The lost wilderness of Malawi’s Nkhotakota National Park

Posted on 26 December 2011

From Kasungu National Park we cycled just short of 100 km before we reached the boom gate to Nkhotakota National Park in Malawi.

Although the main road goes right through the park, cycling is not allowed on this stretch of road. Joseph, a truck driver approached us and offered us a lift. We loaded the bikes on the back of the truck and climbed on. Several other people were also sitting at the back. Some local women were trading fruit, holding their baskets high above their heads so that we could reach down from the truck to buy fruit. While driving through the park we saw a palm-nut vulture perched on a tree.

Nkhotakota National Park is breathtakingly beautiful. It looks like a wilderness from an ancient world. To be more precise, it looks like Jurassic Park. It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize a few dinosaurs somewhere in a remote valley of the park.

Our lift dropped us in the town of Nkhotakota. That night we camped at Saint Anne’s Guest house.  We were on the road at 05h30 the next morning, heading northwards towards Nkhata Bay. We were told that it was roughly a 60-km ride but along the way locals told us that it was at least 250 km.  The controversial information made us turn around and cycle back to town to go and double check the distance on the internet. Just as well, shortly afterwards the back tyre of Hendrik’s bike burst with a loud ‘BANGGG!’  A few pedestrians thought we were shooting at them and dashed for protection.  They got a big fright! While Hendrik changed tyres a crowd of children gathered around us. Hendrik asked whether anyone would be interested in having the bursted tyre. A girl named Berit accepted it gladly. A young boy walked over to her, took it out of her hands and walked away with it. Hendrik took it away from the boy and gave it back to Berit, who was very impressed with her gift.

After spending time in the internet café we booked in at Sitima lnn, which overlooks Lake Malawi.

During the late afternoon Riki walked on the beach and took pictures with our Nikon Coolpix.  A young boy was very excited when he noticed the pictures display at the back of the camera. As Riki was taking photos of a few fishermen’s boats, the boy walked into the picture, hoping that she would photograph him. He was very happy when she showed him the photo.

The next morning we cycled to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Offices and had an insightful meeting with Alex. Alex described Nkhotakota National Park (NNP), as a lost wilderness, which only received government attention in recent years. More scouts will soon be employed and facilities are being upgraded. A reintroduction programme of 3000 heads of game is planned for early 2012. Alex believes that the initiative for community upliftment programmes should originate within communities for it to be successful in the long run. One such a successful initiative is the harvesting of mushrooms in NNP, to sell on the market. Alex also believes that there might be a correlation between the influx of Chinese people into towns adjacent to the park, and the recent increase in ivory poaching.

We left the wildlife offices and cycled about 27 km to Bua River Lodge inside NNP.  John Dickinson and the lodge staff received us heartily.  The water level of the Bua River is fairly low this time of year and there are many beautiful rock pools.

Early the next morning we joined Djuma for a walk along the river. Djuma poached bush meat for 18 years in NNP before he chose to make a living in an honourable way. He is the first local person we’ve met on tour so far who told us that we should protect nature because it is beautiful. Djuma now tries to influence villagers to protect nature for their own benefit.

On our way back to the camp we saw a very special lifer, a red-throated twinspot.  We also ticked off Böhm’s bee-eater  and the Senegal coucal.

John says that thousands and thousands of fireflies gather in the valley around Bua River Lodge over Christmas time. For two to three days their light illuminates the vegetation like Christmas decorations. What a pretty sight it must be!

We planned to leave very early the following morning. We had a stretch of 155 km to cycle to Senga Bay.  The alarm clock was set for 03h30, but thundering woke us up at 01h55. We were worried that our tent might get soaking wet in the rain, so we decided to pack up, have breakfast and cycle the first hour in darkness. Shortly after 04h00 we hit the road.

It was a very pleasant day’s cycling and at times we could see Lake Malawi’s reflection in the sun. Padkos was everywhere to be found: mangos, bananas, paw-paw and guava, all absolutely delicious!  We were very excited when we spot a pale-billed hornbill on the way.

We stopped at Cool Runnings in Senga Bay in the late afternoon, close to a fishermen’s village. We could hear the music of Bob Marley and other happy tunes pumping into the late hours. That night there was no breeze and the lake was smooth and shiny, like a mirror. Early the next morning we went for a walk on the beach.  Some fishermen were fast asleep lying next to their nets. Others were busy with daily chores.

In the evening we took a dip in the lake. The full moon was shining like a big lamp on cool, dark waters … so refreshing after a very hot and humid day. Lake Malawi is truly a beautiful fresh water lake – a big pool of crystal clear water.






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