Change of plans

Yesterday was just a big bag of mixed emotions. I will write more about it some other day as it does deserve a chapter on it’s own.

My big news is that I am going to start my travel to Nyika today! I will hop on the bus and as it’s a two day trip, I will be spending the night in Mzuzu.

Nyika National Park is right in the middle of Zambia and Tanzania (right on the border of each) and has a fairly different climate to Lilongwe. Higher altitude, lower temperatures and thus, less mozzies (which is always great)! There’s also a bigger variety of animal species. As it is quite green, it also makes it easier to spot them.
I will be very isolated from the rest of the world and will probably struggle to keep blogging on a regular basis, but I will do my best to keep you guys updated. As for pictures, they will definitely have to wait, as data is precious around these parts.
I will be excepting to stay at Nyika for 3-4 weeks or so and then make my way down to Kasungu.

I will be travelling alone, so I will have to leave all my people behind. The hardest good bye will be to Katie. So I would like to take a moment and delegate a paragraph to the most amazing person I have met through this journey:

Thank you Katie for everything you have done for me. You have been an amazing friend and I don’t think I would have made it without you (nor the Malawi gin & tonic cocktails you made me try). It’s not a “good bye”, it’s definitely a “see you later” as we have half of the world still to explore together. I am already making a list of places we need to go in Melbourne! And imagine the day we actually get to have these smoothies together… ;) Take care of yourself beautiful girl! Miss you already xx

Popped my hyena sighting cherry

Ok guys, it actually happened. My very first urban hyena sighting!!!!! Internally I was doing a little victory dance, but I had to play it cool on the outside. The hyena was on the other side of the fence (and a mesh bit), so it was very hard to spot, but I nailed it and I even got a (not a great) photo. I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy!!!

Tomorrow’s plan is to go for a brisk morning hike to see if we can spot anything, then we’re going to be picked up to do hyena den checks and see if there’s been any activity in town. A couple of people from wildlife trust said they saw hyenas last night around the camp as well, so it will be interesting to see what we’ll find.

And OH MY GOD, we have been promised SOY MILK. Special delivery for Katie and I. We will be served, wait for it, real lattes! Like the café kind. I promised I will not get my hopes up, but too little too late. And there will be tears if they fail to deliver! 

Other then that we’ve had a pretty good day. Did scats and had lunch at a restaurant (I’ll add pictures later). After that I may have had a sneaky beer. Haven’t laughed this much for ages! A little % goes a long way here.

Earlier today I met a really nice couple, Marlise and Mr X (because I am super bad with names). I hope our paths will cross again, because I can already see fun times ahead with them two! I can’t stress enough how amazing people are around here!

Marlise shared some valuable information with me and I feel like I should pass it on to you guys. So, apparently in Africa you can get this really bizarre disease from swimming in the lake. The disease is spread from person to person via urine and feces. It’s basically a parasite (worm?) that crawls it’s way under your skin and then lives and breeds there. Apparently there are no obvious symptoms up until a year after being infected. Gosh, how many people could be aimlessly walking around with worms in their legs. I mean, how would you know even? This is so messed up.

Another fun way of inviting “guests” to live in your body is to simply wash your clothes and leave them drying in the sun. A wild fly (or some insect) then appears and lays eggs on your freshly washed clothes. As you put these clothes on, the eggs will react to the body heat and turn into wicked little worms who penetrate your skin and start making babies in there. Soon enough you’ll find a pimple on your skin and after squeezing it, you’re in for a treat as you’ll be greeted by a friendly maggot.

Let that sink in.

Pooey bum

Enthusiastic morning
Today I woke up at 3.30 am. Not that I had to, I just felt refreshed and ready to rumble. Unfortunately I was the only one out of the group so I had to tame my enthusiasm and stare at the ceiling. For hours.
Nonetheless there are great adventures ahead. Katie (who is officially my bff here exactly 1 more week before she heads back to Kent to take care of her primates), Nick (who is also like one in a million character) and I are trying to do rounds at the wildlife center to spot any animals. Last night Nick and I decided to go on a walk before hitting the hay and we literally walked into a duiker (it’s a small antelope, but I think of them more like goats). How awesome is that? Although it is a national park area, most animals here are kept in enclosures (but I mean hectares of land per enclosure and no access for general public), however it is Africa and free roaming wildlife is a common sight. We still haven’t had much luck at spotting carnivores, but given that they are most active at night I will probably say our best bet is to catch them on camera traps in Kusungu.

Not-going-to-get-out-of-this-bed-ever night
I am so tired I can barely type. Nonetheless I will, because that’s the type of champ I am. Managed to see a serval today! Unfortunately only from a distance and by the time I got the camera settings right, he had moved even further. Got a fairly blurry photo, but who cares- at least I’ve got it!
Today we did scats the whole day. The system is easy: we collect hyena scats and then we weigh them, wash them, weigh them again and then separate all the matter and place different findings onto petri dishes. From there some of it will be examined under the microscope to determine the species/type of the finding. Eg vegetation, bones, hair and scales would go onto different dishes. Interesting stuff!
We then picked up some (VERY ROTTEN) chicken intestines to use them in trapping. Dry reaching is now going to be like a daily thing I think. Can’t beat that sweet, rotten flesh smell coming from the back of your car on a hot summer day. Go work with carnivores they said, it will be fun they said.

Other than that it’s been a great day. The food was on point! I am so satisfied I could dance. Ok, I would not dance but I would definitely take a long celebratory nap, lol.

I also have to get it off my chest that Katie and I discovered some mysterious human scats floating in the toilet when we returned home. We have now been taking turns trying to flush it. It’s not working. I guess we’ll just have to accept it and move on. If a floating turd in a toilet is my biggest problem then I guess I’m doing pretty well!

Miss you guys, x

Malawi

Off to a bit of a rocky start here in Malawi. Turns out that my stomach doesn’t quite agree with the anti-Malaria tablets I have been prescribed. I have been fairly out of it since starting the course, but I have figured out that I may just have to consume a considerable amount of food prior to popping one of them bad boys. We’ll find out soon. I have not eaten a heap mainly because it is 30 degrees outside and I guess I have developed a certain taste for food. Not the biggest fan of what’s been on the menu so far, soz guys! Not to worry, I have a plan though- I will stock up on rice cakes, nuts and other goods. There is actually an enormous amount of vegan food available (the WHOLE Fry’s range, including things we don’t even have in Melby), but due to not having a fridge, storing is essentially impossible. That means I can’t have much fruit, any plant milks or other fresh produce. God help me!! I have never craved raw salad more than today, and it’s only day 2!!!
My physical strength and endurance has also been put on a test here, given that after a 28 hour flight I was picked up, taken straight to a shopping center (to purchase a SIM card and exchange money), delegated to one camp, only to be told that I will be relocating in a couple of hours (after I had pulled everything out of my suitcase). All good, I repacked everything and hopped on the back of the ute (wearing a skirt of course as I wasn’t given any warnings). I held on to my dear life as we drove along the narrow roads and maneuvered around people randomly crossing. As we unloaded the ute, I realized that my 25 kg suitcase, together with my 15 kg backpack, camera bag and shopping bags will need to be taken to my lodge about a km away. Unfortunately the wheels of my suitcase would not work on the rocky off road. All I can say is that my pretty pink suitcase recently purchased from Thailand is not that pink anymore and my arms, shoulders and back are fairly fragile! What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Or crippled, but positive vibes, hehe!
In a day or two I will be heading out to Kasungu National Park where I can finally unpack as it will be my final destination. It’s about 3-4 hours from Lilongwe and once again, I will be travelling at the back of the ute. Sunscreen and long sleeves are the key elements here!
I am currently staying at the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre and I am living in a very cute little cottage. To get to my bed I have to climb a ladder, but the toilet is downstairs, which is a bit of drama if you need to pee in the middle of the night. Of course, I had to battle the issue on my first night. No bones were broken. Couple of more days and I’ll be as good of a climber as all those Vervet monkeys who keep jumping on my roof!

Overall it’s been a bit challenging, but despite being jetlagged, homesick and crook, I can already appreciate elements of this journey. I know I will need a couple of more days to get into a good routine. Helps that I have some amazing people around me and that I have a clear vision of what it is I came to achieve here. For example, last night I woke up to subtle roars of the lions nearby (don’t worry mum, we have a fence around our camp) and thought to myself, where else could I ever experience something like this? Africa is home to one of the most amazing species of this planet and I am honored to have the opportunity to witness them in their natural habitat. That on it’s on is enough to keep me going.  

This time for Africa

It's been three years, but I am back. Stay tuned! x