Zomba

This past weekend we went away to the Zomba Plateau, which is a beautiful mountainous part of Malawi. We did a lot of hiking and really enjoyed ourselves, despite being a bit tired after all of the walking and the 4 hour drive required each way. Just when you are climbing through the steepest section and starting to feel really tired, you see one of the millions of daily Malawian superheros:




The first night we stayed at Ku Chawe, which is a Le Meridien hotel, and boasts one of the best views in Africa. We were less than impressed, particularly when I asked reception about where we could go walking/hiking and she offered to drive me to a local fish farm. That was the breaking point, but the call from reception at 5:45am, the construction, and the expensive and mediocre food didn't help either. So we left and found the cozy Zomba Forest Lodge, with has no electricity, but plenty of excellent food, great advice, and the type of laid back atmosphere we needed for our mini-break. Donald, the host, was a wealth of friendly and fascinating information. If you are going to Zomba, I would recommend staying at the Zomba Forest Lodge (z.f.lodge@mw.celtelplus.com)
and then hike up to Ku Chawe - you'll appreciate the views more after a hike anyways. Maybe the food will taste better too.