Africa Wine and Wildlife - Malawi: Mvuu - Photo Tours

©Wolfgang Kaehler

Africa Wine and Wildlife – Malawi: Mvuu

By Michelle Alten

early morning walking tour

All photos © Wolfgang Kaehler, phototours.us

Day 8 – Waking at 5:30, we join a nature guide for an early-morning walk among baobab, yellow fever and candelabra trees. Our river safari brings a plethora of wildlife: White breasted cormorants, Vervet monkeys, Egyptian geese, Open billed storks, Great white egrets, Pied kingfishers, Malachite kingfishers, Yellow billed storks, Dikkops, Brown throated weavers, and of course elephants, hippos and crocodiles. We photograph two pairs of majestic fish eagles perched high in neighboring trees. But the highlight for our boat is watching two young male elephants jousting and frolicking in the river. In the afternoon we head back out for a safari drive through the rhinoceros sanctuary. Six black rhinos have been introduced to sanctuary, while three more live in the park, but with the dense brush, we are unable to spot them.

Saddle-billed stork

Pied kingfisher

Malachite kingfisher

Grey-headed kingfisher

Day 9—Last night we went to bed to the sounds of birds’ cries and distant animal calls. Suddenly we heard loud cracking and crunching all around our tent cabin. It seemed that we had surprise visitors! John, our friend and fellow traveler, went to the door with his flashlight. He shined it into the darkness and there, right at his entry, a giant eye, accompanied by a huge tusk, stared back at him. He quickly slammed the thin door, turned the little lock and jumped back in bed. I awoke in the morning to hear the chomping right behind my head. I looked up to see a giant elephant right outside the window behind my bed. Not thinking about what this pachyderm could do, I went back to sleep, enjoying the thought of its company. Later I watched the group of about half a dozen elephants lumbering away from the cabins, with a young one swinging a branch in the air, round and round, as he marched off into the brush. I realized later that if my visitor had leaned into my tent’s wall, he might have ended up right in bed with me!

playing elephants

Desert rose

Vervet monkeys

On our boat ride today we see an abundance of wild birds: Squacco heron, Pels fishing owl, Pied and Malachite kingfishers. Back at the lodge, I have a chance to talk with the knowledgeable manager. He confirms my suspicion that the forests are disappearing quickly. Deforestation in Malawi is more serious than in any other South African country. People need the wood to cook and for building homes, even for firing the bricks. The government or organizations tried introducing paraffin stoves, but the paraffin was far too expensive. The bit of positive news, he adds, is that in some villages, the leaders require people to plant a number of trees for every one they cut down. In some places this seems to be working.