I love the colour green; it is surely the shade that most epitomises life.
Who doesn’t feel uplifted by the first signs of spring, when emerald buds begin to emerge? I arrived in Malawi in April, just after the rains — Malawi in the green, in the most literal sense.
It had been almost two decades since I was last in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond having heard about Lake Malawi — Africa’s third largest freshwater lake — and the country’s reputation as the Warm Heart of Africa, I didn’t know what to expect. What I hadn’t anticipated was how pretty it would be: the soft light, the Rift Valley’s mountains and peaks always on the horizon, and landscapes layered with green.
Green also speaks to the country’s remarkable conservation story. With the help of African Parks, Malawi’s wild spaces have come back from the brink. Wildlife has returned. Systems are working. In fact, Majete National Park now has so many lions that contraception is being used to manage numbers. It’s a quiet success story.
Liwonde National Park was lush and full of life. The Shire River winding through floodplains, tall palms on the horizon giving an almost Caribbean vibe. Our evening arrival quickly treated us to the most glorious sunset. Green Season isn’t always the best for wildlife sightings, but I wouldn’t have traded the dramatic skies and vivid palette. The animals made us work to find them but isn’t that part of the magic? And when we did — two lionesses with full bellies, a cheetah lounging on the airstrip, elephants quietly feeding in the trees — it felt all the more rewarding.
When we arrived at the riverside Kuthengo Camp, two enormous elephants were grazing on the banks, egrets flitting at their feet, the river swollen and calm. The whole scene felt like something out of a film, the blue of the river against the brilliant greens of palm and grass, uninterrupted by anything man-made. The landscape felt big, wild and completely alive.
