Journeys In Malawi: Southwards In Time For Tea
As we drive through Malawi, every town and village is an explosion of colour, sounds and smells, each place a sensory experience in its own right, in complete contrast to long distance vision which seems to be perpetually blighted by the dense haze hanging in the air and blocking out the long view. We had worked out for ourselves that the haze is a combination of red dust carried by the wind coupled with smoke from extensive burning of scrub, but, now that we’re travelling further south and the haze is thinning, we realise that water vapour from the great lake is the third element helping to create the mist.
The thinning of the haze is by no means the only change as we break new ground and pass through the outlying suburbs of the larger city of Blantyre. Blantyre is more recognisable as a city than anywhere else we’ve seen in Malawi, much more developed and with many more modern buildings. Big shiny 4x4s roll in and out of parking lots and supermarkets and office blocks have been added to the landscape.
South of Blantyre and approaching our next base just outside Bvumbwe, one of the more striking – and disturbing – differences is the attitude of the children. Up by the lake they were absolutely delightful, beaming smiles and offering easy friendship. Here, as we pass by groups of children, they have just three stock words of English which they shout in our direction: “Give me money”…..! Interesting how there is such a warm welcome in villages where people have little or nothing, compared to the more aggressive attitude where the gulf between the haves and the have nots is more obvious.
Maybe it’s an extension of what we have termed the “Mzungu Concept”. Mzungu (or uzungu in the plural) is a word given to anyone perceived to have wealth but has been historically directed mostly at white people – it’s shouted out at visitors like us and when we hear it in conversation we know we’re being talked about. It is however a slightly deeper context than simply a term for whites: it has now been explained to us that the opposite of “mzungu” is “munthu”, and “munthu” means “person”. From that you can conclude that we “mzungus” are not perceived to be people at all, but simply a different animal without feelings or beliefs, which perhaps explains why people here have only really engaged in conversation with us once we have taken the initiative and broken the ice.
Our base at Bvumbwe is the Game Haven Lodge, an isolated place in extensive grounds where zebra and wildebeeste roam. Despite its size there’s only a handful of guests here, but after midday the restaurant buzzes with activity as well-heeled well dressed locals draw up for lunch in those shiny 4x4s. It’s the first time we’ve seen such ostentatious evidence of wealth in the whole of the country.
The spoken language here is Chewa, a derived Bantu tongue also known as Chichewa and by some as Nyanja. Amusingly, Chewa is universally laced with English words – listen to any exchange between Malawians and you will hear recognisable words and phrases embedded in each sentence. We don’t know why we find that amusing, but we do. (Any Brit who remembers the Channel 9 sketches on The Fast Show will understand).
Just a few miles south of Bvumbwe the scenery changes, the vivid, almost lurid bright green of the tea plantations suddenly dominates every part of the rolling hills, wrapped around every contour of the land in each direction. At times the acres of tea plants with their narrow walkways have the appearance of the world’s largest maze, but the most striking element is without doubt the incredibly bright green of the uppermost layer of leaf growth.
Stretching southwards from Bvumbwe and through the plantation epicentre of Thyolo, these scenic rolling hills have seen the cultivation of tea since 1908. Today there are 44 separate tea estates which together cover a huge area all the way to Mount Mulanje close to the Mozambique border, through the Shire Highlands where the climate is perfect for tea cultivation. A hot, wet summer and a cooler, dry winter which is interspersed with days of drizzle brought by the Chiperoni wind give way to the hottest month of September, which all combine to make the perfect climatic environment. Tea harvesting begins in October but the greater part, about 80%, is harvested between December and April.
Many of Malawi’s tea plantations were initiated by Scottish expats who recognised, and maximised, the crop’s potential. One such was a certain Maclean Kay who instigated the Satemwa plantation which not only still operates today but is still run by the Kay family, its current CEO incumbent being Alex Kay, grandson of Maclean. In between, Alex’s father Chip was responsible for grand expansion of the plantation and the Satemwa Company – the business now produces 2,500 tons of tea per annum.
Clearly laudably conscious of its ecological and social responsibilities, Satemwa runs four health clinics for free treatment of local people, especially mothers and babies, and manages its giant estate with a raft of sustainable and environmentally sound policies. At least, these are amongst the things they tell us as we take a tour of the plantation and factory and indulge in an extensive tasting exercise of a large range of its produce.
Satemwa also offer accommodation – albeit pricey accommodation – in the unbelievably lovely Huntingdon House on the plantation estate, a wonderful example of those sumptuous colonial homes owned by the landed gentry of the plantation fraternity. Stepping into the house is like stepping into a piece of bygone history – a colonial era which is easy to think belongs in a different century. As well as this deliciously quaint throwback, the factory is a collection of manual processes, harvesting is by hand, and the offices are full of Lever Arch files and mounds of paperwork rather than computer screens. We get the distinct feeling that in spite of what are plainly progressive policies by the Company, some things really haven’t changed that much.
The day before our visit to Satemwa, we called in at another place from the colonial era, the lovely Thyolo House (Note: Thyolo is pronounced Cholo) nestled in the forest. Its restaurant is closed, but the lady owner is “doing lunch” with a friend and, as her chef is cooking for them, she rather wonderfully says he can rustle something up for us. It’s delicious, too.
Chatting to the two elderly white ladies, the visiting friend tells us she was born in Malawi and has lived here all her life, yet speaks with an extremely refined English (dare we say “upper class”?) accent. She tells us how much Malawi has changed in her long lifetime, and in what ways it hasn’t, how the illegal felling of trees is entirely changing the landscape, but also how much she has loved her life here.
When we reach Satemwa and wander into the mahogany hallway at Huntingdon House, the walls are adorned with pictures from the history of the plantation from Maclean Kay’s early days in the 1920s, through three generations and the growth of the business to its latter day size. There, in the middle of all of the photographs, is the well spoken lady we were talking to yesterday.
It seems that without knowing it, we had taken lunch with Dawn Kay, widow of Chip and mother of Alex and overall owner of the entire plantation and Satemwa Company. Well well well.
34 Comments
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
An interesting chapter in your journey, and clearly showing how small some worlds can be!
Phil & Michaela
Indeed so!
Monkey's Tale
Lunching with Malawi royalty I see 😊 Tea plantations are often a strange mix of wealthy foreign owners and local workers, but they are always are so picturesque. Too bad the kids have learned to beg in the city, and even more unsettling that the word for white is opposite to person. They have undoubtedly gone through generations of hating or fearing slave owners and wealthy white landowners. It will take many more generations of equality to undo those feelings. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
That’s very true Maggie – but I think the mzungu thing is equally deeply rooted in the witchcraft/superstition/magic beliefs echoing today from tribal culture. For people who won’t marry into a rival tribe, it’s not a huge leap to understand why white people are even further detached.
Heyjude
I thought that Mzungu was simply a common word used for a foreigner, not necessarily a white person, but anyone. According to Wikipedia it is a Bantu word that means “wanderer” which you have to admit is quite fitting in your case!
Phil & Michaela
Yes I read the same….interesting derivation to the interpretation we were given as of today though.
Monkey's Tale
What out for those hexes then!!!
Phil & Michaela
Amongst all the other dangers!
Toonsarah
Some different sides to Malawi here, and not all of them as I would have expected. Some distrust of white people is to be understood but to see them not as people at all seems a bit extreme, although no doubt the white slave owners of the past would have (mostly) felt the same about their ‘property’ 🙁 The begging children are easier to understand, especially in areas where they see what money could buy.
And I never knew that tea was grown so extensively in Malawi! The plantations look very like those we saw in Kerala. However perhaps it won’t surprise you that I’m not only odd in my dislike of peas but also (for an English person) in disliking tea too!
Phil & Michaela
It’s woven into the same mindset as the superstitions and witchcraft in our last post. Even rival tribes are seen as markedly different, so it’s not a huge leap of thought to the mzungu thing. I’m glad we’ve had it explained to us though, all part of the understanding and how to deal with it. Where we are now – Dedza – that word is being shouted at us all the time, but only by children who think it’s funny. Which is fine. Given the range of teas we tried, you’d probably find at least one that you liked (as indeed, we tried ones which we didn’t like!)
Heyjude
I dislike tea too! Although I can stomach some of the herbal varieties.
Helen Devries
At least the tea plantations are still in existence, unlike so many cases in Sri Lanka where they were portioned up among the workers who, in order to live, as no longer earning, made little gardens, ruining the terrace system and eventually the production.
Tea tasting took me back to a school visit to the Tea Centre in London where we were given a talk on tea production and then were given what seemed like endless brews to try…I’ve been keen on teas ever since.
Always interesting to discover what we in the first world would regard as reverse racism.
Phil & Michaela
Still in existence and seemingly not terribly different from the colonial era. Picturesque to see, interesting to learn about, but like stepping back in time.
Helen Devries
Though a long way from the days of imported indentured labour, thank goodness.
Phil & Michaela
Yes
leightontravels
This was a great read. Had never heard of Blantyre, nor indeed the concept of Mzungu or the language Chewa. What a great base you seem to have gotten at Game Haven with yet another killer sunset. The tea plantations are so lush and I love the signs and the art. Not to mention the word “child labour free”. I can see why you were so taken by Huntingdon House, it is a handsome and historic structure that belies its troubling history. Incredible that you enjoyed lunch with Dawn.
Phil & Michaela
Given that children having duties within the tribal community is simply accepted, I cynically wondered whether “child labour free” means simply that they don’t get paid! The tea plantations are a real throwback.
Heyjude
I never realised that tea plantations were a thing in Malawi. Tobacco farms in Zim yes and probably run on similar principles. Nice to see all that greenery. I’m keen to know who the 4x4s were who pitched up for their lunches. It isn’t clear from your post whether the wealthy are whites. Your colonial lady reminded me of my former mother-in-law, who although South African (who had lived in Zim when it was Rhodesia) had what I would call a posh English voice and lived a very ‘refined’ life.
Phil & Michaela
Those coming for lunches dressed in finery and in the 4x4s were exclusively local, not whites. It was interesting studying the tea industry at first hand, not least because it’s a real throwback, a window on the colonial era.
Andrew Petcher
And not a tea bag in sight. Great pictures.
Phil & Michaela
No but they could fill a fair few with that lot!
grandmisadventures
What a treat to meet the tea plantation owner! I love the rows and rows of that bright green of tea leaves basking in the sun. It’s so sad though about the kids and the stark contrast to what you experienced before. A very interesting chapter in your Malawi adventure
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Meg – yep, it’s certainly been an interesting journey so far!
WanderingCanadians
As someone who drinks a lot of tea, visiting a tea plantation and having a tea tasting sounds amazing. It’s neat that you had lunch with the owner of the plantation (without knowing it)! The scenery there looks lovely and quite different compared to elsewhere.
Phil & Michaela
It’s certainly very different, tea plantations are such a unique shade of green
Lookoom
You have seen other aspects of life in Africa. The colonial presence has not been completely erased, even if the so-called colonists now consider themselves Africans. Ah, that skin colour…
Phil & Michaela
There’s definitely echoes
wetanddustyroads
Wow, the wildlife you’ve seen so far on your adventure is simply amazing! Lovely photos of the giraffe (and the sunset). And I knew Malawi had tea plantations, but had no idea it was that big – how beautiful green it is! I would love to visit that tea farm – tea is my go-to drink first thing in the morning (especially rooibos tea), but there’s no way Berto would ever enjoy a cup of tea – he loves his coffee just too much!
Phil & Michaela
There was some roobios among those we tasted. It was a real range of flavours
Annie Berger
What an incredible read, Phil. You transported me to a world I knew nothing about. The almost psychedelic green of the tea plantation, the kids begging for money with the only three words of English they know, the great disparity between the haves and the have nots – your experiences are ones I enjoyed reading about but Malawi isn’t a place I feel a desire to visit.
Phil & Michaela
Psychedelic! I tried so hard to cone up with the right adjective and you’ve hit on it! Psychedelic is indeed the word. No, Malawi has its high points but it’s not for everyone, certainly not the easiest country we’ve visited. It’s a bit too under developed to be suitable for independent travel. It needs investment. Oh, but don’t tell China…. (too late, they’re already muscling in)….
Annie Berger
Had to smile at your latter point given our own experience in Tibet!
Alison
Absolutely fascinating Phil, I love hearing about old colonial places like you’ve mentioned. I can imagine the Widow Kay as I know someone just like her. My husband’s grandfather was a traditional ex pat, leaving Poland in the 1800s and moving to China, where my mother in law was born.
As much as Widow Kay loves her life it’s amusing that she still clings to British ways.
Very much enjoying your incredible journey and fantastic photos.
Phil & Michaela
It really was like having a little peep back in time into the colonial era, Ali.