Flying Adventure: Victoria Falls – Day 3 (FQVL – FWCL – FWCM):

It is a beautiful morning to proceed to the next destination of our flying adventure.
Today’s flight should take us to the Makokola Retreat outside Mangochi on the shores of Lake Malawi, with a technical stop at Chileka Blantyre.

A cloudless sky is forecasted for the entire route, but one challenge remains. Chileka is under Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) this morning, due to haze and low visibility of only 4 km.

It is forecasted to improve slightly to 6 km, which would be just above Visual minima.
It is a long flight over very remote territory, and places for re-fueling are extremely scarce along this route. Not very convenient in case we cannot fly into Chileka.

This therefore requires some careful planning over breakfast and a cup of coffee at the beach. Pretty nice planning that is.

Coastal flight from Vilanculo to Beira

With some solid options at hand, we are soon on our way. Immigration and customs are quickly cleared and we are ready for departure.
We take off in a southerly direction and turn out over the main beach of Vilanculo.

We then set course to fly low level along the coast to Beira. It’s a fantastic day to fly, at least for now, and explore this stunning part of the world from the air. This is a fairly remote stretch of coast without any main road passing along and only a few small settlements.
There are not many alternative options to explore this coastline in any similar way.

Through the interior to Malawi

From Beira, we route inland and along the Gorongosa National Park towards the Zambezi and the border with Malawi.

As we proceed further north, conditions are becoming increasingly hazy.
The rainy season is to start in November and farmers are burning the dry grass and shrub on the fields in preparation for planting their crop. It is this smoke (solid particles in the air are referred to as aerosols) that is creating the intense haze and the very poor visibility.
We initially climb a bit higher to safely clear some of the lower mountain ranges as we enter Malawi. It would not be very pleasant to see a mountain only when you are too close to turn or climb over.

Here is some footage of our flight along the coast and over the Zambezi into a very hazy Malawi.

There are some fairly high mountains around Blantyre. We can see the ground, but hardly anything ahead of us. In aviation this is called oblique visibility. As we cannot climb above the layer of haze, we descent lower to increase our visibility. To be safe we follow the Shire River through the valley, and after some initial difficulties to get hold of the tower at Chilka, follow a road towards the airfield. Chileka is well blended into the environment and not easy to spot in these hazy conditions.
It is also always good to remember, that with haze, objects appear further away than what they actually are. Particularly helpful when approaching for landing.

Chileka to the Makokola Retreat on Lake Malawi

From Chileka it will be a long way until we can again re-fuel. Therefore we also fill some jerry cans to ensure we can fill up later at our last destination for the day and be prepared for the next longer leg.
Immigration proceedings and flight plan filing is an easy process as we are the only flight on ground. Soon we take off again for a last short leg of about 45 minutes to Mangochi.

From the airstrip we can take a short walk into the reception area of the Makokola Retreat, where we check in for the next two nights.
Club Makokola is a fantastic place to stay at Lake Malawi and the newly added lake side chalets are superb.

We also spend day 4 of our tour at Club Makokola to enjoy the immaculate lake beach and relax in this peaceful surrounding.

Despite all the activities Club Makokola has to offer its residents, he opted to also get out of the resort and explore what chores the people in the local village are up to during a sweltering hot afternoon.
It is very little, as expected. But if you are out on the lake fishing the whole night and all of that solely with muscle power and no engine, then it is by all means fair enough to hang around in the afternoon and relax in the scarce shade.