Sunday, October 17, 2010

Safari Interrupted

We interrupt this safari experience to bring you Ntchisi Forest. Today was the last day of fall break for the kids. (OK they do have tomorrow off too but since Mom fired the maid, tomorrow will be clean the house day. The kids are not happy. Ha!) So we decided to fit one more adventure in before it is back to school this week. We decided that a hike was just the thing. After looking over our Malawi guide book we decided to head to Ntchisi Forest for a hike and lunch at the Ntchisi Forest Lodge.

Ntchsi Forest is some of the last remaining rainforest in Malawi. Deforestation is a huge problem here, to the point that we have been told by the mission not to buy wood or charcoal. Makes the fireplace and built-in BBQ a little pointless. At one time Malawi was mostly forested but now it is rare to see trees, mostly we see stumps that are trying to grow back. Most of Malawi looks like this.



The forest was a complete contrast to the Malawi I am used to seeing. It was lush and full of trees that reminded me of the trees in Indonesia, huge tall trees with arial and buttress roots. At times the canopy was so dense overhead that it was quite dark below. At one point we could see out of the forest to the deforested area beyond.


The forest is supposed to be home to a lot of animasl. We heard a lot of animals but only saw the occasional bird or bug. We heard monkeys but didn't see any. The other thing we didn't hear was airplanes or cars or other people. It was incredible to be in a forest and hear only the sounds of the forest. The wind was surprisingly loud in the canopy above even though we hardly felt any wind on the forest floor. What an experience.






4 comments:

Daniela Swider said...

Wow - really beautiful!

Donna said...

That is so cool! But where are the spiders? Is this a spider-free post at last?

Monica said...

okay getting to catch up a teensy bit today. love, love, love the pictures. gosh. they are taking my breath away. so gorgeous. and so great to talk to you the other day. miss you guys tons and will keep enjoying the pics. :o)

Unknown said...

The bugs are cracking me up! Love the safari pics; they are amazing! How far out of the big city did you have to go for this bit of R&R?