If I prod its belly, the green lizard, the length of a runner bean and clinging to the netting on the bush tent, might scuttle away, leaving me alone with a chorus of frogs singing like a thousand xylophones backed by a wildlife orchestra with the volume turned up full. I let the little fellow be and together we absorb a starry night in Liwonde National Park, me half-wishing no-one else would discover this hideaway.

Days before you reach Liwonde, in southern Malawi, you'll be hearing about it. You could be further north, in Kasungu, eating grilled chicken on the veranda of its lodge, looking out to a dam that spreads like a mirror at the foot of the camp. Talk will inevitably turn to the park's famous elephant herd, before someone asks, "Have you been to Liwonde?".

You could be at Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve, admiring hippo families submerged in the wetlands, when a fellow safari traveller will inquire: "Not been to Liwonde yet?" Mention crocodiles to anyone in Malawi and guess their response.

Surprisingly, though, out of all the country's parks and wildlife reserves, Liwonde is the smallest in terms of game and a far cry from the famous haunts of Kenya and Co. Yet the park, established in 1972, possesses a certain something. "Liwonde does not compare to other parks in Africa," agrees Leonard D. Sefu, deputy director of Malawi's Parks and Wildlife Department, "but we believe there is quite a lot to see and appreciate."

It all boils down to the atmosphere; an Africa of storybooks, a terrain of parched mopane woodland, marshes and savannah sliced by the Shire River on its way from Lake Malawi to the Zambezi. Here are thousand-year-old baobabs, sausage trees, more than 370 species of bird, hippo, impala, waterbuck, crocodile, Ansell's beautiful antelope and around 500 elephants. True, you'd be lucky to spot lion and leopard posing for photographs but they are out there somewhere.

In 1994 two black rhino were introduced from South Africa. These have since produced a calf. Another male and female arrived last December and there are plans to welcome another pair. More wildlife is on its way, as Sefu explains: "An offer was made to reintroduce zebra. Also, the Nyasa wildebeest is extinct here - it's in Mozambique and Tanzania - so we are trying to bring it back. Buffalo will be captured in Kasungu and reintroduced here. After that we will look at other areas, over a long period of time."

For now, crocodile, hippo and elephant are the biggest draw, sighted with the naked eye by guests drinking Malawi gin and tonics on the verandas of Mvuu Camp and Wilderness Lodge.

The camp has twin-bedded tents and chalets, each blessed with a porch from where you can sit and watch vervet monkeys play. At night, hippos stride out of the river and up to the tents to feed on greenery, only a wall of thick fabric separating you from their jaws. The lodge is more exclusive, overlooking a secluded lagoon. Tents have soft furnishings, books to read by lamplight, en-suite bathrooms (Tent 5 has a sunken bath) with crunchy towels, and private verandas for a typical Hemingway experience.

Added to all this are various options for wildlife viewing: a morning or evening game drive in open four-wheel-drives; guided walks with a wildlife scout; or a boat safari up and down the Shire River.

I take a night game drive following elephant tracks and learn about the 101 uses of elephant dung (headache cures and writing paper), but there isn't a wrinkle in sight. Over sundowner drinks and peanuts on the riverbank, our group watches as an orange globe sinks into the water, coaxing out the Milky Way, the moons of Jupiter, a satellite and Scorpio curling its tail. A civet stalking a bird is caught in our headlamps, though we fail to sight a leopard, wild cat or white-tailed mongoose.

Next morning, at 5.30, I'm woken by a scout bringing tea to my tent. He reminds me about the nature walk. Before the sun reaches scorching point we have crept over cracked soil in search of Lilian's lovebird (exclusive to Malawi), Pel's fishing owl and the Palmnut vulture. Baboons are breakfasting on roots and I think I see a porcupine running past a bushpig before an elephant mother and baby approach and disappear just as quickly.

At Liwonde there are two ways to see elephant: on foot from a distance, or up close from the water on a river boat safari. So by the afternoon our boat is cruising gently past fever trees and date palms coated milky-white by cormorant droppings. Tree trunks float from the reeds and turn into Nile crocodiles, gross and fat - those spreading scaly torsos on the riverbank must be at least 15 ft long. I watch a monitor lizard dart within dining distance of a crocodile but the diner doesn't flinch. Hippos are ten-a-penny, yawning at God, the guide tells me, to show they have not eaten all the fish.

Then I witness the show of a lifetime as we round a grassy curve. Three elephant females are taking a shower, while behind us on the opposite bank a bull poses, flaring his ears to flaunt his dominance and curling his trunk to sniff the girls. Finally, a trio of bachelors, one with a crooked tusk, crash through the thorn bushes and embark on a swim. Elephants, elephants, everywhere.

So to day's end, to supper by candlelight under a baobab until a guide swinging a hurricane lamp escorts me back to my tent, treading a dried mud path dented with old leopard pawprints. Something shrieks, something hoots, something yawns, something snarls.

It's after I shut the tent door and check it twice that I notice the lizard. Finally, I prod its belly and with a leap it's gone. By morning the xylophones have disappeared too, replaced by incessant bird chatter reminding me it's time to go. On the road to Lilongwe airport, I stop at a tearoom and bump into a couple of Australian backpackers. We swap traveller's tales until I can no longer contain myself. "Have you been to Liwonde?" I ask.

Liwonde Factfile

Accommodation
Mvuu Wilderness Lodge comprises five double en suite tents, one of which is a honeymoon suite. Rates are $230 per person, per night. Mvuu Camp has 10, two-bedded walk-in tents with separate shower and toilet block, plus five two-bedded en suite brick chalets. Rates are $130 per person, per night fully inclusive. Lodge rate includes park fees,

Mvuu is open throughout the year, but during the rains (usually from January to March) access roads are closed and the camp is reached via a one-hour boat trip from Liwonde town. A new luxury safari lodge is planned for Liwonde, to be opened in late 1999 or early 2000.

Getting There
Access to Mvuu is by road from all major towns in Malawi and southern lakeshore resorts. Take the tarred main road from Lilongwe (236 km) or Blantyre (123 km), turning east just south of Liwonde town, to the crossroads. Turn right, then left and keep going for 3km. A dirt track then leads north across a railway line and into the park.

River transfers are available from Liwonde barrage or Kudya, or downstream from Lake Malombe by prior arrangement with the park. Liwonde also has an airstrip suitable for light aircraft.

Published in Travel Africa Edition Eight: Summer 1999 Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)