Thume Forest Reserve

After much faffing around with banks to get some Malawian Kwatcha (my card mysteriously wont work, while Duncan's does, even though they're on the same network) we finally paid our bill at the camp and headed into the bustling market by the bus station to pick up some fresh veggies.  We didnt end up leaving Lilongwe until 2pm, but we werent going far.

Our destination was a Thume, an off-the-map forest reserve on the road between Lilongwe and Salima we'd been told about the night before by one of the proprietors of Africa-Nomad Safaris.  The directions were not exactly of GPS precision... 'about 20km before you reach Salima, you'll pass an electricity station on the left.  Take the track on the right at the next corner.  Turn right when you get to the baobab tree, follow the road to the end...' but sufficient.  We passed through many tiny villages where the children waved at the Landy and after a couple of stream crossings and zigzagging up a hill we found it before dark.

The camp is a base camp for the reserve rangers whose motto is painted at the gate: "more sweat, less poaching'.  They patrol for game, wood and bamboo poachers and generally keep an eye on the elephants and buffalo.  The rangers were clearly delighted to have us turn up.  "How did you find us" was a question we heard repeatedly, as they're still building the new camp and dont advertise that they welcome campers and provide basic (but more than adequate) facilities.  We were shown around the base camp and taken to admire the spectacular view.  We were reassured they 'have shot-gun' so we'd be well protected overnight.  One of the rangers even lit our fire for us which was handy as we're still novices with a campfire and now I have a new technique to try out.

In the morning we took a guided walk, less to see the wildlife than because it was impossible to say no to the enthusiasm of the staff and a good cause to contribute to.  There were five of us, the guide, a volunteer and a ranger with a rifle in addition to Duncan and myself.  The guide said we'd walk in single file so we fell into line behind him and trouped off.  Then we walked in silence for about half an hour when he said 'elephant' and pointed.  Indeed there was a cow and two calves under a tree a couple of hundred meters away.  We climbed up a rocky hill for a better perspective (although I dont think I could have a better perspective than the one at Croc Valley a couple of mornings ago) and he spotted some 'buffel' on the hill in the distance.  We hung around on the hill for about ten minutes then he said 'we go back' so we did... and that was that.