MARTINA'S WORLD TRIP MALAWI: June 27 - July 15, 2004 |
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Your Dictionary
(Übersetzungshilfe) |
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Friday, July 2nd, 2004 - Mount Mulanje Day II | |||||||||
After we spent a cold but relatively comfortable night, we got up pretty early this morning in order to be ready at 7 am when we expected Ramson to pick us up. As we both wanted to take a shower, knowing that this would probably be our last occasion to do so for the coming days, we had scheduled our time in the bathroom. Emily was going in first while I intended to have breakfast. Unfortunately, the milk we had bought at the supermarket yesterday had gone bad overnight (or had been bad before which shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering the expiration date, which I admit I didn’t check when I bought the milk). The stupid thing was that I had nothing to eat with my cereals now. (Mama & Sonja: I tried hot water but it was disgusting!) So in the end, I had banana and white bread with Emily’s peanut butter which marked the beginning of an intense peanut butter period (I had left the remaining rest of my Nutella chocolate cream in Blantyre). As another bad surprise this morning, it turned out that the water in the bathroom was freezing cold and according to Emily, it was impossible to take a shower. Instead, we boiled water on the stove and poured it into a medium-sized plastic basin in the shower, which took a lot of time since the pot we used for heating the water was not very big, but mixed with the ice-cold shower water, it resulted in a perfect bathing temperature. Although it was not possible to wash our hair (and for girls this IS an issue), we ended up pouring water on ourselves using cups from the kitchen. Given the cold temperature in the hut, “showering” this hot was a sensational luxury and I had a hard time forcing myself to get out of the warm, steamy bathroom. In the end, we had to hurry to be ready by 7 am because the whole water heating procedure took much longer than foreseen. The more we were annoyed when seven o’clock had passed without Ramson knocking on our door. We just started to discuss what we would do if he doesn’t show up at all, when he finally arrived to pick us up at 7:15 and we could start the ascent of Mount Mulanje. The Mulanje Plateau rises steeply from the undulating plain of the highlands, surrounded by near-vertical cliffs of bare rock, many over 1000m high. The cliffs are dissected by vegetated valleys, where rivers drop in beautiful waterfalls. It is often misty here and Mulanje’s high peaks sometimes stick out above the clouds, giving rise to the local name “Island in the Sky”. Stunning scenery, easy access, clear paths and well-maintained huts make Mulanje a fine hiking area. Mulanje measures about 600 sq km and the massif is composed of several bowl-shaped river basins, separated by rocky peaks and ridges. The highest peak is Sapitwa (3001m), the highest point in Malawi and in all Southern Africa north of the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa (ranging up to almost 3500m in height). There are other peaks on the massif above 2500m and most of them can be reached without technical climbing. There are about six main routes up and down Mount Mulanje but I left it up to Emily to determine the path of our hike. She had a map and outlined descriptions of the different tracks traversing the Mulanje massif, plus we had Ramson to give us some more detailed advice. Also my guidebook had warned that some routes would be impassable during certain seasons or are too steep or dangerous to climb without special equipment. If you already read that “the wooden ladders required to cross the steepest sections have rotted away”, you think twice before taking off without prior preparation... The way we chose to get up the mountain is called the Skyline Path and was described as “short and steep (two to four hours)”. Although I had prepared Emily that I might need twice as much time as suggested by the experts, I am proud to tell you that we actually did it in four hours including all breaks! And I needed quite a few of them... the path was steep indeed and I was weak due to my overall exhausted physical condition. Emily and I only carried our daypacks and the first hour I was totally fine but then I started to feel the weight. Of my bag, my boots, and finally my legs who didn’t want to move anymore the way I wanted them to. The third hour was the worst when the path turned into a terrace-like terrain of steep stairs and I had to fight my body for every single step upwards but I thought I had made it until here, so I could make it one step further. One step further. One more step. And one more... until we reached the first plateau and the steepest bit of the ascent was behind us. What I found most unbelievable was the fact that we were overtaken by lots of young men this morning. They were all on their way up the mountain and climbed the steep path as if it was just a walk in the park. They were chatting, laughing and didn’t show the slightest sign of exhaustion. Ramson told us that these men were working on the mountain. They were wood porters. And indeed, later during the morning, lots of them came to meet us halfway on their way down, carrying long wooden planks on their head or shoulders. You could see the guys’ tense muscles and their firm grip of the thick planks and yet it looked as if they were flying down the mountain with ease. They were barefoot but did not even watch their steps. Ramson said they were going down so fast because the wood was heavy and they were eager to finish their job for the day. Apparently, every guy makes it up the mountain once a day and they get paid depending on how much wood they can carry down. It was a tough job but at least it was work. We also saw a few women on the mountain, collecting fire wood. Comparing my tiny daypack to the load they were carrying on their bent backs, I felt ashamed. But also Ramson did a good job as our porter and although he didn’t look very strong, he turned out to be a tough guy. Okay, our backpack was not very heavy but he kept climbing the mountain as if he had never done anything else - which was surprising because we found out that this was only the second time he got a porter job on Mount Mulanje. Apparently, every healthy young man in Likabula is registered as a guide or porter with the Forest Station and as they try to be fair and give away jobs in turns, people actually don’t get to go frequently. At least, this helps to generate income for different families. Plus, being a porter was also some kind of a local sport. We had already learned at the Forest Station that there was an annual Porters’ Race where volunteers, carrying a weight of 18kg, race up and down the mountain on the very same path that we took (and which would take us 14 hours in total). And guess what, the record was established by someone who won the race in 2 hours and 18 minutes... unbelievable! As we learned from the caretaker, it was eight years that he was working at Chambe Hut. He shared the job with another man and each of them would spend two weeks on the mountain and then two weeks with their families in the village. Two weeks up here, two weeks down there, for eight years without interruption. Can you imagine? At least he said he liked his job and made a very content and happy impression. Admirable. |
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