Mary in Malawi

I had an amazing weekend! =D Me, Liz, Rebecca, Hannah and Claire went to Liwonde national park, the biggest national park in malawi. The trip there took about 7 hours, and included many different ways of transportation, among others one hour bicycle taxi, but it was completely worth it. The animals where amazing, the sunsets where increbible and the food was delicious!

the really cool thing with this place is that it is completely untuched by man. Sunset

the only thing people have done is to put up some camps where you can go, and they take you on sasfari tours in the jungle  and on the lake. But there are no fences, so you can just stay at the camp and you will still se hippos and elefants and baboons and warthogs hanging around  right outside you house. Before entering the camp, you have to sign a form that you are aware of the risks and that the camp staff take no responsibility if you get injured by an animal.. ;) So it is really wildlife. On our way to the camp, on the bicycle taxis, it actually stepped ouy three giant elephants right in front of us. The "taxi" guys got totally freaked out and started shouting in chichewa and turned around to bike away. My instinct told me more to "stand still, look down, and pretend you are tiny and harmless" but I had no choice than to follow, i was stuck on the back of the bike. We hid for awhile, and then we could continue all the way to the camp.
Bicycle taxi
when we came there, we had to take a boat over the lake to get to the actual camping spot. The camp was so beautiful! We lived in little houses big enough for two or three people, but some people lived in tents. I shared house with Liz and Rebecca. the house where right by the lake, and as I wrote before, there are no fences, so during night time we could hear the hippos roaming and wandering around outside the house. We also had monkeys playing on the veranda, and some baboons on the roof! And a lot of warthogs! =D

On the safari tour we saw elephants, they where walking up to us, standing like 10 metres from the jeep. When the elephants showed signs of aggression, the driver slowly backed a few meters, and then the elephant cooled down and started eating instead. It was amazing!! Some of the elephants where as old as 75 years.

We also saw a lot of antiloopes. they where really pretty. And the warthogs where so cute! warthogs you know, Pumba in "The Lion King" =) there fron legs where shorter than there bacck legs, and their necks where really short. So they had to kneel down when eating. Adorable!Pumba

But the best part was the safari on the river! We saw tons of hippos!!! They could also get really old, almost like a human. And the biggest we saw where really big guys, about 3000 kilos!! They had a very special sound, it sounded like a fat man laughing... The guide said that it was a sign of happiness. They came really close to the boat, if I had tried to, i could easily have tuched them. They are really peaceful animals, vegetarianns and minds their own business. But they are in fact considered to be one of the most dangerous animals on the planet. That is because they are very easy to disturb, and if they get provoced they can bite you in half.
....


Hippo