Mushroom Farm, Lukwe Camp & Livingstonia

People say it is easy to hike up to Mushroom Farm hostel in Livingstonia but I say that I thought I was about to die in the heat! I drank all my water half way up and was waiting for the angels to start talking to me while I was slowly, slowly walking up, up, up the mountain. I was thinking, this is how it must be walking in the Sahara dessert... the heat being just imbearable. I had to stop every 5 minutes to catch my breath under the shady spots under a tree along the dirt road. After 3 h of struggling and talking to myself I reached my destination. I drank about 2 liters of water at reception and thanked the Gods I had made it. But I soon discovered it was soooo worth all the effort. The view, the tranquility, and the peacefulness up there was just amazing. 

I had made this journey alone to be able to be with myself for a while and this was the place to be at. In Africa it is not the easiest thing to find a place where you are just all alone. There are always some kids running around or some eyes following you wherever you are. But up here I felt at peace and could finally put some socks on as the temperatures were coole. I had my very own tent right on the edge of the cliff of the mountain. Ah just amazing!

The next day, I continued my hiking journey further up the mountain to Lukwe Camp and Gardens, which is owned my a Dutch guy from Belgium. The lodge and the view was absolutely stunning from here and I enjoyed some hours in solitude reading my book in the big swing. I can really recommend Lukwe Camp! And it's organic garden is just beautiful with its own pineapples, papaya, lemons, bananas, basil, mint, strawberries, eggplant, onions, leaks, and so forth. I applaud the local gardeners for taking such good care of it. I have some beautiful pictures that I can upload next time around.

After the first pit stop at Lukwe, I continued hiking to Malawi's deepest waterfall, which was also so beautiful that I took about 100 pictures of it! Then the longer 1h hike up to Livingstonia took place. Again during the hottest time of the day (around 13.00) when the sun is beaming and your skin is burning. But my legs made it up there and I spent one night in the tranquilo Stonehouse guesthouse, where I was the only guest. Ah, it couldn't get better than that since I wanted solitude on this trip. 

Luckily, I got a ride all the way down to the bottom of the mountain (Chitimba) the following morning and I continued back "home" to Nkhata-Bay with the National Bus company for some 4h.

And I am back in Nkhata-Bay right on time for New Years Eve and waaaaaaa it will be such a big, frantic, drunken, chaotic, loud party with music blasting from every other speakers in Nkhata-Bay tonight! People will enjoy, dance and have fun. The locals (plus all of the tourists for that matter) will be so drunk tonight that they won't make it home and will probably sleep on the beach, where they wake up in the morning and continue partying. As for me, I have good news, I stopped drinking alcohol all together but I might still wake up on the beach or in my hammock as that would be a very nice way to start the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!

All my love and good vibes :)