Category: Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve & Chitimba

Rafiki Camp to Chitimba

August 19, 2024

Our drive from Rafiki to Chitimba was another of many of the worst drives we have experienced in over 30,000 kms of self driving in Africa.

Madagascar was very difficult with worse “roads” but somewhat more limited to certain areas that you knew about before getting into it where here it was anywhere and everywhere and it put a bit of a grind in your mind.

It wasn’t much fun but once in the rear view mirror, well, a little bit fun but still very tiring.

It was another 6 1/2 + drive to get to Chitimba with the next to final stretch entailing winding mountain roads that have been destroyed through neglect. I was amazed we didn’t get a flat or worse, destroyed tire(s).

As we entered Chitimba our Maps.me App told us to turn left in 40 metres but we knew the camp was on the right lakeshore side because we have stayed here before. I hate when one of the map apps screws up. You definitely lose trust.

We turned right, negotiated a steep drop off the road onto some rocks and made our way slowly down the path/road to Chitimba Camp, our stop for the next three nights in a small cabin with ensuite and two twin beds.

We had stayed here seven years ago and as back then Eddy and Carmen still run the place and it looked exactly as it did back then which is a very good thing.

The food was really good, the beer not quite cold enough but Ed would put some in the freezer for me and again we were in a situation where we were essentially the only people staying here except one couple in a nice Overlander 4×4 one night and a young female solo traveler who just kind of showed up out of nowhere one late afternoon.

For context and to make a long story short, we met three young boys on the beach in front of Chitimba Camp and for several years we kept in touch via email. Things evolved and we eventually began supporting some secondary students with their school fees and also helped to get many young children into primary school.

The above left is Rodwell in the middle, his brother Lekani on the left and his cousin Yeo on the right in 2017 and me in the middle with Yeo and Lekani.

Below is me added into the mix in 2024.

We spent three days in Chitimba and met the families that we have been involved with as well as a visit to two orphanages in the area.

Chitimba Camp is nicely located about 200 metres from the lakeshore of Lake Malawi. This distance has been a saviour for them this year because of the high lake water levels.

Water did accumulate in a low area between the lake and the lodge and Eddy has allowed some of the locals to plant rice and cassava.

The camp is quite large and has several basic accommodation cabins with shared ablutions and a couple of cabins with ensuites. The grounds are large and open so they accommodate a wide range of “camping” options from pup tents to large overlander trucks to bushcamper vehicles.

The restaurant/bar serves really good food and the music Eddy plays is varied and excellent, at least for us Boomers.

As mentioned before we stayed here for two nights in August of 2017 and nothing has changed and that is a good thing however Eddy and his partner Carmen are considering making a change so we shall see what the future holds. This is the only place in Chitimba where tourists can overnight. There was a camp called Hakuna Matata next door but unfortunately the owner passed away a couple of years ago and it is now closed.

Outside of the gate to the camp and lining the road on both sides are several artisan stalls selling primarily wood carvings and the camp offers the only chance for some to sell their carvings and other items to the tourists that stay at the camp. This is probably the only outlet they have.

Eddy will give the stall owners a heads up when any groups were going to arrive at their camp to help them capitalize on the limited tourist potential.

It is a very difficult life in Chitimba and by extension many of the small villages in Malawi where youth unemployment is extremely high. There are no or very limited opportunities for the young people who have scraped by to get a secondary education. There is next to nothing for them in their communities unless they continue on into college or university which unfortunately is impossible for them because of the cost. It is a troubling situation that exists everywhere in Africa and many other countries in our world.

We departed Chitimba on August 22nd happy that we were able to reconnect with the friends we made in 2017 and also very sad that we may never see them again

We are doing our best to help.

Our next stop is Luwawa Forest Lodge which includes a drive back over terrible roads through Mzuzu and then hopefully some road respite.

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Chembe to Rafiki Camp and Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve

August 17, 2024

The drive from Chembe to Salima, aside from the road to Monkey Bay was excellent. From Salima to Nkhotakota was not so good. By a long shot!

There was the pot holes of course and then what really added to the frustration was the erosion/destruction along the sides of the two-way roads which created many areas where two cars could just barely and possibly not share the pavement. This was especially more difficult if a big truck was involved. You had to very cautiously pull over and off the creviced side of the road giving just enough room for the truck to get by. The broken side of the road was sharp asphalt so this was potentially tire destroying.

Throw in a whole lot of new road construction, “speed humps” literally every 100 metres in many road construction sections and at the end of the day what should have taken 2 hours took close to 4 hours for a total driving time of 6 1/2 hours to get to Rafiki Safari Camp, our stop for the next two nights.

We arrived at our destination frazzled from the journey and checked in at a small reception post near the camp. Arthur radioed our arrival to the owners who greeted us and then asked if we would like to do a game drive once we got settled. A chorus of two sang out “ no, we need a cold beer”!

Rafiki camp sits along the border of Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, the oldest and largest reserve in Malawi.

The owners, Chris and Sandi of have poured their hearts into their lodge which abuts the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve and with the recent management agreement between African Parks and the Zambian Parks system I think they are well placed to reap the benefits of a rejuvenated park.

There is a long history to the park that unfortunately includes rampant poaching that reduced the elephant population to less than 100 from tens of thousands. With Africans Parks involvement things seem to be changing in a very positive way. I suggest you Google “African Parks” for more information.

We moved into our Safari Tent which was fantastic and settled in for two nights with full board and game drives and walks included with our stay.

Breakfast was the usual but really good while lunches and dinners were excellent with great deserts rounding out our three course dinners.

On our first night we shared the lodge with a French family with two kids so dinner and drinks in the main Boma was very uncrowded and quiet and after they departed the next morning we had the whole place to ourselves until our departure.

The morning after our arrival we did a small hike to the Bua River that flows nearby the camp. There were a few locals illegally panning for gold and there was a partial fence that divided the river between the national park and surrounding areas and it didn’t look like it was a very effective fence.

As we hiked along the river bank we were surprised by and then joined by the chef from our lodge. We didn’t think there was any reason for him to show up. We were quite comfortable hiking here but he made it clear that he was here for us and took the lead and gave us a nice tour of the river area and some perspective of life in this part of Malawi. And he was wearing his white chef uniform and hat! It was a very nice touch and for the life of me his name escapes me unfortunately.

Joyce had been suffering from neck pain for the past few weeks and didn’t need to have her neck shaken on a game drive so I went with Chris and Sandi in their safari truck. We picked up a park ranger at the park entrance gate and headed of on a 1 1/2 hour drive through beautiful thick forests and we had a great drive.

The elephants we saw were quite skittish and a slightly aggressive but over 500 elephants have been recently relocated to this park so I’m sure these were some of those. I had many good wildlife sightings however the animals are more shy here because Nkhotakota has not been on the safari radar for a long time and I think this is a good thing. There was one other truck in the park with one tourist.

In Africa our evenings end early and our mornings start early. We had a long drive ahead of us to Chitimba so we had an early breakfast and said our farewells. The staff at the lodge were all wonderful, friendly and gracious and I think they all realized how lucky they are to be employed at Rafiki not just because unemployment is sky high in Malawi but because of the opportunity and good environment that Chris and Sandi offered.

Next stop Chitimba to meet friends we haven’t seen in seven years!

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