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Thyolo: Tea Plantations - Chimwenya Private Game Reserve


View Southern Africa 2024 on Grete Howard's travel map.

It is drizzling slightly when we get up this morning – I didn’t expect that!

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Breakfast

It seems the staff is not at all ready for diners this morning – we have to ask for juice, a knife, and fork, as well as cold milk for David’s cornflakes.

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Freshly made banana muffins, still warm from the oven - light and fluffy and I can really taste the banana

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Papaya

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French Toast

Satemwa Tea Estate

The plan for today was to get a tour of the tea estate and factory, followed by a tea tasting. Sadly, as it is Sunday, no one is working in the fields or factory, so we have to make do with just visiting the estate. Jim does his best to explain things we see along the way to make up for it.

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Trees are planted in amongst the tea bushes to help produce moisture.

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Houses built especially for plantation workers. Satemwa is a huge estate with 800 workers, and the management not only provide housing, but also a primary school and a small hospital.

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Guatemala Leaves help maintain the soil and stop erosion

Many estates have also introduced the production of Macadamia trees, whose nuts are an expensive commodity and therefore very lucrative.

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Macadamia Tree

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Macadamia flower

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As they mature, the flowers turn a darker red

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After pruning the top of the tea bushes to encourage new growth, the off-cuts are collected for firewood.

Goat Apple

Also known as Poison Apple, the fruit, which is similar to apple, only smaller, is poisonous to humans and animals. In traditional medicine, however, the juice of the fruit is steamed through a pipe to treat toothache.

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Buffalo Bean

Also known as Madness Bean (Mucuna pruriens), the hairs on the bean pods will make your skin itch to the point it drives you mad! The seeds can be eaten if boiled for two days with five changes of water, otherwise, they are poisonous (I think I’ll just stick to a tin of Heinz beans, thanks).

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The Buffalo Bean is part of a group of plants affectionately known as The Green Five (with reference to the more popular Big Five animals), and the other four are:

Elephant Grass
Leopard Orchid
Lion’s Tail Teasel
Rhino Bush

Coffee

Satemwa Estate also grows quite a lot of coffee. Jim teaches us something we didn’t know this morning: Red Bull is produced from the skin of the coffee beans.

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The coffee beans are all picked by hand here, and only by women as they have more delicate fingers (that’s me out of the question, then, there is nothing ‘delicate’ about my hands!)

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The top of the coffee plants are cut to help them spread out.

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There is a real fear of erosion: when the plants become heavily laden with beans, they are likely to topple over as they have shallow roots.

Tea

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Tea bush

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Flower of the tea bush

Picking just the top leaf and rolling it manually in your hand produces ‘white tea’, while just the emerging new shoot will give you ‘needle tea’ – a very expensive variety.

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Tamarind Tree

Huntingdon House

Once the home of the Kay family from Scotland (they still run the tea estate and the house), the gorgeous colonial house now offers accommodation and meals.

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David on the wide porch

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A worker explains the different teas available in the shop

We take lunch here.

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Lemongrass chicken with rice - very nicely cooked with crispy tasty skin

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Lemon tart - vert tart and very fresh

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Hibiscus iced tea - absolutely delicious, very refreshing

While we are eating, Jim is holding quite a conversation with a Trumpeter Hornbill in one of the trees at the edge of the lawn (he is a real "bird whisperer" with a repertoire of different bird songs). He is unable to persuade it to come out for me to photograph it, however, so this is the best I can do.

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Trumpeter Hornbill

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African Pied Wagtail on the lawn

Mwala Wa Mthunzi

On the way back to our lodge, we stop at a large rock by the side of the road.

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Legend has it that when the main road was being constructed, workers moved the rock to make way for the road, but by the next morning the boulder was back in its original place. Trying again the next day, the same thing happened, and it was then decided to leave the stone where it was. Many people come to pray and pay their respects to their ancestors at this sacred rock, placing coins, small stones, or leaves on top for luck.

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Afternoon Game Drive in Chimwenya Private Game Reserve

When Jim saw Stephen (our driver from last night) earlier, Stephen commented on how “happy and friendly” his clients were. Mind you, we did have a bit of fun on the drive, but I am not sure what sort of tourists he is used to.

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Adam (spotter) and Stephen (driver)

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David, Jim, and me in the safari vehicle

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Dark Capped Bulbul

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Collared Palm Thrush

Chimwenya is a very small reserve, with limited game viewing, so today I try to make the most of the beautiful light from the low sun to make some creative images.

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Zebra on the opposite side of the lake

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A cute youngster

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Close-up of the mane

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Just the eyes

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Impala

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Male with his impressive horns

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Shooting into the sun

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Malawi Dwarf Gecko

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Wildebeest

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Having a mud bath

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They are strange looking creatures

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Zebra and Wildebeest on the golf course

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A bit of Hammerkop love

Sunset

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Dinner

We enjoy a pre-dinner drink in the bar, where I indulge myself with a Southern Comfort and Coke, a drink I haven’t had for years!

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Tonight I only order a starter and dessert, after being overfull last night having had three courses.

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Beef samosas

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Malva pudding, a local speciality

David has a starter and mains.

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His enormous salad starter

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Chicken burger

My back is still very painful, so I ask for a small amount of ice to take back to the room. They give me a whole bucket full!

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I also use the wooden ball I bought a few days ago, housed in a sock as self-massage (leaning against a wall pushing on the ball where the pain is).

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Thank you Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this amazing Great Africa Trip.

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Posted by Grete Howard 12:24 Archived in Malawi Tagged tea africa safari malawi zebra gecko impala wildebeest macadamia bulbul hornbill tea_estate game_drive tea_plantation golf_course undiscovered_destinations hammerkop thrush wagtail chimwenya private_game_reserve game_haven satemwa guatemala_leaves goat_apple poison_apple buffalo_bean the_green_five huntingdon_house mwala_wa_mthunzi southern_comfort

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Comments

What a day!!! Those sunset pictures are quite amazing. I love the pictures of the hammerkop, such strange birds and I really love the wildebeest pictures. I like them very much!

by Ils1976

Thank you very much, Ils ♥

by Grete Howard

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