>> NYIKA NATIONAL PARK

Time is of the essence if you want to experience to the full the wildness and beauty of the Nyika National Park. The approach road to the Park is in itself unforgettable, climbing the escarpment to the 2 OOOm high plateau, and affording panoramic views across the northern stretch of Lake Malawi on the way.

Four major rivers have their source high on this plateau, and descending the rugged escarpment, tumble down its spectacular waterfalls. The rolling hills of the plateau area are clothed in waving grassland, criss-crossed by small streams, and dotted with copses of rain forest growing in the folds of the hills. Beyond the high plateau is a broken landscape of inaccessible rugged escarpment, steep-sided valleys and isolated massifs.

Remote, wild and beautiful, this Park is the home of large herds of roan antelope, eland and reedbuck. During the rainy months, from November to May, they call be found grazing on the open grasslands of Ihe high plateau, unconcerned and undisturbed. Later in the year they descend to the woodlands for protection from the cold.

Zebra can be seen in vast numbers, alert and ever curious of visitors. Their crazy stripes are eminently visible against the lush green backdrop of the hills. Duiker, bushbuck and the comic warthog are regularly seen, and the less common red forest duiker can, with luck, be spotted in the forest patches.

As night falls over the plateau, keep a watchful eye open for the twitch of an ear, a swift movement in the bush. It could be a hyaena slinking past, a civet or a jackal after prey, a honey badger or a porcupine. Leopards, skilled at camouflage, will only be spotted by an alert eye.