Malawi - Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi - page 702

Entry to the nature reserve is free for customers, and homy accommodation is available at
the Tea House for US$40 per person per night including breakfast (though, unfortunately,
none of the rooms have views).
Mulanje
POP 17,000
Mulanje is famous for both its infinity of emerald-green tea plantations, and the achingly
pretty Mt Mulanje - a massif of some 20 peaks reaching over 2500m. The town has an
ATM, a bus station and little else but a few guesthouses. There are two parts to Mulanje.
If coming from the direction of Blantyre, which most travellers are, you'll first hit the
Chitakale Trading Centre Offline map (where the dirt road to Likhubula turns off the
main sealed Blantyre-Mulanje road). Here you'll find the Mulanje Infocentre Offline map
( 01-466506, 01-466466; infomulanje@malawi .net) , a PTC and two petrol stations.
Continue for 2km to Mulanje town where the main bus station, hotels and banks are all
located.
MALAWI'S CUP OF TEA
South and east of Blantyre, on the rolling hills of the Shire Highlands, the climate is ideal for growing tea, and the
area is covered with plantations (or 'estates'). The first tea bushes were imported from India during the early days
of the Nyasaland colony, and the tea production quickly became a major industry. It's now a major export crop
(along with tobacco and sugar), providing thousands of people with jobs.
As you travel along the main road between Limbe and Mulanje, the hills on either side are covered with a
patchwork of vibrant-green tea fields dotted with dense pockets of deep-green pine and palms. The tea-pickers
(men and women) work methodically through the lines of bushes, picking just a few leaves and a bud from the top
of each and throwing them into large baskets on their backs. The leaves are then transported to a tea factory where
they are trimmed and dried before being packed in bags and boxes ready for export.
It may be possible to arrange a tour of an estate and factory; simply call the estate and ask a senior manager if
it's possible to visit. The best place to start with is Satemwa Tea Estate ( 01-473500, 01-473233;
www.satemwa.com ) near the small town of Thyolo ( cho -low) on the main road between Limbe and Mulanje.
Otherwise the Mulanje Infocentre ( Click here ) at the Chitakale Trading Centre can organise tours of local es-
tates.