I Love MALAWI This Much...

This New Year's Day... I was able to see a whole new world!

A few friends and I took a day trip to the Zomba Plateau, which is a short drive from the city that I live in.


I didn't really know what to expect when we were planning this trip. I hadn't really heard much about the place. In my mind, when I hear the word "plateau", I think of Arizona or Mexico or something. Maybe that's just me. Although both of those places are fine and dandy, it wasn't really the picture of beauty that I was hoping for.

So... Today I arose at 5:30 AM (keep in mind this is New Years Day... the morning after New Year's Eve), and we took off. After regaining consciousness from such an early departure, I was happy to be there.

We started the morning off with a nice hike to a look-out. I was told that this would only be a short, hour and a half hike. So, I thought, "shoot, I don't need to bring any water or anything... all I need is my camera around my shoulder". And, so we went.

After walking for quite a ways and not seeing much progress in the way of elevation, I began to fret about my situation. It was obvious that this would be no hour and a half trek.

In fact, this would be a trek that would take all morning, roll over my precious lunch hour and swing us back to base at around 1:30 with blisters oozing from my feet and a pain with every move in my pelvic region that will only be solved by injecting some of my neighbor's morphine into my veins shortly before retiring to sweet dreams tonight (the reason my neighbor has morphine is a different story... he's legit, don't worry).

The trip was by no means a disaster that I regret though. It was actually quite the opposite.

This country just seems to be foaming out the mouth with hidden treasures that do none other than take your breath away.

So... enjoy some of the pictures I took from today. Let the amazingness of Malawi flood over your eyes!


This is a view from the top of the plateau...

WOW! Unbelievable... this picture doesn't do it justice at all.


**Mom... close your eyes...

This is a picture of me sitting on the edge of this sheer drop off that was completely covered in rolling clouds that just beat us to the cite... Bummer.

Without the clouds, you can see for miles and miles across Malawi. Oh well... just one more reason to go back to this place.


Here's another one from the same area. The fog gave the place this cool, eerie feeling.

This was up on top of the plateau as well. Just some random flowers on the side of the trail.

And this was super cool. It's a hole on the top of the plateau that you can't see the bottom of. Anyone wanna go repelling?!

Well... in case you aren't fully convinced yet that Malawi is one of the most breathtaking countries on planet earth... I guess I will just have to keep finding more places like this one to drive the point home!

Check out all the photos that I took on this trip here... (there's a lot!)