Water Wellness

It’s early morning near the lakeshore, but the heat is already searing. Sweat drains from every pore and my palms have settled into a blistered grip on the axe handle, which feels much heavier than it did when I started. It’s been 20 minutes.

Carving a dugout canoe is turning out to be harder than I thought, but I am not deterred in the least. In fact, I’m loving it. Living in a fishing village near Lake Malawi is bringing me closer to the culture of the fishermen here, and the canoe is part of it. As a former fly fishing guide, I have an undying love for anything related to fishing, and am making a point of trying to learn as much as I can about this local trade.

I had been wondering how dugout canoes were made for a while, and when my neighbor mentioned that he was considering making one himself, I jumped at the idea. We agreed to split the cost so that I could learn how it’s done and my partner, Bonface, could procure an extra canoe for his fishing business. After a bit of searching, we found a large mango tree that a nearby grandmother was willing to sell, and hired some guys to cut it down. We were committed.

Limuli Mwalwimba is a master dugout canoe carver. We hired him to spearhead the work, with me as his humble understudy. I had hoped to do most of the carving, but it rapidly became clear that I lacked both the skill and the stamina to see the project through solo. I consider myself fairly fit, and I’d wager that I can wield an axe with more dexterity than most city boys, but out here that doesn’t count for much. Limuli carves canoes for a living and looks carved out of wood himself. He doesn’t swing as quickly as I do, but every blow cleaves a wooden chunk the size of a brick from the former tree. That appears to be his secret: slow and methodical, making every blow count for four or five of my own. He never misses.

This weekend we finished the canoe. In between work, I made it to the canoe whenever I could, but my modest efforts didn’t amount to much. In the end, it was Limuli’s work that we carried to the lake in an oxcart yesterday, but I was no less elated. Bonface and I are now the proud owners of a brand new dugout canoe, who’s freshly cut wood gleams in the sunlight. My career as a Lake Malawi fisherman has begun.