We just got home from “Birding” at Satemwa Tea Estates on Thoylo Mountain. The view was absolutely breathtaking as we looked down into the valley that bordered Mozambique! But before I jump in the middle of the day, I will start from the VERY beginning.
My mom, dad, Sally and I woke up at 5:00am to catch a mini bus (a taxi that is a van, with 3 rows of bench seats that can probably sit 9 people behind the driver, but they squeeze in about 15). To tell you the truth, we didn’t know for sure if there would be a bus at this time in the morning, but needed to take the chance. We had reservations for this event at Setemwa Tea Estate that was a 45-minute drive from our home, but we had no gas in the car! The entire country has had another fuel shortage, and once again, we were stranded with an empty gas tank. But thankfully, God provided … in the way of a mini bus.
As the bus pulled up, there was obviously no room for us, so we told the driver to go on and we’d wait for the next one. But a Malawian being a Malawian, couldn’t give up the chance of having 4 Azungus (white people) in their taxi. And you know what he did? He kicked 2 other Malawians off the bus!!!!!! Just for us! I wish I could have painted my skin right then and there so we wouldn’t have been treated differently.
I digress! Anyways, the mini bus dropped us at the bottom of the road to Satemwa. Our only problem was, it was about a 4-mile walk to the Huntingdon House! As we started to make our way up the long dirt road, a truck turned onto the road and was coming our way. My Dad waved them down, and they gladly gave us a ride up to Satemwa, because they were going there tooJ. And I am so glad they did, because it would have taken us many hours to get up there!
Once we arrive, they served us a “da-lish” breakfast – tea sandwiches on homemade bread, sweet fresh juicy fruit, steamy oatmeal, and coffee and tea that came right from their estate. Before long, it was time for us to leave for a hike up Thoylo Mountain. I only wish they could have told us we would be hiking and not “strolling” as we thought, because none of us had on the right clothes. The funniest part of the hike was getting ants into our socks, up our legs and then… in our pants! Literally! And they weren’t just crawling up there either, but biting! OUCHIE!
On our way to the top of Thoylo, we trampled through a thick grove of banana plants! It was interesting to see how they grow and the structure of the fruit and plant. Did you know there are banana male and female parts?
The tea fields that lined the mountain looked like a shag carpet neatly vacuumed! They were manicured rows of neon green blinding me with their beauty. It was definitely the most beautiful sight.
Our long journey up to Satemwa
The delicious lunch Huntingdon served us :)
Making our way through the banana fields
Male...and female
It went on forever and ever
A sea of tea leaves
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