MT MABU, MOZAMBIQUE: - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Biodiversity of Mt Mabu, Mozambique, page 14
3. HISTORY AND EARLY COLLECTING
3.1 Early History
We have not been able to find any reports of early colonial explorers noting or visiting the
Mabu massif, at least in the British sources that describe the exploration of Mt Namuli and
travels across northern Mozambique to southern Malawi in the latter 19 th and first half of the
20 th century (e.g. Johnson 1884, O'Neill 1884, Last 1887, Vincent 1933a).
Joseph Last, an intrepid 19th Century British traveller, carried out a lengthy journey in 1885‒
1887 from the southern Tanzania coast to Blantyre in what is now Malawi, around parts of
southern Malawi and then down to the coast at Quelimane and back to Blantyre (Last 1887,
1890, Timberlake et al. 2009). Part of this long trip involved a foot safari from Mt Namuli
down along the Rio Licungo to the coast and then, in mid-December 1886 after a few days
rest in Quelimane, upstream along the Rio Licungo to what is now Mocuba, along the Rio
Lugela and through the hilly country north of Lugela town to what is now Namarroi. From
there he walked along the Rio Luo entering Malawi just south of Lake Chilwa (Chirwa) and
north of Mt Mulanje, arriving in Blantyre on 14 January 1887. Unfortunately, in the account
published by his sponsors, the Royal Geographical Society (Last 1887), he hardly mentions
the Lugela leg of this trip. The route he took is shown on a subsequent map (Last 1890,
portion shown in Figure 5). However, despite attempts to match the Lugela portion with
present 1:250,000 and 1:50,000 map sheets, his route could not be traced except in fairly
broad terms.
All that can be said is that Last left the Rio Lugela heading north upstream of present-day
Mocuba (not marked on his map) somewhere between Mt Cuba/Murra (16 o 40'S, 36 o 50'E) and
just upstream of the Xilusi‒Lugela confluence (16 o 32'S, 36 o 38'E). From there he made his
way between the hills west of Mt Mavigue ("Mavugwe", 16 o 22'S, 36 o 45'E), passing east of
what is now Muabana but west of Mt Muiane ("Mwiani",16 o 02'S, 36 o 37'E), and then crossing
the present-day Rio Mucodi soon after, some 30 km west of Namarroi, before travelling along
the Rio Luo. Thereafter he followed the Luo westwards towards Malawi, which he entered
just south of Lake Chilwa (Chirwa).
In those days, fixing longitude was not easily done and distances were estimated from time
spent walking, so many distortions are apparent in the 1890 map (Figure 5). Thus it has not
been possible to identify more than a very few of the hills or other points it shows, and the
relative positions of peaks seem highly distorted compared to present-day maps. However,
although it seems fairly certain that of the early recorded travellers Last perhaps came closest,
he did not pass close to Mt Mabu or see it (despite an intriguingly-named peak "Mapu
H"[hill] on his 1890 map), or travel along the route of the present-day Tacuane‒Muabana
road. Unfortunately, in his account there is also no mention of the type of country he passed
through, the people or the life in these areas, or even whom he went with.
Earlier, in 1884, Daniel Rankin and H.E. O'Neill (then the British Consul on Mozambique
Island) plus 23 porters, walked from Blantyre to Quelimane along an existing and significant
trade route to see how quick and effective that route was to the coast (Rankin 1885). It took
them just 39 days. At the time there was concern that the Rio Zambezi was becoming less
passable to boats owing to river silting, and that this route into the important new settlements
of Blantyre and Zomba in southern Malawi could be easily cut by hostile forces. Their route
passed south of the Mulanje massif, across the headwaters of the Rio Lugela but kept to
higher ground until it met the Rio Tetema. From here it followed the river down to the
Munguze ("Mulongusi") confluence and then down the Rio Licuare ("Likwati") to
Quelimane. However, this route, also shown on Last's map (Last 1990), passes quite a long
way south of Mt Mabu.