VEINS OF AFRICA EXPLORING MALAWI & TANZANIA
NYASA
"We discovered Lake Nyassa a little before noon of the 16th September 1859," wrote David Livingston in his book Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries. With those few words, Livingston put Nyassa on the map.
Today, Lake Nyasa, also called Lake Malawi, forms much of Malawi's boundary with Tanzania and Mozambique and is one of Africa's most famous attractions. Growing up in South Africa, I knew of Lake Nyasa my entire life. To me, instead of relaxation, this vast body of water sparked ideas of exploration. I was especially drawn to some of the lake's major tributaries that flowed out of Tanzania's Mount Rungwe on the northern side and from the Livingstonia Mountains in Malawi on the lake's western shore. When I spoke to my friend David Vory Sodomka about the idea, he needed no convincing, and plans were quickly set into motion.
Planning a trip to Lake Malawi was both daunting and exciting. Daunting in that we had no information about the rivers and that we were headed to Africa, which is unpredictable at the best of times. But that's also what made it exciting; the venture into the unknown, the unexplored. In going off the beaten track, it's the, "what if," the endless possibility of adventure that draws us.
INTO THE UNKNOWN
David and myself, Dewet Michau, would be joined on our adventure by David's fellow Czech, Palo Andrassy. With the team in place, we could focus on the adventure ahead. With any trip, the most critical component is getting the timing right. Get it wrong, and you either end up with flooding rivers or with no water at all. We were hoping to catch the rivers as they dropped. As the region's rainy season lasts from roughly January to April, it was decided that March would be a good time to go. To add some extra flavor to the
