23-Nov-2017 -- This is the third out of 4 reports reaching confluence points during a one-week trip through Malawi. The story starts at 11°S 34°E and continues from 12°S 34°E.
In the morning we started in Chembe, a village at Lake Malawi. We went south along the shore of Lake Malambe and then began our deviation towards this confluence point. We went through the nearby town Balaka, then on the main road M8. But this road is on the other side of Bwanie River – in order to reach the confluence, we would need to cross the river. So we took another deviation, an unsealed track that would bring us within 300 m to our target.
But at a distance of 1 km, we encountered this bridge. Luckily we didn’t try to cross it by car: locals informed us that it would not withstand the weight of a car!
So we walked along various tracks through flat agricultural land to the confluence point. The people in Malawi are extremely friendly towards foreigners such that this walk was a pleasure.
The confluence is located right at the edge of a recently ploughed field. There are scattered trees nearby, at one of them were hanging plenty of huge sausages.
We continued to Liwonde and spent the night in the Liwonde National Park, where we would encounter elephants, hippos, antelopes, and warthogs.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance of car parking: 1 km
- Time to reach the CP from the road: 20 minutes
- Time at the CP: 2:54 PM
- Measured height: 588 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy: 2 m
- Topography: flat
- Vegetation: young grain sprouts, scattered trees
- Weather: partly cloudy, 30° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Doubtable Bridge Confluence
More pictures of our trip at here. The story finishes at 16°S 35°E.