Skip to main content

Blantyre 6 - Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi trip becomes the culmination of our places of visits in and around Blantyre. One cannot leave this country before making the trip to this UNESCO's world heritage site. It is around 365 miles long.
Sun & sand
At 5 AM from Blantyre we left via Chichiri - Limbe and drove through Zomba - Liwonde to reach  Mangochi by 8:30 AM. Few kilometers to Mangochi we could see the Shire river to the right, it leaves the lake and drains in lake Malombe. The lake is clear, deep watered and appears as a beach in the Monkey bay located in Mangochi district. Temperature is high here compared to Blantyre.
Lake view
Like the ECR in Chennai where the resorts facade the beach the Malawi lake can be seen through the resorts here. We entered one such resort called the Sun & Sand providing accommodation and dining facility.
Lake
Behind the resort we can see the lake Malawi as beach with a giant mass of rock behind looking like a small island in the beach. The atmosphere gives a warm feeling wanting to relax and restore oneself. Went around the place and the stretch of the beach to witness locals fishing, bathing and washing in the lake. We had an early lunch and happy that it was Indian cuisine, a vegetable rice, couple of garlic naans and vegetable kadai served for 11000 kwacha. By 1 PM we left from this place.
Makokola
Our next entry was into the Makokola retreat. The beach wears a different face here, water is pristine blue. We get a magnificent look of the lake, its a never to be forgotten experience. Its after all the ninth largest lake in the world and the third largest lake in the African continent. Heard that its called the lake of stars due to its appearance at night with numerous fishing boats in it lite with lamps. The good thing is none of these resorts demand a entrance fee, your car is just let in after security check.
Sunset on the way back
Chambo is the famous fish in Lake Malawi. It is said to be found only here and hailed as the most delicious fish. Bought that from the local fishermen, four for 9000 kwacha. It tastes ultimate when grilled at the guest house at the end of the day. Left Mangochi by 3 PM and drove back to Blantyre along the raining Zomba plateau.
Raining at Zomba
By the time we reached Blantyre it was time to pack our things and leave Malawi. Farewell at the guest house was heartfelt. We really had a very nice time in Malawi, took us back in time, made our lifestyle more disciplined (waking up at 5am and going back to sleep at 9pm), interacting with the most hospitable people and though there is much of nature back home Malawi was something different. Malawi is called the 'Warm heart of Africa' and for us it lived up to this name throughout our stay. Zikomo!
Labels:
Location: Blantyre, Malawi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anjaneyar Temple - Gerugambakkam, Porur

 Very recently we came to know about the Anjaneyar temple built by actor Arjun is at Gerugambakkam. On a Sunday evening we drove towards this place. We need to detour from the Kundrathur main road to reach this temple and from then on we need to face a rough and patchy road. In just 5 minutes one can reach the temple. A small residential street leads to the temple. Very near it one could see few small stalls mushroomed up to sell pooja items. The vehicles have to be parked in the street near the temple gates. First is the corridor were few trees are seen.  On taking left is the entrance to the temple and you can see the Lord Anjaneyar much ahead. Here too are few trees uniformly spaced out. There is a coconut farm adjacent to this temple. There is a shelter above Lord Anjaneyar, but for that it is a open air temple. Facing Lord Anjaneyar and to the left and right corner are two shrines - one for Lord Ganesh and the other for Lord Anjaneyar's - Lord Rama, Lord Lakshmana and God...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mannargudi - Day 2

On the next day at Mannargudi, we had an early start. After having tea through room service we left to the  Rajagopalaswamy temple. The temple gopuram can be seen at a large distance as the from the space was allocated for parking. Early morning we could see only 2 cars before us. After paying the parking fee we went inside the temple. Due to the maintenance work we were devoid of enjoying the beauty of the temple gopurams. We got to see the temple's famous elephant - Sengamalam as soon as we got in. This temple is called as south Dwaraka, there is small Krishna statue inside which we can worship by taking in our hands.  The main deity Lord Vasudevaperumal is seen here along with his cow. Next to his the baby Krishna idol which can we worshipped by devotees for their special prayers. We had a good darshan of the Perumal. Had theertham, jadaari and then walked towards the Goddess. The consort of Lord Rajagopalaswamy is Goddess Sengamala Thaayar. We had a very peaceful...
Post a Comment
Read more

Naganathaswamy Temple - Keezhaperumpallam

This temple called as  Kethu Sthalam is near Poombhukar and Thikadaiyur. Naganathasamy is the name of the Sivan here. His  better half is Soundaranayagi. For Kethu there is a separate sannadhi in the temple. Thus becomes one of the temples dedicated to the 9 planet Gods. The way to the temple from the main road is quiet narrow but anyone in the road to whom you enquire the path will end up ask you to just keep going straight. One will first come of the parking space. There is ample space here for the incoming devotees vehicles. Very near parking is the temple tank called the Naga theertham. Next to this is the temple tree, opposite to which is the temple entrance.  Anugraha Vinayakar sinnadhi is first on the left hand side in the praharam. To the end end of the praharam, i.e. to the right side of the entrance is the Kethu sannadhi. There is no navagraha sannadhi since Kethu takes prominance in this temple. Do visit the temple and take Kethu's blessing for your well being....
Post a Comment
Read more