choir that has walked 45 minutes to come and sing for us and dance with us. They will sing spiritual songs praising God and pledging their chaste allegiance to him, but their bodies are misbehaving gyrating and swaying to the music, enticing. The fire is getting hotter and the dances become more complicated more involved until one or two break away from the group indulging in some freestyle dancing. Then I can't sit still and am getting dizzy from nodding so hard so I get up and join the frenzied movements, soon everyone is on their feet, clapping, moving dancing around the fire. Its clear we all went to different dance classes. The music stops too soon, the guests have to eat and the choir must return, so everyone disperses and I am still sitting by the fire my heart still beating a rythmn, my feet won't stop moving and the fire is mesmerising...in the words of my current favorite singer "...its just too much"

Monkey business

We have just had our shower renovated! It now features fresh dry grass, a new vanity stand and pearly white stones. There is even a huge gray pumice stone which (it seems) nobody else besides me uses. We used to have a pair of
Collared Sunbirds(Hedydipna collaris )
nesting in the shower but the cleaning staff removed them thinking they were a nuisance:( My best part of the day was just before sunset when I would go for a shower and the female would be peaking her head out hoping I hadn't spotted her and probably praying I would not drench her with water. The male (who is more colorful than the dull gray female) would be perched on the tree just above watching intently in a protective manner towards his home and his woman. But now they are gone and I don't know what became of them which is kind of sad but anywho I spotted a half dozen flying trumpeter hornbills (Bycanistes bucinator) yesterday afternoon on my way to take a nap! To be fair I heard the loud honking/wailing noises first before something disturbed them from their perch and they flew off, low just above the trees. It felt like a flying scene in a jurassic park movie. Personally I find this kind of hornbill to be quite unattractive and obnoxious.

The most annoying thing though has to do with monkeys. Its getting very hot now, am reading 36 degrees celcius and its 3 in the afternoon! By morning it's already in the 30s! Which means less food for monkeys and baboons. They are now being spotted sneaking into chalets looking for food or just trying to cool down. This morning a male monkey snuck into the office and by the time I turned around it was already too late, he had already opened the tupperwear box with breadrolls and was hightailing it out of there. I think they have figured this is conservation land so they can get away with such behavior without getting shot- not good! Yesterday Odin was accosted by a pair of baboons while he was in the shower. They must have been dying of thirst but were scared to go to the lake because their natural instinct tells them there are crocodiles in the lake even though none are around during the day. So they have learned to come to our shower room when the water is on hoping they can either scare us out of there or enjoy the cool water if we accidentally leave the shower on, at least there they are guaranteed no crocs. I had an encounter with a huge male who was almost my size, he came barking towards me while i was heading to the toilet, I threw a rock in his direction and he relented(was not about to take my chances with an aggressive male baboon!). Though they usually keep to themselves and are shy of human contact the poor mammals are now desperate as the hot season reaches its apex and will do anything to ensure their survival, quite amazing to note.

Last week two guests decided to go fishing in one of the boats. The men were completely unaware of the African fish eagles who are attracted to anything shiny like the floaty thingy used in fly fishing. Well; as soon as they threw their lines out an eagle swooped in and grabbed the thingy with his talons and tried to fly away with his "catch." He ended up being caught with one of his talons pierced by the hook. They had to pull him by the line dragging him as he was fluttering and cawing back into the boat to unhook him. From what i hear it was quite a kodak moment for those things are huge and can cause significant damage with their talons! Needless to say I don't think the guys are going to be bragging about catching a bird on the 3rd largest lake in Africa!

Football highlights

We heard there was a hot match at Chigoma. Having no tv and starving for some action we packed the guests onto a speedboat and headed for Chigoma. On arrival we were met by a dozen or so kids cooling themselves on the shores. They didn't seem very interested in us nor were they impressed by the speedboat. A half hour walk later we made it to the "stadium" which was a large fig tree and a dusty playing field with 2 goalposts made from sticks. We parked ourselves under the tree with our coolerbox and soon enough; we had attracted a nice crowd around us, the game though did not look like it was going to start soon. There was only one team suited and ready for battle, their opponents it turned out; had decided not to show up for fear of getting defeated. This caused a huge argument because it appears, winning by default was not an option the "Great Warriors" were prepared to accept. As they went back and forth, deciding the future of football leagues on Lake Niassa Coastlines, we passed balls to the kids and to each other, drank some coke and even took line up pictures of the team that actually showed up!



The sun got hotter, baking the red earth beneath our dusty feet, lucky enough we had box tickets under the fig tree complete with a wooden bench to sit on! It was finally decided that 3 goals will be scored by the "Great Warriors" to symbolize their unequivocal victory, to me this was nothing short of comic relief as the defender bravely protected the ball from invisible assailants.



False goal



With a potential disaster avoided and a clear winner revealed; a second team materialized to play "friendly" against the "Great Warriors." After all people had come a long way for a game and internal politics aside; we got a game!

Spectator mixing business with pleasure

Mozambique

This might have something to do with why I am enjoying myself soo much!

Just this week

Just this week on my Island paradise (not really an island but anyway!) I ate Kampango wrapped in banana leaves with rice and carrots in peanut butter sauce. All this washed off with a nice Chenin blanc. The moon was full and looked like a huge football suspended from a dark blue ceiling speckled with shiny stars clearly marking Orion's Constellation. There was a fire on the beach which we (my 3 colleagues and I) sat around listening to DJ mixes from the clubbing world that; when lying on the squeaky white sand feels so ancient and several lifetimes away. In the bush behind us came the wailing sounds of a bushbaby crying for attention, in seconds we were both on our feet to investigate. Malcolm spotted him acrobating from one tree branch to another but as soon as the flashlight was on him, he froze unsure of what to do, then slowly he slid behind the tree branch, hiding himself from the flashlight and us. 100meters the lake washed waves on the beach in soft rythymic comforting motions cleaning and smoothing off pebbles in the process.

Another day I sat on the porch digesting my lunch just outside the office. A monitor lizard came by unannounced and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, he felt his way around with his forked tongue possibly looking for a snack to eat. The patterns on his body are vivid and work very well to camouflage him from human eyes, he blends well among the brown and green leaves and dark grey rocks.

had a moment of excitement the other day when 8 of our guests showed up in helicopters, landing right on our beach! Everyone (I mean EVERYONE) left what they were doing to go and check out the helis and see what the fuss was all about, probably the most fun and excitement we have all had since last year when we hosted the Dug out canoes race! For a moment there I thought we were in an episode of "tour of duty" or something

We took a time out one afternoon to lie on the beach, an hour later Maaike woke me up to point at a tree branch that was barely holding up to the weight of a large white bird with black wings, speckled white with a huge orange- red hornlike beak. She wanted to know what it was but unfortunately I missed that section in my bush course, later I found out it was a rare Tockus jacksoni, pretty cool!

Last night as the sun went down and I was enjoying a cigarette with Maaike, an owl landed on the tree branches high above us, he was quiet in his approach and his landing was quite smooth. It occured to me from the size; and shape that this was my first Pell's fishing owl sighting!

At 6am this morning I was struggling to stay awake as I made my way through the sand to the office, a beeeater perched himself just an armslength from where I walked on a low branch, I could see the pinfeather tips of his tail and the brilliant green and red that make up his coat, I immediately felt energize and could not imagine a better place to be.

Yesterday morning I woke up to the loud chatter of squabling weavers, they were in my hut having flew in from the wide gap above my door, good call for I probably would not have woken up otherwise.

If it goes on like this, I may never leave the land of Squeaky sand!

where only the loud mouths get fed!

I have made friends with this lovely family of 5 who live above the door of our office. The kids are still quite young so they do not talk so much but the mother is always chattering especially when she is trying to get to the nest and she thinks I am in the way. I worry sick every day for the altricial babies thinking I will find them splattered on the floor having suffered a terrible fall. Watching the mom she is quite diligent flying more than 50 times back and forth all day collecting tiny morsels for them to eat. I wonder if she keeps a system on who needs to be fed next. It seems who ever opens their mouth wide enough and makes the most noise gets fed. So far they are all thriving although I haven’t heard a peep from them today and am afraid to look. I am afraid the sun has finally won today and they have been cooked in the heat…we’ll see. Or maybe I should just have my own children and not worry about other people's kids.




Mosque Swallow
Cecropis senegalensis

So where in the world is Kat??

I live on the shores of Lake Malawi, which on my side is called Lake Niassa near a small one horse town called Cobue. It takes about 3 days to get here by bus, ferry and boat from Lilongwe and about 3 hours by plane then boat from Lilongwe. This by the way is the quickest way to get here. My new home is located in the Manda wilderness reserve a piece of land that was set aside for conservation and to improve the livelihood of the locals through sustainable tourism and other self sustaining projects that provides the villagers with income while they play a big part in conserving the land. My part in all this is marketing the lodge and getting people to come and visit and enjoy themselves while I enjoy myself at the same time. It's quite satisfying knowing that I am working to make other people's lives better. I also manage and train the Guest Relations department upgrading their skills and raising the level of service. And when it gets hot; I have my own private beach to swim and frolic in! This is the last leg of my year of self discovery, travel and experimenting in different living environments, food and way of life. But for now, life in the bush (and now beach as well!) continues!

Daily visitor


Am curious to know what all this experience will have made out of me in the end. Living by water my head is clear as the blue waters. Waking up to waves gently lapping a snow white beach that "squeaks" when you walk on it makes me lucky to be alive. I wake up some mornings to find leopard spoor on my front door leading to the spot were I peed in the grass the night before. At lunch time I sit outside listening to the African fish eagles calling in the distance and a monitor lizard slides by camouflaged by rocks that sparkle in the sun. And for the moment I can't think of any other place I should be or anything else I should be doing except look forward to opening a nice bottle of wine in the evening with my new friends Maaike and Odin and shoot the shit on the beach.

My Beach


My Hut



We have no electricity here so am getting used to working with the sun, unfortunately I have had to limit my writing and night reading but at the same time I have so much more around me to inspire me. I am looking forward to spoting Hohm's bee eater and Pell's fishing owl rare elsewhere but common as pebbles here. Our food consists of whatever the locals bring in from land and lake but thank God Mozambique produces coffee so I can still get my hot cuppa every morning.



Every morning the fishermen and farmers come to the lodge and dump their wares on the verandah sometimes the fish is so fresh its still jerking around expelling its last breath and the bananas are still bleeding sap from where they have just been hacked off from their mother trees. Eggs are a bit of a problem going for 45 Meticals each, gotta think twice before having an omelette. We tried to raise chickens but the leopard and snakes got to them before we could. I have a new respect for instant noodles which I get from Lilongwe from begging and pleading guests coming this way to stick some in their bags. We are very good about keeping ourselves well stocked with good wine and beer though for obvious reasons.


Menu tonight: tomato soup


Menu tonight: deep fried fish



And the adventure continues!

Am back!!

After a much needed break from the bush I am back online and happy to be. With my time finished at Lion Camp; I took a well deserved break and spent some time with a good friend in Lusaka volunteering at an HIV clinic she is setting up there and a week in Joburg shopping! I took a flight to Lilongwe where I hung out at Mufasa backpackers for 4 days and met up with Tiffany who has been doing Cairo to Cape the last few months. We then took a long sweaty chicken bus(about 11 hours of it...and yes! there really was a chicken)


The bus took us to picturesque Nkhata bay on the shores of Lake Malawi, the lake of stars, there we spent spent 2 nights there waiting for the ever so unreliable Ilala which arrived a whole day late. The Ilala ferry is an ancient contraption that prawls the waters of Lake Malawi ferrying people, grain, boats and a lot of unidentified Katundu from one port to another. The Ferry runs fine, is fairly clean and has a friendly kitchen that produces edible food. The problem is the loading and unloading at ports, this takes anywhere between 2 to 8 hours!! Most tourists book the top deck as its spacious, lots of fresh air and unlike the rest of the ferry not crowded. The ferry is most of the islanders only form of commercial and individual travel it gets packed with all sorts of cargo. I slept in my tent which we erected on the top deck most of the way and quite enjoyed the trip when the ferry was actually moving.


My tent and random guy's cute toes!


Needless to say we arrived in Likoma in one piecealbeit hours behind schedule. Likoma is the last Malawian port before Lake Malawi changes to Lake Niassa on the Mozambican side, our final destination. It is also the home of a beautiful precolonial church built by the Portuguese when they inhabited the island years ago before Malawi took it back.
To get out of Malawi and catch the speed boat to Mozambique we had to first find the immigration officer to get our exit stamps. He wasn't at his office, nor was he at the air strip, we even looked for him at his house and finally caught up with him at the local drinking hole. This was his "satellite office" he said and while he stamped us out he chatted about Big Brother Africa putting up a really good defence for Munyaradzi his favorite house mate. Another speedboat and half an hour later we were at Cobue on Lake Niassa which is really Lake Malawi on the Mozambican side. Once again our driver had to wade through the water and run on the beach in search of the immigration official who would stamp us in and no surprise like his counterpart across the pond he too was at his satellite office; a bar on the beach. Another hour later and we were at Nkwichi lodge my new home. The lodge is about 90% green and ecofriendly which means I have a lot of adjusting to do in terms of my diet and way of life. We are battery and solar powered here so definitely no tv and menu is determined by what is available or what the villagers bring to our doors to sell. I live in a hut and I have my very own beach access on the shores of a freshwater lake!