When we arrived at Mulanje Gold Club where we would be staying for the next nights there was not much to do. At some point the resort must have been a beautiful place to be, with an indoor badminton hall and a pool which even had slides and a diving board, but because of the lack of maintenance it was all to worn out to even use. We then asked one of the porters at the hotel to show us around for some pocket money, and he was more than happy to do so. He took us through the nearby tea plantations and the local market, and showed to be a really good guide. Not only did he explain a lot of the things we saw along the way, but he also helped interact with the locals which was particularly useful when a group of 50 excited children started running after us. The next morning we drove early to the foot of Mount Mulanje which was laying at around 600 meters above sea level. It was important to be there early as we were supposed to climb 1200 height meters up to our turning point at around 1800 meters above sea level. After that we were going to walk down the other side of the mountain and have a stop at a waterfall. All that before the sun was starting to set.
The hike was tough, and our guide had told us that only 70% of his clients made it to the top, but our whole group made it up and got to enjoy the view for a short time before starting to descend. On the way down our knees were weak and our bodies sweaty, but a break and a bath in the cold waterfall helped a lot before walking the last hours down the mountain. The food in the evening tasted especially good and the sleep in the night could not have been better. It was clear that the long hike that day had had a good impact on every single one of us.
