“I tawt I taw a puddy tat”

This week’s blog takes an ornithological theme, so if, like Snowball, you can’t tell Kingfisher from the Fisher King and have no desire to, I’d suggest you look away.

Just got back from five amazing days in Liwonde National Park, staying at Mvuu Camp - pricey, but staffed by some of the friendliest and most helpful people you could hope to meet. I could write about the trip all day, but rather than try your patience too much, I’ll restrain myself.

We got up most days at dawn to walk through the national park, ideal for birding, before going on a boat safari after breakfast. In the evening, we went on a game drive, stopping for drinks by the river, before driving back in the pitch black with our guides, Angel and Symon, pointing out the various creatures of the night. We were lucky enough to see some gorgeous animals, including a few Sable Antelope, a couple of Black Rhinos, a few enormous crocs and innumerable hippos, one of whom decided to go for a wander right outside our chalet. Having heard that they can bite a human in half, I kept a safe distance, though Snowball wasn’t so shy.

We met some really interesting people as well: a Mozambican couple working to develop trade unions in the area, a fantastically friendly and interesting American doctor seeking to improve the standard of paediatrics in Malawi, and a couple of ‘white hunter, black heart’ types – the kind who go on hunting tours. Despite this unsavoury fact, they were really good company.

But the real appeal of Liwonde is the bird watching. Both Angel and Symon were avid birders and so we managed to see an amazing array of birdlife, giving me the opportunity to bore anyone who would listen with my rather exaggerated descriptions of some of them (“It was, like, four metres long!”). My eight hundred page guide to the birds of Southern Africa rarely left my side. A much edited list of the sixty-plus species we spotted (I’d link pictures, but its been a long day):

African Fish Eagle (so many they got boring)
Tawny Eagle
Brown Snake Eagle
Gymogene
Osprey
Red-necked Falcon (in pursuit of another bird!)
Dickinson’s Kestrel
Palm-Nut Vulture (juvenile)
Pel’s Fishing Owl
Malachite Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Giant Kingfisher
Marabou Stork
Goliath Heron
White-Backed Night Heron
Red-billed Hornbill
Trumpeter Hornbill
Green Wood-Hoopoe
Common Scimitarbill
Burchell’s Coucal
Bohms Bee-eater
Little Bee-eater
Lilac-breasted Roller

…and on and on and on. Next visit will be to the Nyika Plateau to see the Secretarybird.

Hope I didn’t bore you too much. Next week, we'll be back with the more exciting fare of economics and the civil service.