Page 20 - SoMJ Vol 74 - No 1, 2021

10 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

crossing for another hour or so until we were within shouting distance of
Chitakali. Another lift from there took us to Chisithu, just north of Mulanje, by
10 o’clock. The Mission at Chisithu had a phone that worked, and I got a call
through to a frantic Verena. Accompanied by Anne she drove down to collect
us. We were back in Limbe late Tuesday afternoon, 2 days overdue.
th
During the weekend of 8-10 March 1991, according to the
Meteorological Office, Fort Lister had 24 inches of rain - equivalent to, for
example, London’s ration for a whole year!
The official death toll exceeded 500. President Banda flew over the area
and Parliament immediately declared a State of Emergency. The international aid
community rose to the occasion. The official Government verdict was “Act of
God.” The local population was certain, however, that the disaster was the work
of Napolo, the Big Snake, who had become very angry.
Many district roads were destroyed, due to the flooding. Consequently,
the Kombi was stranded for a month. Finally, I received word from the Mulanje
police that they had managed to get a Land Rover through to Fort Lister via
Muloza. The Kombi was still there. They had seen it from a helicopter. The Rev.
Peter Garland took me down in the LEPRA SWB Land Rover the following
weekend and we made it to the Forestry depot by using new bush tracks through
the forest. We returned in convoy along the same route.

John Killick added: -
Whilst there was considerable run-off from Mchese, as witnessed by the
swept-away bridges, the greatest volume of water came off Mlanje via the
Phalombe river. Evidence of similar disasters in the past is found in the dry and
boulder-strewn river courses that I knew when I lived in the Fort Lister Gap.
These, collectively, are called Napolo by the locals. The difference on this
occasion was the widespread cultivation and the building of houses in the flood
zone of the Phalombe River and its tributaries. Later in the year I heard from two
separate reputable sources, when discussing the disaster, that with similar
devastation way back in the past, the cause was Napolo’ s great displeasure, which
made him leave the mountain. The next question was to determine the cause of
his anger and it was agreed that azungu were to blame by wandering over the
th
mountain without due respect. A decade later, the Malawi News of 9 December
2002 carried an article associating a more recent incident on the Phalombe Road
with the ‘Spirits of Mulanje Mountain’.

Verena Petzold recalled: -
In Blantyre, it had rained and rained! Anne and I felt quite snug in the shelter of
our homes and pitied “the silly blokes”. When Sunday evening came and no
returnees, we were not over-concerned and reckoned that the rivers were too high
for them to cross and go back to the car at Fort Lister, and therefore they were
“forced” to spend another night on their beloved mountain. However, when the