Midmorning, you’ll head north, up the escarpment, past Blantyre, the Zomba Plateau, and 6,800’ Mount Malosa. When you reach Liwonde National Park, you’ll enter the main gate and observe wildlife in forested woodlands and wide open savanna-like plains before reaching Mvuu Camp.
Dominated by the sluggish Shire River and its lush fringing vegetation, this national park evokes every romantic notion of wild Africa, especially at night, when the air resonates with the uninhibited chirruping of frogs and grunting of hippos. It offers the best wildlife viewing and birdwatching in Malawi, and its aesthetic merits – this is the quintessential African river scene – elevate it to being one of Africa’s truly great game reserves.
Liwonde is home to Malawi’s largest elephant, black rhino, cheetah and herbivore populations. Your itinerary each day will vary—depending on the movement of wildlife in the park—but two daily activities are included. This includes a boat safari, and late-afternoon/evening game drive.
Your cooking workshops at Mvuu Camp will include bread baking inside the national park and another activity.
Mvuu is perfectly sited alongside the Shire River and is family owned. The camp lies in an immense group of baobab trees, facing a reed bed on the opposite side of the river. Borassus palm forests and fever trees rise above the greenery.
Dr. David Livingstone camped here 160 years ago. Local wildlife including birds, vervet monkeys, and warthogs mingle throughout the safari during the day and nocturnal hippo venture onto the grounds at night to graze on the grass. An impressive thatched dining room and bar offer spectacular views over the river.
Mvuu Camp is not camping as you know it. You’ll have a canvas and stone cottage with beds, no sleeping on the ground. Everyone will have hot and cold running water, flush toilets, showers, and intermittent electricity.