This is the "Web Version" of the article originally written for the Zomba branch of the Wildlife Society of Malawi newsletter.  The images here are links to higher resolution versions of the photographs.  The photos are taken with a Konica Q-M100 digital camera, the images here are converted from  the original 1152 x 872 JPEG format to 20% size for the GIF images on this page and to 50% size for the linked JPEG pictures.

Getting to Lengwe was easy, the roads are in fairly good condition, with only the road down the escarpment being broken and potholed at the corners. Basically go to Blantyre, through the city centre and out the "bottom" – i.e. go down Victoria Avenue and out of town that way. Turn right just past the start of "Sunny Side" where the road is signposted to Chikwawa. Then just follow that road all the way down the escarpment. The trip to Lengwe is worth the effort just for the views over the Lower Shire valley. By the time we reached the bottom the temperature had risen quite a bit and opening the car windows (if present) and shedding a layer or two of clothing was necessary. This was in July, in the dry season this area is supposed to be the hottest part of Malawi, with temperatures in excess of 40C. We continued through Chikwawa and onwards past the sugar cane plantation until the sign on the right indicating Lengwe national Park, 10km. The guide book we had suggested the second signpost, but only one seems to exist, but if you haven’t been past the fields of sugar cane then you’ve turned off to early! Part of the road past Chikwawa is still under construction, but once finished (soon?) will be a beautiful wide straight tarmac road. After the right turn, the last 10km are past more sugar cane over a dirt and molasses(!) road – quite a strong smell, which is still on my car, but at least it’s flat.

Park fees are standard, K25 for residents, K75 for non-residents. There is a new rate for volunteers and non-Malawian residents (note the hyphenation!) of K51, but this seems to be inconstantly implemented even between visits to the same park! Cars are K25. Again some parks seem to charge a fee per day, others don’t – Lengwe didn’t.

The accommodation at the main camp is of was reasonable standard, but is now rather run down. The camp site hadn’t been cleared and there was some reticence by the staff to let us camp. In addition the showers and toilets for the campers were not working. In the end two of us decided to camp, the other two secured a room in the larger (and better) of the chalets. This chalet had the benefit of inside toilets and showers and the bar – this being a large fridge in the lounge and proved useful!! The showers were cold, toilet cisterns suspect, but they could be made to flush. Electricity provides light in the rooms, but a shortage of bulbs meant the lounge was rather dim and one of the toilets had no light at all. Almost all the electrical sockets were hanging out of the wall, so not a place for children to play. This chalet had three twin rooms (K270 per night) and one triple (K315 per night). You have to bring your own food, but the camp staff will cook it for you, and were very good. We ran a little low on food, so Richard took one of the staff off for a foray into a nearby market for a chicken and some vegetables.

Lengwe is flat and covered by a mix of deciduous woodland and patches of Acacia woodland, as well as some grassy dambo (marshy river course) – well so says my guidebook! There are a number of artificial water holes, each with it’s own hide. The hides are in reasonable order, here’s a brief description of them:

Main hide

North hide

This hide has an excellent view of its waterhole, but the waterhole is very small and we only saw baboons while we were there.

Makanga hide

A reasonable size waterhole, but the hide’s view is seriously obscured by trees, so not much can be seen.

Jasi Hide

As with Makanga hide, there is no clear view, but this isn’t a problem as there’s no water either!

The road system in the park are flat and smooth, and well signposted – a few signs were missing, but the map of the park is accurate, so getting lost is difficult and there’s no exciting 4WD experience!! The park is actually closed during the rainy season anyway. The problem is that much of the park is either dense woodland or grassland, where the grass is too high for good visibility. A couple of friends we met there on Sunday had a normal saloon and said this was a real problem. We used the Mahrinda with the roof off, and two people standing up in the back from which the view was excellent.

As with many of Malawi’s game park there is not much big game (lions, elephants, etc.). However, we managed to see most of the larger species present in the park. The main problems being that all the animals, except the Baboons, were extremely nervous and were easily scared by the car and even at the waterholes were very weary. Still, at the main hide we managed to see Kudu, Cape Buffalo (briefly!), Nyala, Bushbuck, Impala and plenty of Baboons. Elsewhere Lilli spotted a couple of Buffalo on her brief walk, and from the car we saw Kudu, and Impala. On the way to main hide we also saw what we believe was a Suni (a very small antelope – less than a foot high) and what could have been an elephant shrew (optimistic identification this one!). The best time for observing the wildlife was, as usual, at dawn and dusk. Footprints and other "signs" indicated Leopard, Hyena, and a number of other the smaller cats. Bird-wise, the foursome are a little thin on expertise, but after careful examination of various books, decided we had seen at least a Fish Eagle! Actually, we believe we also spotted Bateleur Eagle, Striped Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Black Headed Heron, Great White Egret (or was it a Cattle Egret or even a Yellow-Billed Egret?) and an immature Night Heron. Obviously that’s not a complete list, Pied Hornbills and Doves were every where and I spend some time watching what was obvious some species of flycatcher – it was catching flies!!!

On the way back we dropped into see Kapichira falls where Livingstone reached by boat and then went on by foot – boats don’t go up water falls well – to discover Lake Chilwa and then lake Malawi. Useless (and well known?) fact: He called lake Malawi "Lake Nyasa" – which literally means "Lake Lake" caused by asking the local people "What’s that called?" they said "Nyasa"! " Actually, this is not an uncommon naming mistake, Lakes in the English Lake District often have "mere" in the name which also means Lake.

For those with small fuel tanks, there’s an Oilcom in Chikwawa which sells very frothy diesel