Mumbo Island - paradise in Malawi

Jessica:

We watched the sunrise at Tumbi and had a breakfast of coffee for Daniel and tea for me along with whatever needed eating in the fridge, and gluten-free rusks Daniel had made for me before the trip. We packed up the tent and rearranged our luggage for three nights on Mumbo Island. Getting there was an adventure in itself. Thumbi was located just one property away from Kayak Africa, which operates Mumbo Island, so we left Rhino at Thumbi and headed a short distance up the beach to catch our boat to Mumbo.

Waiting for our boat to go over to Mumbo Island

We were the only guests heading to the island at that time. We were told that the ride would take 45 minutes. Daniel decided to use the time to get spruced up for our island adventure and got out his electric razor and began shaving.

Daniel shaving my legs on the boatride over to Mumbo Island

In true Mr. Bean fashion he motioned to my legs when he had finished and then started shaving them for me. It was at that point that the boat driver decided to turn around and did a triple take, trying to figure out what these crazy foreigners were up to.

When the island finally came into view we were both blown away. I don't know if any of you remember the 1970's TV show Fantasy Island...but it felt a bit like that.

Walkway over to Mumbo Island

Our part of paradise

There are no roads and no electricity on the island. Solar lamps light the paths and our tent at night. We have a warm bucket shower...literally a bucket with a shower head in the bottom of it suspended on a rope.

Compost toilet

Our tent was a bamboo hut. Luxury in simplicity. Each morning they deliver coffee and tea to our deck at 6:30!  When we arrived we were met by the current island caretakers, Bernard and Claudia, who just graduated from college and wanted to see the world, well, work their way around it. They found this caretaker job on Facebook and packed their belongings and set off two weeks later. My kind of people!

Bernard and Claudia - caretakers on Mumbo Island

We were shown to "tent" number 5, on the very point of the island, which is the most private but is also the windiest. This is low season so the weather isn't the best. Mornings are warm and sunny but afternoons get windy and a bit chilly.The food is served buffet style and is delicious. They even cater for my gluten intolerence!

The first afternoon we kayaked the 3 kilometers around the island, the next day we hiked the trails on one side of the island and snorkled in the afternoon, the next day we checked out the trails on the other side of the island, stopping to lay in the sun and take a dip in a bay. On our first morning on the island we happened upon a water monitor lizard over a meter long basking on a rock. We found out after snorkling that they swim. I may not have gone in the water had I known that.

Water Monitor Lizard left and Rainbow lizard top right of rock

Daniel:

The photos i have seen of Mumbo Island while planning this overlanding trip showed something one can only describe as paradise. I have read that Lake Malawi is supposed to have more species of fish than both North America and Europe combined and it is with that in mind that i bought my GoPro camera back in January already. The snorkeling was unfortunately a little disipointing. The island is on a bit of a pinnacle so the water get very deep quickly. The only fish you therefore see are the ones that feed on the rocks around the island.  They were still beautiful, but I was expecting a bigger veriety. I have read in one of the books on the island that the Cichlids family consist of over 800 species, only about 300 have been named. Some groups live as deep as 250ft under the surface.

I came to Mumbo Island to snorkle but what is still amazing me are the fig trees. I cant recall seeing one of them actually growing out of the earth. Every single one of them are growing on top of a rock. Some rocks are maybe half a meter high, but others are more than 3 stories high. The roots of the fig trees are running down the sides of the rocks till it reaches the ground. Some of the roots seem like they are spreading wider around the rock, covering big parts of it. A number of the rocks have actually been crushed by the roots. I have seen tree roots lifting up roads and cracking foundatoins of houses, but i am still amazed that roots going around a 3 story high rock has the ability to crash the rock.

Fig trees growing on rocks

Jessica:

Napping is also a high priority. Except for the set meal times and gathering at the bonfire before dinner to get to know our fellow island dwellers our days have been blissfully vacation-like.

We have seen incredible sunrises from our deck and hiked up to see the sunset one night. Tonight, our last night on the island we will be treated to a sundowner cruise to see the sunset. We will be ready for more overlanding when we hit the road again tomorrow after our brief but relaxing stay in paradise.

Sunset from Pod rock