Few things make me happier than climbing a mountain. It had been several weeks since I had left Lilongwe and I was starting to feel restless. I asked around to see if any friends would be around for and interested in a weekend trip, but I couldn't find any companions. With no plans for the weekend, though, I didn't want to waste the opportunity to travel.
Saturday morning, I picked up a rental car and set off for Ntchisi Forest, an isolated patch of green about two hours from Lilongwe. My relaxing solo vacation in the woods ended up being 70% "semi-terrified adventure" and 30% "blissful relaxation."
After a few wrong turns, a chat with a policeman about the best route to take, and about 40 km on a dirt road, I arrived at the Ntchisi Forest Lodge. I was shown to my "luxury tent" about 100 yards from the main lodge and texted my roommates that I may never come home because the tent was so perfect for me. I was offered a guide to accompany me on my hike up the mountain, but turned him down in order to have a peaceful solo hike.
The hike up Ntchisi Mountain isn't too difficult and I easily found my way up to the summit with the help of a map that the lodge had provided. There wasn't a great viewpoint from the top, but the tall trees that blocked the view were just as beautiful and unlike any trees I had ever seen. Looking at the map, I planned to do a loop that would bring me back down the mountain via another trail, giving me a view from all sides. I realized that white is a very poor choice of color for trail markers, however, because I quickly lost the "white trail" in a sea of trees with natural white markers on them. I eventually found myself bush-pushing around the northern side of the mountain, which brought back memories of the day during my Outward Bound course that we bush-pushed through thorns for 12 hours. I eventually found another trail and figured that I could follow it back to the trail I had come up on. Sadly, I realized that this would involve climbing back up the mountain, and by this point I was on my last few drops of water... All in all, it took me one hour to get up the mountain and three hours to get back down - an experience I will never forget.
After an afternoon recovery nap, I headed to dinner at the lodge. The only other guest was an older Scottish man who enjoys traveling around Africa. We chatted for long time about American politics, Scottish independence, and conservation projects in Africa.
After breakfast the next morning, I hung out on the lodge's patio for a while to catch up on journaling and do some reading. I had planned to leave the lodge around 3:00 or 4:00 to get back to Lilongwe before dark, but that was when I had planned to do another hike on Sunday. I figured I had spent enough time on Ntchisi Mountain and I was getting pretty tired, so I headed out around 12:30. Just 30 minutes away from the lodge, I was driving up a small hill in between two villages when the rental car died. As if Saturday's adventure on the mountain wasn't enough, Malawi was testing me again... I waited for the lodge's mechanic to come for about 2 hours. A nice Malawian family offered to push the car to the side of the road so it wasn't stuck in the middle and just about every man on a bicycle did a second look to confirm that there really was an azungu sitting alone in the car. It was a bit frightful, especially because I couldn't put the windows up or really lock the car to go ask for help... Once the mechanic arrived, he worked on the car for 30 seconds, knocked something back into place and it was good to go. We drove back into town and he pointed me down the road that leads to Lilongwe. At that point, I realized that I could have taken this 35 km paved road to get to the forest, rather than the 35 km dirt road that I took... Oh well, I got the scenic view!
All in all it was surely a special weekend and just the adventure outside the city that I needed. I think I'll stick to traveling with friends for the time being, though :)
Saturday morning, I picked up a rental car and set off for Ntchisi Forest, an isolated patch of green about two hours from Lilongwe. My relaxing solo vacation in the woods ended up being 70% "semi-terrified adventure" and 30% "blissful relaxation."
After a few wrong turns, a chat with a policeman about the best route to take, and about 40 km on a dirt road, I arrived at the Ntchisi Forest Lodge. I was shown to my "luxury tent" about 100 yards from the main lodge and texted my roommates that I may never come home because the tent was so perfect for me. I was offered a guide to accompany me on my hike up the mountain, but turned him down in order to have a peaceful solo hike.
The hike up Ntchisi Mountain isn't too difficult and I easily found my way up to the summit with the help of a map that the lodge had provided. There wasn't a great viewpoint from the top, but the tall trees that blocked the view were just as beautiful and unlike any trees I had ever seen. Looking at the map, I planned to do a loop that would bring me back down the mountain via another trail, giving me a view from all sides. I realized that white is a very poor choice of color for trail markers, however, because I quickly lost the "white trail" in a sea of trees with natural white markers on them. I eventually found myself bush-pushing around the northern side of the mountain, which brought back memories of the day during my Outward Bound course that we bush-pushed through thorns for 12 hours. I eventually found another trail and figured that I could follow it back to the trail I had come up on. Sadly, I realized that this would involve climbing back up the mountain, and by this point I was on my last few drops of water... All in all, it took me one hour to get up the mountain and three hours to get back down - an experience I will never forget.
After an afternoon recovery nap, I headed to dinner at the lodge. The only other guest was an older Scottish man who enjoys traveling around Africa. We chatted for long time about American politics, Scottish independence, and conservation projects in Africa.
After breakfast the next morning, I hung out on the lodge's patio for a while to catch up on journaling and do some reading. I had planned to leave the lodge around 3:00 or 4:00 to get back to Lilongwe before dark, but that was when I had planned to do another hike on Sunday. I figured I had spent enough time on Ntchisi Mountain and I was getting pretty tired, so I headed out around 12:30. Just 30 minutes away from the lodge, I was driving up a small hill in between two villages when the rental car died. As if Saturday's adventure on the mountain wasn't enough, Malawi was testing me again... I waited for the lodge's mechanic to come for about 2 hours. A nice Malawian family offered to push the car to the side of the road so it wasn't stuck in the middle and just about every man on a bicycle did a second look to confirm that there really was an azungu sitting alone in the car. It was a bit frightful, especially because I couldn't put the windows up or really lock the car to go ask for help... Once the mechanic arrived, he worked on the car for 30 seconds, knocked something back into place and it was good to go. We drove back into town and he pointed me down the road that leads to Lilongwe. At that point, I realized that I could have taken this 35 km paved road to get to the forest, rather than the 35 km dirt road that I took... Oh well, I got the scenic view!
All in all it was surely a special weekend and just the adventure outside the city that I needed. I think I'll stick to traveling with friends for the time being, though :)