Livingstonia

In Mzuzo we had Mzuzu brand coffee at the Mzuzu Coffee Shop and used their Internet to update the blog. Then the Hilux climbed a mountain! We turned off at Chitimba towards Livingstonia. The road is forcing its way up the escarpment in a series of acute “hairpin” bends. It is a dirt road and difficult to access without being sometimes afraid of the hair raising nearness of the edge falling away more than a thousand meters. It is something between the Swartberg Pass and Gamkaskloof only steeper with shorter “hairpin” bends. We had twice to stop and reverse to get through the bends……very scary! It’s like a very long (10km) very steep Van Zyl’s Pass in Kaoko, Namibia.  It took us 1 hour up and 1 hour down. Arno drove in 4×4 low range and varied between 1st and 2nd gear. He is the coolest 4×4 driver and I am really impressed with his ability to handle a very difficult route. Although, I must admit that at certain times I advised him to rather drive nearer to the rock cliff because I couldn’t see the bottom of the gorge out of my window. He is admittedly the brave hero of the day

Camped at $6 p.p.p.n

  We camped at Lukwe Eco-Farm which was also a fantastic experience. Walked to the Mushroom farm which is also a campsite but not so clean and well organised as Lukwe. If you are not afraid of heights, you can camp there right on the edge of the cliffs. We also visited the 2 waterfalls. The one waterfall is 50 meter high with a cave behind in which according to folklore, people hided from the Slave traders

See the lake in the background.

The recycle rubbish “bins”

Livingstonia town is a unique pocket of colonial Africa. Relative isolated, quiet and it was very interesting to visit the museum in the Stone House which details early European exploration and missionary work in Malawi, a church dating from 1894, craft shop, coffee shop and believe it or not a University and Technical College!

The Old Stone House

The cave is behind the top part of the waterfall

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