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COLLECTING CICHLIDS: IN MY AFRICAN DREAM

Text and photographs by Steve Thompson
First published in the Cichlid Circular, New South Wales Cichlid Society, Australia
Aquarticles

Many years ago when I first started keeping African cichlids I read stories and saw early photographs of Lake Malawi and its fishes. I dreamt that one day I would go and see for myself the fish in their natural habitat never thinking then that it would become a reality. About ten years ago I remember discussing with Alan Dekker, a friend and fellow cichlid enthusiast, our ambition to one day visit the lake. After many setbacks, usually due to marriage or divorce, Alan and I finally decided about 18 months ago that nothing was going to get in the way of our trip. So we started making plans to go in September/October '98, which is the best time to visit Lake Malawi because the water is usually very clear as it's the end of the dry season and the wet doesn't start until mid November. We started off by making contact with Stuart Grant, the well known fish collector and exporter on the lake, through his E-mail address, we asked him many questions about how to get there, what to bring, means of transport etc. Although Stuart was very responsive to our inquiries he couldn't really give us much advice. Just telling us to pack light and suggesting that we look him up if or when we ever got there. I did pack very light, only taking a minimum amount of clothing, a lightweight sleeping bag, a bedroll, mosquito net, my camera, snorkelling gear and a few other essentials all fitting into a medium size backpack.

The first thing we did was book a return airfare to Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, and then found out how we were going to get up to Malawi once we were in Africa. The rest of this article I'll write on a day to day basis as I wrote in my diary.

DAY 1 We departed Sydney at 9.20am and had a stopover in Perth and again in Johannesburg. It was a long flight, about 20 hours flying time. We arrived in Harare at 9.20pm and got a taxi to one of the many backpacker lodges. One of the most important items we brought with us was a Lonely Planet Guide Book. It listed all the backpacker hostels in Zimbabwe and Malawi, and rated them accordingly. It certainly proved to be an invaluable asset. We could hardly believe we were actually in Africa but still managed a good night's sleep after such a long flight.

DAY 2 We woke to a beautiful warm sunny day in Harare. The temperature was 32 degrees but it is a very dry heat, not at all humid like Sydney. Harare is a beautiful modern city with nice parks and gardens and great markets where you can buy inexpensive stone and wood carvings. We went and booked our flight up to Lilongwe, capital of Malawi. The open ended return flight was only $83 US. It would have cost a lot more if we booked it in Australia.

DAY 3 Our flight wasn't until 5.25pm, so in the morning we went to a game park and saw some lions and cheetahs. Which I suppose is what most people come to Africa to see but all we were interested in was getting up to the lake. In the afternoon I had a bit of drama whilst writing some postcards at the post office. I put my wallet down on the counter and whilst being distracted a hand reached over the counter and grabbed my wallet. Luckily Alan, a seasoned traveller, was aware of what was going on and caught the guy in the act. I have to be much more careful in future. Our afternoon flight arrived in Lilongwe at 6.25pm. We stayed at a cheap rest house near the bus depot. Lilongwe is very different from Harare, upon arrival you immediately become aware of how poor Malawi is in comparison to Zimbabwe.

DAY 4 Another hot dry day. We decided to go to Cape Maclear first because we thought it would be easy to get to. After all it is a National Park and tourist destination, or so we thought! We decided to hire a car to drive the 200kms. Buses are okay if you don't mind sharing with chooks, goats and about 60 or 70 natives on a bus that's intended to seat 40. We set off on the road to HELL! Huge pot holes that would swallow a double decker bus, and the road was washed out in several locations. About 70 kms of the road was more like a goat track and it took us 5 hours to travel the 200kms. We arrived at Cape Maclear at about 1pm. We drove in through Chembe Village, which is a fishing village right on the lake. We were very hot and dusty and the smell of drying fish on racks that greeted us was almost overpowering. It was a huge shock when we first arrived. There were no tourists, only a few backpackers and no hotels, only mud huts with thatched roofs, certainly not the tourist destination I expected it to be. The accommodation was very basic, just one room with two beds and no electricity; but it was cheap, only $2.50 US per night for both of us, and it was right on the lake foreshore looking directly across to Thumbi West Island.

We threw our backpacks in our room and grabbed our snorkelling gear and headed for the water. Not realising we had to run a gauntlet of native boys wanting to hire us their dugout canoes and sell us trinkets. We finally managed to negotiate a price for a couple of the boys to take us out to Mitande Rocks which is just off the front of Thumbi West Island. Our first dive was unbelievable! It way surpassed our wildest expectations. We couldn't believe the variety of fish and how close we could get to them, they were just everywhere. I was finally IN MY AFRICAN DREAM.

We saw beautiful 'B.B.Zebras', 'Red cheek Tropheops', L.fuellborni, L.trewavasae, L.frieri, M.johanni, M.exasperatus, Ps.aurora, 'Cobalt Zebras', F.rostratus, T.macrostoma, C.euchilus, Ps.livingstoni, C.jacksoni, C.morrii, C.afra, P.elongatus, M.auratus, M.vermivorous, Petrotilapia, P.spilonotus and so many other species we just couldn't identify. And that was just in a 1 hour dive. The colours were so vivid, it was like snorkelling on the Barrier Reef. Absolutely amazing! We were just blown away. We went back and sat on the beach, had a couple of beers but couldn't stop talking, we were still so excited.

On the beach we met some other aquarists from Denmark and they said they'd been in Malawi for 3 weeks and had been staying at Stuart Grant's. I said "Are you with Ad Konings?" They said "Yah." I said "Where is he?" They said "Right next to you." WOW! The first day here and we meet Ad Konings. We couldn't believe our luck. He was only staying at Cape Maclear for one night. We talked with him and the three Danes for a couple of hours and he invited us to join them for pizzas and beers later that evening. What an amazing first day at Cape Maclear. Our initial disappointment was soon forgotten. Can't wait for tomorrow.

DAY 5 Didn't sleep very well. I think I was still so excited at finally being here. We joined Ad and the others for breakfast and later bid our farewell and said we'd catch up with them the following week at Stuart Grant's. Alan and I did a deal with two of the locals for a day at Thumbi West Island with a fish BBQ on the Island for lunch. We snorkelled for hours and saw lots of Sand-dwellers with huge sand nests belonging to Dimidiochromis kiwinge and large Lethrinops species. We saw one 'Blue Peacock' and over some reed beds we watched Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus feeding. Also Polystigma and Linni feeding on Mbuna fry. We also saw a lot of what we'd seen on the first day. We're still amazed at how close we can get to the fish. Sometimes you have to push them away because they get too close to photograph.

DAY 6 After spending 6 or 7 hours snorkeling yesterday we decided to do something a bit different. Today we hired a motorboat and went up the Lake a few kilometres to see some hippos. We only saw about six hippos and they only popped their heads up very briefly. We couldn't get very close, maybe only 50 metres, as they may attack the boat. More people are killed by hippos every year in Africa than by any other animal. On our way back we did some more snorkeling over sand and saw more Polystigmas, Oxyrhynchus and Lethrinops. We ended the day with fish and rice for dinner. After another long hot day in the African sun you become quite exhausted, so we retired early.

DAY 7 Today we took a dugout to Domwe Island and Ilala Gap, it's about 2 to 3 kms. It took about an hour of very hard paddling but we made it. It was very different around Domwe Island to the underwater habitats we'd seen elsewhere. The water around Domwe Island was very deep with huge boulders surrounding the Island.

We saw various Utaka, some O.B. Tropheops both males and females and a beautiful elongatus with yellow on the body and tail. In the channel between Domwe Island and Cape Maclear Headland, known as Ilala Gap, we saw Protomelas labridens and some very large male Rostratus in full colour. Around Cape Maclear headland we also saw lots of 'Blue Peacocks' which were quite deep therefore making them challenging to photograph. We also encountered very colourful Pseudotropheus microstoma which I remember having in my aquarium about 20 years ago; it's a pity they're now lost to the hobby in Australia. We saw so many brilliantly coloured Mbuna and they were so common that we had to remind ourselves not to take them for granted.

We had more fish and rice for dinner and now realise there's not much variety as far as food is concerned here at Cape Maclear. At least we're eating healthily - no Maccas or KFC around here!

DAY 8 Alan went on his first scuba dive today with a young couple who run a dive school at Cape Maclear. She's a fellow Aussie and he's a South African who both fell in love with Malawi, whilst travelling around Africa, and decided to settle down and start a business on the lake. I went out on the dive boat with them and we dived on the other side of Thumbi West Island at a place called Free Anchor Bay. It was here I saw my first 'Electric Blue' male in full colour and a beautiful 'marmalade cat' L.trewavasae. When Alan surfaced from his dive he said he saw a pair of Kampangos, a very large catfish, guarding fry in a large crater nest. He said the fish were over a metre long.

Later that afternoon we decided to take a kayak to Otter Point and Otter Island. We thought it would be easy. Wrong! We managed to capsize it before we'd even gone 50 metres. We did eventually get the hang of it and managed to get to Otter Point.

The great thing about staying at Cape Maclear is the fact that there are so many great dive sites within a few kilometres of each other and yet each island has fish fauna which is unique only to that area. The most prominent fish found at Otter Point is a Tropheops species called the "Gold Otter" with both males and females being bright yellow, a really beautiful fish. Another species that I saw was a beautiful male Nyassachromis which had a bright blue head and yellow body, possibly N. prostoma. On our way back it became quite windy and the water was very choppy we thought we were going to capsize the kayak again. We didn't, and made it back safely, more good luck than skill. When the wind blows on the lake the waves can get quite big and it's best not to venture too far from the shore. For dinner tonight we had some spare ribs. I'm not really sure what they were spare ribs of, but they tasted alright so I didn't bother to ask. It has got to be better than fish and rice every day.

DAY 9 After spending a week a Cape Maclear we thought it was time to head on up to Kambiri Point to see Stuart Grant. We tried telephoning him several times to let him know we were coming but the phone never seemed to work, so we just thought we'd lob up and see what happens. We arranged a lift out of Cape Maclear in the back of a ute with about ten other backpackers. It was a hot, dusty rough ride but good fun. It took about 3 ½ hours to reach Salima which is about 20 kms from Stuart Grant's. We started walking hoping to hitch a ride, and after we had been walking for about ½ hour a woman picked us up and asked "Where are you going?" We said "Stuart Grant's." She laughed and said "I'm Stuart's wife." Again we couldn't believe our luck. She dropped us off at her restaurant, called the 'Red Zebra' near Senga Bay, where we waited for her while she attended a chief's funeral. When we did finally get to Stuart's I don't think he could quite believe that we'd actually made it all the way from Australia, he did seem a bit surprised. Even though we arrived unannounced he made us welcome and told us to look around and make ourselves at home. Later that evening Ad arrived back from a trip he'd just completed across the lake into Mozambique. With him were the three Danes, Mary Bailey from England, Ryan a young American and Martin Geerts a friend of Ad's from Holland. When I was sitting at the dinner table that evening, with Stuart at the head of the table, Ad Konings on his right hand side, and Mary Bailey on the other side, I felt it was a very humbling experience being in the presence of arguably the most celebrated and well known cichlid people in the World and one that I will never forget. Also at the table were Stuart's wife, Ester, Irv Kornfield, a well known ichthyologist and his assistant, Ryan, Martin and the three Danes,

DAY 10 We made arrangements with Stuart and Ad to go up to Mbenji Island the next day. We spent most of the day looking around Stuart's holding tanks, fascinated by the variety of fish we saw from locations all over the lake, and just relaxing.

DAY 11 Departed Kambiri Point at 8am for Mbenji Island on Stuart's boat, the Lady Louise, named after Stuart's daughter. The trip took about 4 hours. In a 1 hour dive we saw the real 'Mbenji Red top Zebra,' not Ps.greyshakei which we were calling Mbenji when they first came into the country, Ps. Barlowi, a nice yellow type of elongatus, and a yellow tropheops with a blue blaze on its head called 'Mbenji yellow,' and Ps.lombardoi. It was a great dive although the water wasn't as clear as Cape Maclear. On the way back to Kambiri Point Alan got a bit sea sick, he is yet to find his sea legs, he didn't throw up though which was a bonus. We had another great day!

DAY 12 Stuart made arrangements for us to catch the Ilala Ferry up to Likoma Island. It was supposed to leave Chipoka at 5pm and travel all night up to Likoma. However, when we arrived at Chipoka they said the ferry hadn't left Monkey Bay yet. Apparently the ferry was waiting for fuel. We decided to get a room at the local rest house to wait for the ferry which wasn't expected for at least another 8 hours.

DAY 13 The ferry still hadn't arrived by 6am and we only had a few days left before our flight left for Harare so we decided to return to Cape Maclear. We returned to Cape Maclear via various means of transport including bus, mini bus and ute, arriving by mid afternoon. When we arrived back in Chembe Village everyone was pleased to see us return, they were all shouting "Hey Aussies!"  It felt like a welcoming home committee.

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DAY 14 Cool day today, just relaxed on the beach. Malawians are a very friendly happy people. We spend more time hanging out with the locals than with other tourists. We feel like we have been accepted by the local people and have adapted to Chembe Village way of life. It is a very relaxed lifestyle with most of the activities centred around the lake foreshore. The lake provides the locals with food and water. They really are blessed with a wonderful way of life. I hope it stays an unspoiled paradise for many years to come.

DAY 15 Today we tried to paddle a dugout canoe by ourselves out to Thumbi West Island. We thought it can't be that difficult. Oh yes it can! We just kept going around in circles. We had all the locals shouting instructions to us from the beach and laughing their heads off. We did manage to get there in a round about sort of way. We were absolutely exhausted when we got back. We had another fish BBQ on the beach then I went to bed about 9pm. There isn't much to do after dark as there is no electricity. I write most of my diary entries in the evening whilst holding a torch under my chin.

DAY 16 Alan and I hired a boat today to take us out to Mumbo Island which lies about 6kms offshore. It was a great dive and we saw many different species including a pure white Labidochromis, a nice type of Tropheops called 'Tropheops Lilac', also a male Echilus in full colour and lots of different Utaka. We had more fish and rice for dinner. I would just about KILL for a nice rump steak.

DAY 17 - OUR LAST FULL DAY AT THE LAKE.  I tried windsurfing today. I wasn't very good but it was great fun. We went for another dive at Otter Point. The water wasn't very clear because it had been windy. I was fortunate enough to see a pair of Tilapia redallii, a species which is usually only found around river outlets and is the only non-endemic substrate spawning cichlid found in Lake Malawi. That evening a couple of local boys cooked us a duck on the beach as a treat because it was our last night at Cape Maclear. Because it was our last day I gave them my snorkelling gear. Diving equipment is almost impossible to buy in Malawi. Owning snorkelling gear will enable them to earn an income by taking tourists out and showing them the fish. It was surprising how little most of the people who visited Cape Maclear knew about the cichlids in the lake. We found that most people just stopped off at Cape Maclear, as they travelled through Africa, for a few days R & R and to smoke the 'Malawi Wowie'.

DAY 18 It was time to leave. We felt a certain amount of sadness as we said goodbye to the friends we'd made at Cape Maclear and as we looked back from the back of the ute we vowed that one day we would return to Malawi - THE WARM HEART OF AFRICA.