Katy Piddock's Climbing Blog: More Bouldering in Malawi

Having lived in Malawi for a short while, one thing is for sure…there are a huge number of boulders! On almost every journey out of Blantyre, I found myself gazing out of the window at boulder fields, I just wish I had more time to explore.

Soche

Our main bouldering destination was Soche. This is located within Blantyre and easily accessible from the city. Matt Fitton has produced a great guide to this area (Malawi’s first ever bouldering guide), which is available via this link on the Mountain Club of Malawi’s website. To say we have only scratched the surface is an understatement, there is just so much potential for development.

The approach from Chambe

Chambe

During a holiday at the end of my trip, I was able to explore some of the other bouldering areas. With a bit of guess-work, Ryan and I found ourselves in Chambe, at the base of Mount Mulanje. From the dirt-road through Chambe, we picked out some boulders that looked decent and headed towards them with the help of a guide.

Picking boulders to try...

This was definitely adventure bouldering and we stumbled across all sorts, from great-looking untouched lines to snake skins. We were never quite sure what would be around the corner. We were somewhat limited by our 1 crash pad, not to mention the distance to healthcare, so had to leave behind many tempting highballs.

Warming up at Chambe

Ryan climbing at Chambe

However, we did manage to find some good problems and had a few hours exploring before the sun was too hot and our skin was finished. One potential limitation of the bouldering in Malawi is how rough the rock is, but for people with tougher fingertips, this might not be a problem and I still enjoyed the climbing!

There is a lot to explore around Chambe. The amazing scenery at the base of Mount Mulanje was also a bonus, as were the pools at Likhubula to cool off in at the end of the day.

Fresh water pools at Likhubula

Domwe Island

Domwe island in lake Malawi is definitely a gem worth seeking out on the Malawi tourist trail. We fitted in 2 very relaxing days here. Although we didn’t go with climbing in mind, we found some boulders anyway and I wouldn’t go anywhere new without my climbing shoes.

Beach bouldering on Domwe Island, Lake Malawi

With a sarong instead of a bouldering mat, we enjoyed finding some problems on a big beach boulder with a sandy landing, including super crimpy slabs and gentle laybacks. It looks like there are some boulders worth checking out around Cape Maclear as well.

Searching for the next crimp, Domwe bouldering

Malawi climbing tips:

Mats - Bring your own and expect highballs (Some airlines allow 2 pieces of hold luggage).

Getting around – a 4x4 is a must, exploring the climbing would be very difficult on public transport.

Schistosomiasis - Don’t go to lake Malawi without knowing about Bilharzia.

Guides - Around Mulanje you will generally be approached by guides offering to take you up the mountain. We found that the concept of bouldering was understandably confusing to locals, and people often came up to us to point out the easy way (the descent) to get to the top of a boulder. A guide could be useful to get you to boulders, provided that you can get across the idea that you want to go to the small rocks and not up the mountain. A guide could also arrange someone to watch over your car.