Top 11 pics of 2011 (post 2 of 9: Malawian Sheik)
In February of last year, I joined a friend of mine for a trip out to this village I had never visited before where a friendly Muslim Sheik was due to greet us. He had been warned we were on the way and he was prepared to allow us to photograph him and his family.
This Malawian Sheik, a Yawo by tribe, is an expert at making something called talismu, basically magical charms that people buy and wear to help to ward off evil. Within these charms (bracelets, necklaces) there is usually a common component: scriptures from the Qur’an written down on a piece of paper and folded up into a tiny bunch. You can see some of the tools of the trade lined up on the floor in the image background.
This photo was my favorite image from the series I took, our goal being to get a good shot for a soon-to-be-published book about Yawo worldview and culture.
Top 11 pics of 2011 (post 1 of 9)
With 2011 now behind us, I have scoured my pics from the year now gone by to find my favorite 11 images (excluding those I took in Germany as that doesn’t go along with my “normal” life here in the Mozambique and Malawi area of southeastern Africa). I will post images by the order in which they were shot in time.
These three images are grouped together as all were captured while staying on Zomba Plateau, Malawi exactly one year ago as I was recovering from my most serious of a string of malaria bouts. One of the new toys I was playing with at the time was a closeup lens kit that allowed me to crawl onto my bellow (nearly) and explore a whole new micro world full of insects and flowers. All three of these images were included in my 2012 “Malawi and Mozambique | Nature” calendar for sale on RedBubble.
Dr. Ian Dicks: head shot
A head shot is a useful type of photo to have handy for authors, speakers, musicians, actors and others who are planning to have their image posted in a professional manner. In this case here, my friend Ian, an anthropologist working in Malawi and soon to be publishing a new book about Yawo culture, asked me to create a head shot for his book cover. Yeah, published authors need head shots too.
It is my second attempt at doing a head shot for Ian. A few years back when he published a book about Yawo proverbs, what we came out with was an image too smiley and a bit unprofessional looking. Most locals couldn’t even recognize him when shown the book. We needed to try something different for this more erudite publication.
This go round, we wanted to go for a soft look (which helps to minimize aging) that conveys professionalism with an air of mystique (as can be felt from the darker side of the face). Our studio was simply a bedroom with good available sunlight pouring through a nearby window. I grabbed a yellow bedsheet and draped it over a door to give a nice background that doesn’t distract in any way. No flash was used.
Wikipedia mentions that “headshots are intended to show a person as they currently are (age, look, style, etc.) and reflect their best qualities.” I think we got it!
Dr. Ian Dicks, anthropologist
Cure Brochure
In my previous post I mentioned the shoot I did at Beit Cure Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. I got word last week that the private patient brochure has now been printed (to drum up some more patients… and coming soon in Portuguese!)
I’ve attached below scans of the pages that use some of my pics from the shoot.
above: top right photo (surgery in process)
above: all photos except the patient testimonial
above: the “friendly and supportive surgical staff” image
A visit to CURE Hospital Malawi
Late last year, I had a run-in with my pellet gun as I was attempting to repair it. The tip of my left index finger was severed and I needed a bit of help to get it cleaned up and properly fixed. Enter CURE Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi. During my overnight stay and operation, I was highly impressed with the level of professionalism, cleanliness and interest in helping each patient by providing spiritual guidance too!
A year later, now in October of 2011, I find myself there again as my daughter needed to have a strange skin growth checked out and surgically removed. What better time to offer my skills and help the hospital promote their excellent private services? Here’s 15 of my favorite images.
Fort Mangochi
Ulendo magazine is Air Malawi’s official in-flight publication. My article on Fort Mangochi was published in Issue 19 (2011). Text and photos to follow:
The grand days of African exploration may be long gone, but that doesn’t mean the weekend adventurer can’t have a bit of fun exploring the rarely visited Fort Mangochi, key for its role in stopping the lucrative slave trade.
Growing up in the eastern coast of the United States as the child of a military officer, I was afforded many opportunities to visit historic sites; famous places where the British established the first settlements in present-day Virginia and Rhode Island. Love it or hate it, places like Plymouth Rock and Jamestown take on theme-park-like lives of their own. Actors, complete in period costume, dominate the day as the paying visitor can wander around what appears to be an authentic, centuries-old village. Tour busses packed with retired adults mix with fresh-faced children excitedly disembarking their yellow school busses to see what things were like during the nation’s infancy.
But here in Malawi, where no government agency is flush with cash, Fort Mangochi appears dilapidated and forgotten. The closest carnival-like atmosphere would be found on the highway in Majuni during market day. The only visitors I’ve come across in my five visits by foot from my previous residence near the town of Namwera in Mangochi District are locals looking for firewood and trying to avoid the feared chitopotopo (a troll-like, magical creature rumored to be living in these mountains). Well-used trails snake through this lush valley seemingly placed inside a bowl of mountain heights. Not once did I see any sign marking the significance of this historic place, or a marker along the Bakili Muluzi Highway indicating a turnoff.
But that doesn’t mean the government hasn’t tried to protect this antiquity. Metal posts, cut down by locals to fashion into hoes for gardening no doubt, could be found buried in areas around the outside of the high brick walls. Perhaps it was a Banda-era scheme to keep the area free of damage.
But with no follow-through, the fort sits overgrown with indigenous trees and crumbling walls. I found myself dodging fresh elephant dung, amazed at the amount of work that went into creating this outpost of British colonialism that made a final, unobliging statement to the predominate Yao chieftancy of Jalasi (often referred to then as Zarafi).
To many Malawians today, “Mangochi” brings to mind lazy days along the lakeshore. But back in 1895, the boma itself was called Fort Johnston and remained so until the mid 20th century.
By looking at P.A. Cole-King’s booklet, “Mangochi: the Mountain, the People and the Fort” (available from the Society of Malawi at Mandala House, Blantyre and a must-have for anyone interested in Fort Mangochi’s history), we learn what we can about what was going on over a century ago as the British tried to subdue the opposition: slave traders working in conjunction with those of Arab origin who had been trading in this region of Africa for a few hundred years already. During Livingstone’s time along the southern lakeshore in 1861, artillery shots could be heard presumably issuing out of the Mangochi mountain region from the Yawo chief Livingstone calls Nkata. For the next several decades, armed skirmishes would go on as the Yawo jockeyed for position in the lucrative trade of goods to the coast, and worked at subduing other tribes. It wasn’t until 1891 that a British Protectorate was established, and Jalasi joined Mponda and Makanjila as the traditional authorities of the area.
Cole-King describes Chief Jalasi’s town as “on the plateau, which is some three miles long and three quarters wide, varying in heigh between 4,500 and 4,200 feet above sea level (3000 feet above the lake), well watered and with fertile soil, and situated just below and to the north of the main peak of Mangochi mountain, 5,713 feet.” (p.7) Jalasi was confident that he was secure and continued to resist the British, the first Commissioner being Harry Johnston. An ill-conceived British-led attack on Jalasi was repulsed in 1891, and an unsteady calm remained for four more years. But in 1895, poor relations came to a head and a three-sided attack was planned against Jalasi’s mountain stronghold.
With the help of enlisted soldiers of Indian Sikh, Makua, Atonga and Yao men, the Protectorate succeeded and the villagers eventually fled. On October 28th, 1895, the area was void of villagers. As allegedly the first white men to step into Jalasi’s village, Major Edwards and his officers estimated that 25,000 people called this place home. It was full of food and impressive in many ways. A temporary fort was commissioned immediately under Captain Cavendish’ supervision. In short order, Liutenant E. G. Alston arrived to build the permanent fortress.
Today, there is no easily visible indication of permanent residence by the Yawo though the fort walls are still in good shape. Built of stone several feet thick, 2-3 meters tall, the area could encompass several football pitches. Numerous buildings still dot the area, the most impressive of which was the Commanding Officer’s residence, and a large open area acted as the parade grounds. Outside of the fort walls, soldier’s quarters, completed under Lieutenant Brogden’s oversight, lie in ruins to one side while further off, on a site I haven’t been able to locate again with a guide, I came across old bullet casings littering the ground, presumably the site of target practice.
Chief Jalasi himself stayed on the Portuguese side of the border where he fled during the battle and died there in 1906, but many of his village headmen moved back to Fort Mangochi and built many large villages around the site of the fort as the area acted as the main route from Fort Johnston to Mozambique. From 1907-1910, the site was used as a prison and, during World War I the King’s African Rifles used the fort as a training camp. Perhaps these are the origin of the shell casings I found?
(Unpublished directions: To find Fort Mangochi, follow the tarmaced M3 highway from Mangochi town up the escarpment to Chowe. From the Chowe signpost, count 13.6KM, heading through the village of Idrusi, to Majuni. A sign opposite the turnoff will read Balakasi Woodlot (from the Namwera side you will travel 6KM to the west). The dirt road heading to Skull Rock Estate is very close to the residence of present-day T. A. Jalasi, the prominent feature being a mosque in front with a borehole well to it’s side. Immediately past this site, a road branches off to the right, before reaching the market, school, or several larger mosques in the trading center. Several KM down that dirt road, sometimes difficult to pass, visitors should make their way to Skull Rock Estate. If you want a guide, organize with someone there and begin to the ascent towards Skull Rock itself. You can’t miss it and won’t be confused as to why it has the name it does. Be sure to pack in your own water and snacks as you will be gone several hours and the going, while not exactly a walk in the park, is well worth the effort. Treat the Fort with respect: stay off of the walls and don’t take any keepsakes that will lead to destroying the site further.)
Private Cottages on Lake Malawi
Malawi is famous for its lake and rightly so. Sometimes called “the calendar lake” because it is roughly 365 miles long by 52 miles wide, it is a huge tourist draw and Lake Malawi was recently voted by Yahoo Travel as the most beautiful lake in the world. But with a lake the size of Lake Malawi, it only makes sense to recognize that the waters do vary from place to place.
So, too, do the establishments set up to cater to lakeshore visitors. In our years as residents in the region, my family and I have moved further away from staying at the traditional spots like Nkopola (our most frequented of the three), Sun N Sand (stayed there once or twice and that was enough for us) or Club Makokola (too expensive for our pockets, but great for a day trip and I just love the lush garden grounds). Livingstonia near Salima was a treat back when we visited in 2005, but a real drive for those of us based closer to the southern lakeshore. (For Lilongwe residents, it’s a great spot though I’ve nothing to say of the cheaper alternatives in that area.)
Most commonly now for my family of 6, we make plans with another family or two and choose a private house to stay at. We cater ourselves (usually putting the house staff to effective use as they’ve been able to handle whatever we throw at them) and thoroughly enjoy a quiet, relaxing few days away at the lake.
CHOLE COTTAGE was our choice for holidays in December 2009. It is privately owned by a Malawian family based in Lilongwe. We simply had to email them from their website and deposit money into their bank account. While the website isn’t impressive, we had a great time in a secluded location just 1/2KM north of Sun N Sand where we remained undisturbed. Nice features of the house included the DSTV (we don’t live with access to TV so it was nice to catch up on programs), a small swimming pool, grassy yard and wraparound porch.
Ulendo Travel manages the unique CONFORZI LAKE HOUSE, set in a bay near Nanchengwa Lodge (another favorite spot of mine when I want a cheap place to stay en route to and from Lilongwe to my home) several KM north of Sun N Sand. The house is spacious and airy, the grounds large enough to allow the kids to run around until they exhaust themselves. But of course, grassy lawns aren’t what one goes to the lake for. The water is warm, but we felt a bit on display as the locals use the lake area below the house to clean their kitchen dishes and bathe. (When I go to the lake, I want privacy). Another downside to Conforzi was the unpleasant odor that would hit us from time to time as the swampy area next door would.
Our favorite spot on the lake, but the most difficult for us to reach, is called THE BEACH HOUSE. Located several hours north of Lilongwe (70KM south of Mzuzu) in the village of CHINTECHE, this spacious house boasts our favorite beach on the entire lake. Residents of the area (mostly Tonga) are friendly and mainly keep to themselves, unlike the Chewas or Yao around the southern regions (who are friendly, but have no qualms about staring incessantly and invading a Westerners space… just telling it like it is, folks). Owned by photographer/publisher Frank Johston of Cenral Africana, the house includes a well-stocked library that invited me to read book after book (on Mozambique, Malawi and more) during the duration of my stay as I moved from the beach, to the large back porch, to the comfortable sofas, to my bed set in a large, airy room.
Lilongwe Wildlife Centre
I recently found myself with a spare afternoon in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capitol city, and thought we’d give the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre a go with my visiting, nature-loving in-laws. I have fond memories of enjoying the wooded walks at the old Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary in years past, a place that tried hard but kinda made me as a visitor feel pretty sorry for the wild residents all caged up with barely any life to live. So it was a real treat to show up at the relatively new site, privately run with paid local staff and volunteer foreigners galore, where I was treated to a lovely guided stroll that took me next to the new homes for a rescued abused lioness from Romania, yellow baboons, vervet monkeys, an elusive leopard caught at Nyika, duikers, free roaming hyenas (don’t worry; they’re nocturnal), and much more.
If I were a resident in Lilongwe, you bet I’d sign my family up for an annual membership and come whenever the whim hits me. It’s a fantastic, secluded area that can really help one recharge their batteries. Check out their site and consider adding your own “like” to their Facebook page.
