Despite my best intentions, here we are, three months after the last post. There was a conscious attempt at posting a video of one of my motorcycle day trips, sped up a few frames a second and with some music added. I thought it would be a good chance to get a feel for what the countryside is like as I ride along, the colors, the faces. Copyright issues per Youtube with Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away" stopped the completed product from making an appearance in July, perhaps another time.So much has happened, but it doesn't feel that much different here in August than it did in May. Life just flying by. It is solidly in the dry season now, and the lush countryside of Malawi has lost its rich green hues and shrunken into a variety of browns and yellows.
Kate finished her first year teaching at Bishop Mackenzie in the middle of June, and her second year just started last week. I believe I can safely say she is very happy she is teaching here. I think she really likes her kids and the curriculum at the school. It's always nice to see anyone really enjoying going to work every day. During her break, however, it was time for some exploring. Mujete Wildlife Reserve was first on our agenda.While there were other more expensive lodging options, Kate and I chose to pitch a tent at the campground at Mujete. It was my first chance to use my campstove that my sister Kara got me for Christmas, so that was exciting! You can also see some of the safari tents the campsite offered in the background. .There were a bunch of volunteers at the reserve helping a team from South Africa with some of their research counting wildlife. Pretty cool way to spend 6-8 weeks I'd say.
It's pretty interesting that when you talk to people who've had the chance to go on many safaris while living in Africa, whether it be here in Malawi or somewhere else, many people will talk about how seeing certain animals is very boring or passe to them now. Unless they are seeing a lion making a fresh kill or a leopard dragging an antelope up into a tree, the heart doesn't quite get to pumping like they want. Even elephants, zebra, giraffe, nothing seems to get them that excited. Not me; even the small stuff brings back the child in me.
I can only begin to describe how special is is to see these animals in their native habitat. Also, tough to grasp how awesome it was being within 5-10 feet of a full grown elephant. I didn't even know that was acceptable to be that close to these giant beasts. My assumptions were clearly based on some sort of distorted reality, because while there is an absolute gravity to being this close to such a behemoth their personality tends to be more gentle and rambunctious than aggressive in any way. They have their moments (and I may or may not have completely lost my cool one particular time), but it's mostly just the pomp and circumstance of them trumpeting who the boss really is.
Absolutely massive. It's always hard to have perspective about how close we really were, so the picture on the right helps a bit. This was while we were on a game drive with a professional guide, in this case Jimmy who was one of the B.A. Baracus guides we had the fortune of learning from.One nice thing about Mujete is that you were able to drive yourself as well, during the day anyway. It was our first chance to try out Blanche, our new (ancient) Rav-4. She handled herself well, even when Kate and Jon accidentally took a wrong turn and drove for three hours on the worst roads I have ever seen. Thinking back I am still shocked we didn't get a flat, or destroy the suspension, or simply never be heard from again.
As far as the total animal viewing experience, between our self drives and the guided drives we took, we were covered. While Mujete boasts a small number of lions as well as a small number of rhinos, no luck with either of those two (perhaps a little later...) We did see lots of beautiful creatures: warthog, hippos, crocodile, zebra, tons of different types of antelope, as well as a cape buffalo. The goal on safari seems to always be Elephant, lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhinoceros-traditionally referenced as the Big 5 not for their size but for the degree of difficulty and danger involved in hunting them on foot. No desire to hunt these majestic creatures, but I'd say seeing two out of five on the first go round was not too shabby.
