In the Spotlight - Malawi
Hazukashii
In the Spotlight – Malawi
By Ed “Hazukashii” Howell
10 May 2023
Malawi – The Warm Heart of Africa. This phrase has become synonymous with Malawi due to their friendly people, the amazing landscapes, and the abundant wildlife. Or, it could just be that Malawi means ‘flames’ in the local language. Actually, they both are true, I found Malawi very warm and welcoming on a recent visit. Unfortunately, Malawi has languished with a sluggish agrarian based economy, and a less than optimal education system, over the past several decades since gaining its independence from the United Kingdom in 1964. The capital city is Lilongwe.
Malawi is a landlocked country, but Lake Malawi makes up a significant portion of it eastern national borders with Tanzania and Mozambique, while it also shares a border on the west with Zambia. Malawi is a long skinny country measuring over 800 kilometers north to south, while only varying between 10 to 160 kms east to west. “Lake Malawi is particularly renowned for its remarkable biodiversity—an enormous range of fish species inhabit the lake, most of them endemic—and its southern region, as part of Lake Malawi National Park, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
As you might expect, the Hash House Harriers has found its way to Malawi, when Robin Foster-Brown founded the Lilongwe H3, assisted by Garry Tullidge, on 14 July 1985. This hash club is still active, and recently hosted the Pan Africa Hash on the shores of Lake Malawi, at Senga Bay.
The Blantyre H3 was founded in June of 1986, by Chick Twyman, along with Noel Windrim and Bill Sutcliffe, but is no longer active. Also no longer active, the Zomba H3 was founded by Bill Drake and Bert Lay Tu in 1990. There is, however, one other active hash club, the Lilongwe Full Moon H3, founded by Ain’t Ze Bush on 17 January 2022. He was assisted by Bimboy and Clitoria.
I recently had the pleasure to travel to Malawi for the afore mentioned Pan Africa Hash last month, it was a most excellent event. The gaggle of over 100 hashers arrived in Lilongwe in time to meet and greet old friends for a night on the town. Early Friday morning, we boarded busses for the two-hour ride out to Senga Bay. After checking in, and getting sorted, we gathered for the Red Dress Run that weaved its way through the local village, the first of three trails we would enjoy over the weekend. The main event trail on Saturday was highlighted by a long climb up the tallest mountain in the area, with the walkers meandering back to the venue, while the long runners got a boat ride from trails end up the coast. The hangover trail on Sunday crisscrossed the trails from Friday and Saturday, to give us another opportunity to enjoy this lake side paradise.
On Monday morning, most of us were back on the bus for the long bus ride back to the airport, and to even longer flights back home. Including stops in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia, it was a great month of hashing, exploration, and appreciating the amazing wildlife and other natural wonders of southeastern Africa. I highly recommend any one of these countries for your future travel destinations.
For many more articles like this on the history of hashing, check out . . . http://gotothehash.net/history/inthespotlight.html