Fat Monkeys
Distance & time taken
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0 hrs
Accommodation
The Fat Monkeys, Cape Maclear, (www.fatmonkeysmw.com)
in the village of Chembe in Cape Maclear on the southern banks of Lake Malawi
Trip Notes
A much better night's rest - it made a difference retreating up the beach. We were up just after 6 & had the usual coffee & rusks while the sun rose over the mountains behind us lighting up the nearby islands in a golden glow. There was a lot of activity on the water with the night fishermen coming in from the night's catch & the day shift starting. There was also throngs of people coming down to wash either themselves or their things. There was a different vibe today, everyone is active more so than yesterday - maybe because it is Monday.
As we were getting ourselves ready for our boat trip, Piet & his family were packing up to head back to the village where they work. We said our goodbyes & then headed down to the beach to meet Blessing & start our trip. I was glad we had brought our own goggles & snorkels as the ones he had in the boat looked like they had seen better days a while back. After paying the Wildlife official $20 for our park fees, we headed out to feed the fish eagle at Otter Point. To get there, we headed along the beach towards the west past all the lodges. The lodges are slotted in between the villagers houses & none are too imposing to stand out from the rest.
The pair of fish eagles roosting here must have already eaten as they had no interest in our guide trying to lure them out to grab one of his dried fish out of the water. We then headed out into open water which had been whipped up by the on-shore breeze. We had some luck with 2 different fish eagles grabbing our offering. Unfortunately, I wasn't to capture him on film as he grabbed the fish. Ang started losing her sea legs in the choppy water so Blessing guided us around the point of the island & into a quiet bay where we popped into the water for a little snorkelling. |
| Scuba Steve |
It is difficult to do justice with words to what we saw under water. There were thousands of small tropical fish in a multitude of colours. As we swam amongst them, some would come & nibble on our skin while many followed in our wake as we swam along. The water was quite refreshing & after about 20 minutes, we had to thaw out a bit in the sun & have something to eat. Whilst we were snorkelling, Blessing gave some local fishermen in a traditional wooden dugout canoe a tow so that they could repair their net that had been snagged on some granite rocks under water. We headed back into the water a few more times before we called Blessing over & headed back to the lodge for lunch. |
| Ang thawing out after our first 20 minutes snorkelling |
After lunch, we relaxed for the rest of the day with a short nap in the afternoon before having a few G&T's before dinner while the sun set. You can't get enough of the sunset here & between us, we took many photos trying to capture the moment perfectly. Below are a selection of the better ones.
As the dusk settles in & darkness takes over, hundreds of twinkling lights appear on the lake between the islands. These are the lights of the capenta fisherman as they lure the small fish to the surface & ultimately into their nets. These little fish get dried on racks on the beach & then are sold on the local market.
Costs for the day
| Accommodation | Fat Monkeys Lodge |
US$12,00
|
| Boat trip, park fees, tip | Fat Monkeys Lodge |
US$100,00
|
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