Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Volunteering
VOLUNTEERING
Billy Riordan Memorial Trust
(
www.billysmalawiproject.org
)
The inspiring Billy Riordan Memorial Trust was set up in
memory of a young man, Billy Riordan, who drowned in the lake in 1999. The trust has
established a clinic and provides medical care in the area. The trust always needs medical
volunteers (doctors, dentists, nurses, lab technicians), and work in administration, agricul-
ture and horticulture is also available. They prefer volunteers who can commit for a min-
imum of four months.
VOLUNTEERING
Panda Garden
( 0999-140905;
www.heedmalawi.net
;
Main St, Chembe village)
Help out with art
classes (artists very welcome), gardening and bilharzia research on the lake, identifying
host- carrying snail areas (scuba divers welcome).
MUMBO ISLAND: THE ECO PEARL IN A BED OF
EMERALDS
Half an hour's putter by boat from Cape Maclear lies a mystery of a desert island cloaked in thick jungle, ballasted
by giant boulders and fringed by turquoise water so greeny-blue that it looks as if it's leapt from an ad campaign.
Welcome to Mumbo Camp (
Click here
)
, the ecoresort with a solid green soul and low-key approach to pampering.
Staff are sufficiently visible but know how not to break your Robinson Crusoe fantasy by over cossetting you.
The accommodation is simple and that's half the charm; you don't feel as if you've stepped into the pages of a
glamour magazine; rather it feels authentic - and yes, those are 1.5m monitor lizards swimming across the perfect
little inlet, and yup, that screech is a pair of noisy resident fish eagles on the hunt for chambo. The water here is per-
fect for snorkelling and kayaking (all equipment included in the price), so clear in fact, you can see swarms of
chiclid dancing like coloured jewels under the surface. But before you take to the lake or follow a well-marked trail
through the jungle, take a moment to savour your room - a safari tent with a bedouin-style ceiling billowing with a
walk-in mozzie net, brilliantly positioned for 180-degree views giving you the impression that there's no one else on
the island. And that's almost the case; there are no thumping tunes here, no tinkle of glasses, just the sound of the
lapping waves and your slowing pulse.
