Mvuu Camp/Lodge MalawiMalawi Safari Report - June 2004
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Clear blue skies, chilly mornings and all the time drying out���. By the end of June there is very little palatable grass left in Liwonde National Park. The open areas east of the Lodge have taken on the dry barren desert appearance usually only seen in the last weeks of the dry season. There is not a blade of grass left in the area, piles of elephant dung are scattered every few meters across the sandy exposed earth and the Acacia tortilis have been heavily shredded, with broken branches and strips of bark dangling from their trunks. On the night of the 12th the elephants returned to finish off a job started last November. They ate away at the scarred trunk of the Baobab in the middle of the open area, eventually toppling the massive tree bringing to an end, in a single night, what has been a feature of the landscape for hundreds of years. The hippo have given up their nightly migrations into the interior of the park and instead spend their nights grazing on the last remaining areas of grass along the edge of the marshes. The entire elephant population has moved to the river, with numerous small herds scattered from Chinguni in the south to Mvera in the north. By the end of the month most boat trips during the heat of the day were recording well over a hundred elephant in a two to three hour period. The nightly nocturnal visits to the lodge by breeding herds to feed in the lush riverine vegetation along the edge of the lagoon have once again become the norm. The Mopane leaves have started turning to a golden brown colour, carpeting the woodland floors with rich rusty colours in the late afternoon light. The water holes scattered inland have mostly died out with only a handful still supporting small muddy puddles at their centre. Towers of billowing smoke that mark the perennial bush fires that rush through the tall dry thatching grass in the east of the park have become a feature on the distant eastern horizon. Only the nightly chill in the air and crisp clear skies in the morning give any indication that the height of the dry season is still to come.
As the month progressed so the level of crocodile activity in the lagoon increased as the crocs moved into their breeding season. The large territorial male has recommenced frequent high profile patrols around the lagoon in a routine that takes him from the shallows at the eastern end of the lagoon, past the tents, below the dining area and along the edge of the walkway out to the mouth of the lagoon before looping back around close to the far bank before returning. Every few meters it surfaces, exhaling with a loud hissing noise to make sure any potential challengers are fully aware that they enter the lagoon at their peril. When not on patrol it positions itself high on the sand bank opposite tent 3 in a very impressive display of bulk and armoury, showing off assets that make it one of the most efficient predators on the planet.
The Boehm's bee eaters have started nesting and are seen in numbers perching low in the branches along the lodge pathways, before swooping on an unsuspecting insect flying past. A sharp snapping noise as the bird grabs the insect and returns to the perch to batter its victim on the branch before swallowing it whole. The persistent watcher is soon rewarded as the birds frequently return to their nests and give away the small hole in the ground with a few scratch marks around the edge of it, the only sign of activity going on below. Out along the edge of the water the usual residents ensure that any-one spending a quiet half hour in the hammocks on the tent balconies is entertained with an insight into the bustling goings on of life in the lagoon. The large open billed stork is a constant fixture, perched on one of the dead Acacia's over the water, watching life go by. The pair of fish eagles sit high in the fever trees, recording the passing of time with their echoing call that for many visitors is the signature tune of Africa. Down on the water lilies and grasses of the floating island at the lagoon edge, Black crake, Squacco and Green backed heron, Little bittern, Cattle egrets, African jacana's and numerous Weavers, Warblers and Prinia's all strive to make a living in a busy world. A rustling in the leaves under the thickets, reveals the slow methodical movements of a large monitor lizard, creeping toward the water while all the time the background melody as the robins and palm thrushes strive to out perform each other.
By the second week of the month elephant herds had arrived is such numbers along the river that it became impossible to even begin to explain to guests that two months ago we had to search far and wide to get even a glimpse of an elephant. Breeding herds appear out of the mopane woodland in the early hours of the morning, heading west to the marshes and river. They follow the tree lines along the long dry sandy river beds of the Ntangaye, Nangondo, Namandanje and Mwalasi rivers before plunging into the still waters of the lagoons at the mouths of the rivers flooded back inland from the Shire River. They spend the day light hours submerged up to their midriffs feeding in the tall reeds and marshes. The flood plain south of the Ntangaye River has become a fascinating hot spot of late afternoon activity. To the south lies large stretches of uninterrupted marsh, that comes to an abrupt halt as the tall riverine thickets along of Ntagaye River protrude right to the edge of the Shire. To the north the marshes give away to the high river banks in the area of Mvuu. Numerous herds of elephant spend the day slowly moving north through the marshes before arriving at the open flood plains of the southern Ntangaye by late afternoon. From here they rush across the open areas into the thickets to the north. Several herds often appearing at once out of the reeds, followed by the ever present wondering bulls. Huge social gatherings have been occurring at the edge of the thickets as the breeding herds meet and offer their greetings. Calves and young bulls are noisily disciplined as they get carried away in the excitement of meeting distant relatives, while the large solitary bulls use the opportunity to prove their dominance to the young bulls still attached to the breeding herds. On the evening of the 21st we parked the vehicle alongside the fever tree grove on the edge of the southern Ntangaye flood plain. In the golden light of the late afternoon we watched as five breeding herds of between 10 - 20 in each emerged out of the tall reeds in the south, hurried in close formation across the open flood plain and stop at the edge of the tree line. Three large bulls waited at the edge of the reeds to greet each herd before rushing with them across the grass plain only to return within a few minutes to disappear into the reeds of the marsh and then reappear with the next herd. Each time the young bulls of the herd were singled out for special attention. The much larger bulls place their tusks and trunk on the smaller bull's forehead letting out a screech before driving the young bull backward for ten meters or so before it broke and ran for cover in the thickets.
The buffalo herds are still out in the far north eastern sector of the park, spoor can frequently been seen in the block between the northern sanctuary fence line, East road and the Old Niafulu Hills road. There are a number of water holes in this section all of which appear to be within a few weeks of completely drying out. In the last week of the month a couple of large bush fires spread in from the eastern park boundary and burnt much of the remaining grazing in the area so I suspect the herds will be forced to move in the next few weeks. If their movement patterns from last year are repeated they should move south into the grasslands immediately to the north of the Niafulu hills where a large water hole still has some water reserves. As this too dries out they then moved further south to the Mwalasi area. Both of these areas are within striking range of our game drives so we will hopefully record an increase in sightings in the coming months.
We have opened a new game drive road, aptly named Sable road, that cuts west from east road though the cathedral Mopane woodlands to eventually emerge at Mvera drive and the Shire. Late afternoon drives along this road have provided us with some fantastic sable viewing. Several breeding herds, numbering between 50 - 80 animals, have been recorded on each drive along a grassland spur that runs along a shallow drainage line. This road has added a fantastic new dimension to the game drives by cutting right through the heartland of the sables favourite habitat and providing the sort of sable viewing previously only a feature in the last few weeks of the dry season as the sable emerge from the woodland areas to drink at the Shire.
The Kudu bulls are still in close attendance to the small breeding herds frequently seen in the thicket areas. The highlight of the month was on the 28th when the Ntagaye herd appeared out of the thickets and strode out onto the open flood plain of the southern Ntangaye. The herd is made up of three mature females, three calves from last season, a young bull of 2-3 years and closely followed by a very large bull with spiral horns that must be close to two meters towering above him. One of the females appeared to be in season and was being followed very closely by the young bull. The dominant bull looked on without showing any undue concern. We then watched for more than half an hour as the young bull repeatedly mounted the female, without even as much as a glance of protest from the large bull in attendance. Obviously it hasn't read the books about the large dominant bulls chasing the young bulls from the herd and thus preventing interbreeding.
Drives in the breeding sanctuary have remained fairly quiet with sightings of sable, Liechtenstein's hartebeest and zebra. On the 14th the scouts on an anti poaching patrol reported coming across a leopard in the vicinity of the Mwalasi river mouth. On seeing them it apparently climbed down from the tree where it was resting and disappeared into the thickets.
Night drives in the second half of the month were a bit quiet with the combination of full moon and relatively cold temperatures keeping activity to a minimum. However we got very excited on the night of the 22nd when the spotlight beam revealed the small scurrying shape of a striped polecat in the vicinity of Staff and Flycatcher road junction. The second record in two months and only one of a handful of sightings in the ten years of the lodge's existence. A pangolin was also reported in the same area from one of the drives from the camp, again a once or twice a year occurrence. Civet and porcupine have continued to show up at regular intervals and sightings of genet, thick tailed and lesser bush baby, white-tailed and marsh mongooses are frequently recorded. The jackals have moved north into the area between crocodile sandbank and Old cormorant colony and are only seen occasionally at the moment. We have been treated to some excellent owl sightings with Pel's, white-faced, barred, wood, scops, giant eagle and spotted eagle owls all been record during the month.
The activity in the breeding colony of White breasted cormorants has reached fever pitch as the huge number of chicks scream for attention from the adults returning from their fishing sorties to the north. The commotion can be heard for more than a kilometre along the river. On the afternoon of the 6th I was sitting in the vehicle on the northern banks of the lagoon watching the hive of activity in the white coated Borassus palms across the water. I noticed that one of the palms right in the middle of the colony looked strangely out of place. Its leaves were the pale green colour of the palms further down stream away from the colony. The cormorants without exception were avoiding this tree. Closer inspection revealed a much larger nest tucked in above the clumps of Borassus fruit with the unmistakable shaped head of an adult fish eagle protruded from the top of the nest. A second bird called from the dead Lead wood to the north of the lagoon and its mate in the nest responded. Completely intrigued by the bird's choice of nesting sight I settled down to watch. Sure enough within half an hour the male Fish-eagle swooped off its perch and darted into the mass confusion of Cormorants in the colony. It made two or three unsuccessful attempts to catch a fleeing cormorant in flight before settling just above its nest. On three occasions since during the month we have watched as this scene was repeated and have twice found the fish eagles feeding on cormorants. While fish eagles in general have been quite often recorded to be catching and feeding on other birds, the deliberate sighting of a nest in amongst such an abundant food source as provided in the cormorant colony is something fascinating.
We recorded a very creditable 203 species of birds during the month, with three additions to our year to date records: African Black Sunbird, Southern Banded Snake eagle and a Southern Pochard. Of the Liwonde specials Lillian's Love Birds are prolific at the moment attracted in large flocks to feed on the small orange yellow fruit clustered on the top of the Euphorbias (ingens). We have recorded Brown breasted Barbets on three occasions and were once again treated to the sight of two Pel's fishing owls roosting high in an acacia albida during an early morning walk in the southern Ntangai thickets. The group of resident Spur-wing plovers has appeared to have expanded their range with a number of sightings of a second group of up to four birds in the vicinity of Borassus palm in the north to complement the frequent sightings in the vicinity of the Ntangaye mouth to the south. We have also had some very nice late afternoon sightings of a pair of White-backed night herons in the lagoon at the cormorant colony.
Mvuu Camp is situated just south of Mvuu Lodge on the banks of the Shire River in Malawi's Liwonde National Park.
It offers a wide range of options including camping, self catering and full board rates with activities. The activities on offer are the same as Mvuu Wilderness Lodge, but the camp is better suited either to families or those on a budget as rates are very reasonable.
A particularly rewarding way of arriving at Mvuu Camp is via the boat trip from Liwonde Town. This river trip takes you 30 kilometres along the Shire offering an excellent chance to see game and birds en route and also the ever changing scenery and vegetation along the banks.
There are nine comfortable walk in tents with shared facilities and five en suite brick chalets. A large wood and thatch dining and lounge area is situated nearby and offers a magnificent view upstream to the north. There is also a specially constructed boma for dinners under the stars.
among the "specials".
Elephant and Sable Antelope occur in large numbers, as do Hippo, Crocodile, Impala and Waterbuck. Leopard, Serval and the rare Oribi may occasionally be seen. Black Rhino have been reintroduced from South Africa's Kruger National Park, as have Zebra, Lichtenstein's Hartebeest, and Buffalo from elsewhere within Malawi.
Birds are prolific, especially along the Shire River where African Fish Eagle, Palmnut Vulture, African Skimmer and Pel's Fishing Owl are fairly common. Bohm's Beeeater, Lilian's Lovebird, Bat Hawk, Livingstone's Flycatcher, Whitebacked Night Heron and Brownbreasted Barbet are among the "specials."
LOCATION
� Situated to the south of Lake Malawi in the Liwonde National Park, the camp is built overlooking the Shire River, the main drainage river from Lake Malawi.
PRICING / CHILD POLICY
High Season: July to October, Easter and Christmas
Low Season: Rest of the year
Children over the age of 8 are welcome.
ACCOMMODATION
Number of tents:
5 Tents in total consisting of:
� 4 twin bedded tents
� 1 honeymoon tent with bath
� Guides/tour leaders accommodated in guest accommodation if available otherwise in staff quarters
This camp can accommodate ten guests; larger groups can also be accommodated in the nearby Mvuu Camp which sleeps up to 36 guests.
Tent details:
� Private veranda overlooking secluded lagoon
� En-suite facilities with a shower
� Tents are mosquito proofed
� Soaps, shampoos and insect repellents are supplied in each room
CAMP DESCRIPTION
Communal Area:
� Dining room and pub under thatch
� Swimming pool
GAME VIEWING
Superb area for Elephant, Hippo and Crocodile during the drier months in the middle of the year. Kudu, Sable, Impala, Waterbuck and Warthog are seen as well as Serval, Civet, Mongoose and Genets on night drives. Baboon, Vervet Monkeys, Bushbuck, Oribi, Leopard, Lion and Bush pig are also found and the birdlife is spectacular all year - Boems Bee-eater.
ACTIVITIES
� Game drives in 1 x 10 seater vehicle
� Night drives
� Boating in 1 x 10 seater safari boat
� Walks with experienced guides
� River Safaris
� The highlight here is superb river cruises where guests may get close to Hippos, Crocodile and wonderful birdlife. There is a Black Rhino re-introduction program and it is possible (with special permission) to visit the Rhino sanctuary in the park, which also contains Liechtenstein's Hartebeest and Buffalo.
SUGGESTED DAILY ACTIVITY SCHEDULE
Below is only a suggestion as to what may happen in camp - as daily wildlife sightings tend to throw the schedule right out of schedule.
06h00 Game Walk
07h00 Breakfast
08h00 Boat safari
12h00 Lunch
16h00 Game Drive
19h00 Dinner, table d' h�te or occasionally curry buffet or braai (barbecue)
ELECTRICITY & WATER
� 220v generator
� 12v solar for lights in the tents
� No plugs in the tents but can use plugs at reception if necessary
DRINKS POLICY
Drinks are not included in the nightly tariff and are charged to the guests account.
LAUNDRY POLICY
Daily service, included in the nightly tariff
EXTRAS PAYMENT
Payment can be affected by cash or the following credit cards: Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
FLYING TIMES
To/from Lilongwe 55 minutes
To/from Blantyre 40 minutes
To/from Club Makalolo 20 minutes
AIRSTRIP DETAILS
Mvuu (Makanga)
Airstrip co-ordinates:
S 14.15, E35.18
1000m long
GRATUITY SCHEDULE
The following is the suggested gratuity schedule only and is subject to service standards:
Guides - US$5.00 per person per day
General Camp Staff - US$3.00 per person per day
Specialist Guides (if applicable) - US$10.00 per person per day
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Posted by vacationtechnician at July 6, 2004 03:46 PM | TrackBack