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Mangochi |
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Mangochi:
The town of Mangochi is about 30 km
south of Club Makokola, it is the district headquarters and the
largest town of the area. Sir Harry Johnston founded it in 1893, it
started life as a military base from which to control the slave
trade. It is near the village of Mponda, the paramount chief of the
area and a big slave trader. He found it difficult to accept the end
of the slave trade and the rulings of the new power in the area, the
British. To help him understand the new status quo Johnston shelled
his kraal and then left a garrison to watch over him. It must be
said that after experiencing the first hostile artillery shots in
Central Africa he changed his ways very quickly!
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First World War Cannon
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| The new base was called Forte Johnston, only taking its new
name of Mangochi after independences. The town developed along the
riverfront and today we can still see a few of the old remaining
colonial buildings. In front of the police station the original
canons still stand guard! This little town was also the main navel
base for the Navy activities on the lake. In 1905 the Chancy Maples,
the missionary steamer was assembled here, she is now the oldest
floating boat on any African lake! From here the Gwendolyn set off
for her naval victorious navel encounter with the German boat. It
was the first naval battle on World War I, in fact it was a bit of a
farce. The British base had the telegraph so they had immediate
knowledge of the out brake of hostilities, while the Germans had to
relay on the massager arriving with the message from the coast. The
English captain found the German boat at its base and captured it
with out too much trouble after firing a couple of shots. The
English press received the news of the victory with great glee,
because it came to break a long period when the only news from the
front they had was of defeat and retreat in France.
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Market seen in Mangochi
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Today we can see the cannon that fired the famous shots in
the grounds of the museum. It will be relocated to the riverfront as
soon as the work on the new bridge at present under construction is
completed.
In Mangochi there is a little Lake Malawi Museum, it is and
interesting old building which explains a few fact on the geography,
history and geology of the area. It does help give a better
understanding of Malawi. Interesting is a visit to the old colonial
cemetery, a reminder of a period that has passed.
The most interesting feature of a visit to Mangochi is a
walk through the market. This is an extremely colourful place. You
can find just about anything, from food to stereos and cloths. Some
incredible deals have been got at the second hand cloths stall. Here
bales of cloths are sold and you get excellent designer cloth coming
out of them as well.
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| The most interesting stall are the traditional healers
one’s. All their ware of roots, leaves, bones, powders and bits of
animals are on show. The “Doctor” will be only to happy explain
to you how his science works. I would advice a visit to Dr.
Champion’s stall, his stall
is the biggest one along the road, and after having talked to him
you can purchase a luck bean. A rather large seed that you must keep
with you at all times and put in your bath water every time you
wash. Does it work? Well maybe…but it’s a good memento of your
visit.
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