Zandre and Kalunga 2 of our more experienced guides recently did a Zambia Malawi Livingstone Trail ZMa16 which visits the Mulanje Massif in Southern Malawi. The below is what Zandre had to report back on.
We travel a lot through Southern Africa and we see many different landscapes. Oceans, deserts, wildlife of many sorts, bush and many different mountains. One of many highlights to me this time was Mulanje.
I just came back from a Zambia Malawi tour and on this tour we visited the Mulanje Massif. To me, one of the most wonderful landscapes I have come across in the whole of Malawi.
Its protruding vastness compared to the rest of the area is absolutely stunning. It Dwarfs everything around making it look like a fairytale of some sort.
Mulanje Massif is a rock formation that has been formed across millions, possibly billions of years, and is an immense granite formation that juts out of a rolling tea plantation valley to a height of over 3000m at its peak. This makes Mulanje Massif one of the tallest mountains in Central Africa – Only Kilimanjaro is yet larger - but the flat surrounding area makes the formation extremely impressive.
Once on the mountain the vegetation changes with altitude and there’s plenty of wildlife from the klipspringer, a tiny antelope, to various other small mammals and, of course, the variety of birds this place offers is of note.
We hike our way up, (not to the very top this time as it needs at least 2 days of overnight hiking), we meet mountain streams, waterfalls lush forests with marvellous ambient noise of complete nature surrounding us.
The water from the spring is sweet and tasty, filling up water supply and drinking enough is important. It is a great privilege to still be able to do this from natural sources.
So whether you want to just enjoy a day of trekking up the slopes of the Mulanje or enjoy the surrounding tea plantations and tea tasting, maybe even plan a serious trip to summit the beast of a hill and enjoy the views it promises when you make it all the way. The Mulanje Massif is the place to be.
