Livingstonia and Manchewe Falls
It was an early start to the day, as the bright sun began to ride behind Lake Malawi and peek in to our dorm. It woke me quite early but I somehow drifted back off to sleep. I awoke later to the sound of people outside wandering about enjoying breakfast with a view. I got ready for my day of adventure and hiking and had a lovely breakfast of bread with avocado, eggs, tomato and delicious mayonaise. It was so delicious but so massive that it took a while to finish it! I needed the energy for the day. I left the lodge about 9:45am and headed up towards the top of the mountain along the dirt roads and short cuts to be greeted by locals with big smiling faces the whole way. I reached the steep hilltop town of Livingstonia about 1.5 hrs later and began my cultural experience by visiting the local craft centre and coffee shop for orphans. I sat and had a cold drink and a chat with the lovely man who worked there and we decided that because he loved Ireland so much that he would take my flight home and I would run his coffee shop haha. People can dream!
I left and carried on my journey to Stone House, passing the historic hospitals and churches etc all set up by Scottish missionaries years back. The stone house museum was great and I spent a while browsing all the memorabilia and historic information about the missionaries quest to abolish slavery and provide education to the locals. They also spread the word about Christianity and converted many people in Malawi at that time.
I visited the church afterwards where I went in and sat in peace for a bit. I said a few prayers and it reminded me of the days when I went to our local church at home but even though I'm not very religious, I can appreciate a beautiful moment in a place like this with so much history and ambience. After this I continued walking around and then headed back down towards the town again and further back down the mountain to pass by Manchewe Falls- Malawis tallest waterfalls. I met a few local kids who took me around the falls and showed me the hidden cave where a lot of locals hid from slave traders years back. It was amazing to see this and to hear all about Malawis history. I really loved the story of this place it was so interesting and I couldn't get enough. I continued on towards the mushroom farm but ended up stumbling upon the Manchewe Forest cafe which id read about so I went in and had a veggie stir fry in the cute little hut. The owner was so nice and he even showed me a short cut after I finished lunch. I headed back to the lodge and that evening I met a quirky Dutch guy with some funny stories, who had was cycling around the world. It was a good night having a beer, discussing travel plans and giving each other advice on our further African travels. I had another early night and prepared to wake up early to catch a local ride off the mountain. Livingstonia was another place to tick off the list and I was so glad I got to go and explore it by myself. Such a beautiful, quaint place with so much history.
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