SATEMWA TEA ESTATE - THYOLO - MALAWI
Huntingdon House
Getting to Satemwa
by air
Blantyre (BLZ) is our closest commercial airport and is serviced by South African Airways on Wednesday & Saturdays. Ethiopian Airlines are scheduled to launch services to Blantyre in 2013 while Air Malawi offer erratic services from Johannesburg, Lilongwe, Harare and Lusaka to Blantyre.
Satemwa Estate has it's own, well maintained grass airstrip. Permission to use the strip must be obtained before arrival from the estate and is only suitable for experience pilots in light aircraft, larger aircraft should use Blantyre's Chileka International Airport and arrange a 1 hour road transfer to Satemwa through our reservations office. Please note that refueling, immigration and customs are not available at Satemwa. Ulendo Airlink can assist you with quotations for charter flights to Satemwa.
by road
Satemwa Estate is a comfortable 1 hour drive from Blantyre city centre and easily accessible by road all year. Guests traveling in a 2 wheel drive sedan are advised to contact the lodge +265(0)882599717 to check on the estates road conditions during the rains (December - April).
DIRECTIONS FROM LILONGWE
Lilongwe – Satemwa Tea Estate (approx 5 hours)
Exit Lilongwe on the M1 heading south – stay on this road all the way to Blantyre.
You may wish to stop at Dedza Pottery enroute – lovely hand made pottery items and great coffee shop.
As you arrive into Blantyre on the main M1 Road you will reach a traffic circle where you need to turn LEFT into Chileka Road. (Right takes you to the airport and straight ahead will bring you into the centre of town).
The road crosses a railway line and skirts the centre of Blantyre. Follow this road until it comes to another traffic circle approximately 5 km along the road – at this traffic circle turn left.
This takes you onto the main dual carriage road between Blantyre and Limbe. You will cross a couple of traffic circles (continue straight ahead) and then another large traffic circle which has Shoprite on your right and the Kamuzu Football Stadium on the left – continue straight on the main road which passes under the Independence arch.
You will see Toyota Malawi dealership on the right hand side of the road after the arch and will then come to another traffic circle – you need to turn left at the traffic circle and follow this road for approximately 2km as it will skirt around Limbe and avoid a lot of traffic!
After 2km you will see a Total Filling station and Admarc Head Quarters – you need to branch to the right here – it is a fairly large intersection but no traffic lights, if you see the Montfort Cathedral on the left you have gone too far!
Follow this road for approximately 2.5km and you will see the Limbe Sports / Golf Club on your left – continue past the club, down a dip and up the other side where the road splits with a road to the right heading to Thyolo and the left branch is the new Robert Mugabe Highway to Mulanje (You will see some fish made out of concrete in the middle of the road) Take the right hand road for Thyolo.
Satemwa is 28km along the Thyolo Road, starting from the Limbe / Thyolo Road roundabout. It is on the right hand side, and has a white sign with blue writing on saying Satemwa Tea Estates. After turning into the estate you will come to a security barrier. There will be an envelope at this barrier with your names on it, and all the details you will need including a map to Huntingdon House or Chawani Bungalow.
