According to Wikipedia -the Mulanje Massif, also known as Mount Mulanje, is a large monadnock in southern Malawi near the city of Blantyre, rising sharply from the surrounding plains of Chiradzulu, and the tea-growing Mulanje district. It measures approximately 13x16 miles (22x26 kilometres) and has a maximum elevation of 3,002m at its highest point.
I was a little hesitant about this adventure as I don't like anything higher than about 3 inches. Our fellow visitor to Masomphenya told me about his climb the week before to the top of the mountain where he had to rock climb. Thankfully, we are just going up to the waterfall - a fairly easy hike that didn't require any special equipment or climbing skills.
When we arrived at the park, Mphatso spoke to several porters to ensure that the ones we hired could speak English and would get us safely up and back. Ken is also afraid of heights, but he too decided to give it a try and joined us on the hike. Our two porters led the way up the narrow path that climbed 2400 feet up a fairly steep grade. They were wearing flip - flops, a fact that astounded us as we were slipping on the loose dirt and stones in our athletic shoes.
It took up a couple of hours to climb and we had to stop a couple of times to catch our breath due to the high altitude. The vistas were amazing - photos don't do it justice.
We came across some women carrying fire wood on the path - barefoot. I just can't comprehend their life style - I complain sometimes about carrying groceries from the car to the house.
We ended our climb at a beautiful waterfall. One of the guides dove from the rocks above the falls into the 80 foot deep pool. Susan wanted to go swimming, but Mphatso convinced her that it wasn't safe. The hike down was much easier than going up and we enjoyed stopping several times to look at the valley below.
Mphatso, Joe, Ken, Susan and me
Our porter jumping into the waterfall pool.
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