Viphya, Malawi. 31 July — 2 August 2004
Full marks to Dave (Shooting Stick) Leishman who drove all the way from the Caprivi Strip in Namibia for his first official METHS trip.
What do we have to do to get Malawi-based members off their backsides and away from their cocktail parties and golf courses?
Dave writes in 2007:
In truth, you can pretty well repeat Midnight's treatise of 2001, except that yours truly certainly refrained from pitching up at midnight, having only arrived, after what seemed like a cop road-block every 10k's or so up the road, from Lilongwe.
George W had not gone AWOL this time — so no poking around in wardrobes, but, as with Midnight, I was the sole member there.
I seem to recollect, in between greens (before) and browns (after — yes, they're drinkable again!), going up the highest point of the Viphya, not so far from the lodge, the name of which Wardrobe will have to supply you with, for I forget.
You can climb even further than Nature allows, for Forestry has a watchtower up there, and, needless to say, the views are splendiferous — even the Lake? Oh cripes, my memory! (I keep a record of all the African "munroes" I've climbed — I class these as peaks over 10,000ft, with Sapitwa just scraping in with a nod and a wink, but lesser peaks tend to get lost in the mists of history.)
Wardrobe is an excellent host, with a well-stocked bar, and it's just a shame he doesn't see more members. Thoroughly to be recommended.
© WDYFO, 2007