I've finally managed to wend my way through the minefield of converting GoPro footage and uploading to YouTube, so I'll try to post a few clips of the footage I took on my recent trip to Malawi.
First up - some footage of a Nimbochromis livingstonii I filmed at Lion's Cove. This shows the hunting behavior of these fish - flopping down in the silt, looking like a dead fish, and waiting for prey to come in close. I suspect our proximity was making her a bit unsettled which is why she moved around a bit. A Nimbochromis linni makes a brief appearance at the end of the clip.
Click green F button at top leftish and select media, then stick in the whole link.
That livingstoni was a bit undecided about where the best place to play dead was. He never seemed to really get in the groove. Is that kind of period typical or do you think having an audience put him off his game?
There were two of us filming her, so I suspect we were making her nervous. The livingstonni and linni actually swam off together and I followed them for some distance. I had to cut the video there because I was hooting and hollering so much - I was so thrilled to have seen that behavior, and then amazed to have got the two Nimbos in the same shot. My hooting comes across clearly on the soundtrack and is more than a little unprofessional Getting close to any of the haps was surprisingly difficult. Getting that close to one and seeing that behavior was pretty special.
I've got some footage of a bright yellow Dimi comp hunting, too. I'll try to pull that out. I also have some footage of what I believe to be a male Dimi. kiwinge protecting fry with a female. I've never seen any reference to Malawi haps involved in bi-parental behavior. Two of us saw it and came to the same conclusion independently. I'm hoping it shows on the video.
Red Empress - Protomelas taeniolatus. Filmed at Namalenje Island, Lake Malawi, 7th Sep 2014
We’d been in Malawi for 5 days and it had been blowing a gale the whole time since we’d arrived. It had been blowing hard for the week before that, too. For five whole days we had been sitting at Cool Runnings Lodge, looking out over the lake towards Namalenje Island, longing to go for a dive. Conditions just wouldn’t let us. I’d go to bed at night looking out at that island, and it would be the first thing I’d see when I woke up in the morning. It just sat there taunting us.
On the last afternoon before we had to leave to head to Red Zebra Lodge and the start of our diving trip proper, the wind dropped. Three of us jumped in a boat and raced over there.
The boat dumped us on the island, and I was kitted up and ready to go in milliseconds. The other two were new divers and were taking their time. I jumped into a small rock pool and just stood in the shallow water. Looking down I was surrounded by hundreds of brightly coloured mbuna, with some even coming up and nibbling my feet. That image will be a memory that will stay with me forever. There were a bunch of European tourists on the island at the time. I wonder what they thought about this idiotic woman in her 40’s standing knee deep in a rock pool, encased in neoprene, shrieking in excitement like a four year old child.
Visibility was dreadful after a fortnight of wind, but that dive was really special. It was my first dive in the biggest Malawi aquarium of them all.
Most of the guys on the trip learnt to dive just to go to Malawi, and hadn't dived other than the course dives. The boat diving was easy. The "boat boys" filled tanks, helped set up gear and get us kitted up. Roll entries off the boat into the water. Other than one dive site where we experienced very strong currents, the dives themselves were very gentle. At most sites you can chose to stay shallow if you want to. In previous years some of the participants have been non-divers. There is still lots to see in the shallows on snorkel.
Here's a short clip from Nhkata Bay, Lake Malawi, showing that it’s not the calm body of water many people think it is. And this was a relatively gentle day - it gets MUCH worse than this!!
The lake is affected by tides, and there can be quite strong currents as we found at one dive site. Standing on the beach it has the sound and the feel of being at the ocean. The sheer size of the place really struck me when we travelled from Kande Island to Taiwanee Reef. That’s not much more than half the way across the lake, and it took us 5 ½ hours by boat. If you know the shape of the lake, it’s extremely long and narrow. It’s a massive body of water.
