It was not just a tour of Africa, but a real hunt for the legendary Malawi Gold, which burns brains like the African sun. Imagine: three cannabis hunters and their brave team with operators and a guide running down dusty roads, risking everything to save the ancient seeds from extinction. The world’s purest cannabis adrenaline on wheels!
Malawi is a very special African country: one of the poorest countries in the world, with the highest child mortality, yet it is almost not involved in the endless African wars, and remains the most hospitable.
Malawi is barely populated, and recently opened for tourism. People do not walk the streets with bazookas. Aborigines are usually peaceful, smoke a lot of stuff and very friendly. The country’s main attraction is Lake Malawi, the third largest lake in Africa. They say that Malawi is the third largest producer of cannabis in Africa. It is just after Morocco and South Africa. On average, Malawi produces twelve and a half million kilograms of weed per year. Most of the goods are sold for export to other African countries and to Europe.
The government of Malawi has problems that need to be dealt with: malaria, hunger, health care, education, and the cannabis industry is largely ignored. Accordingly, the growers remain virtually unnoticed by the authorities. Most of the cannabis grown here grows in the north and center of the country. Usually fields are located in valleys and hills surrounded by woodland, away from cities and roads. Most of the time you can get there only on foot, after a long walk. Trees and rugged terrain are a natural camouflage for plantations, and it is impossible to detect them without the help of local guides.
Sown here from November to December, and harvest between April and May. Harvest is dried in place, and then taken on shoulders or carried on mules to the storerooms. And they already organize the delivery by trucks, and sometimes even by helicopters and small planes. Most of the money is sitting in the hands of international smugglers. The growers themselves make a pittance to feed, renovate their homes and send their children to school. Usually one ganja field is cultivated by several families, and sometimes a whole village, after which the profits are shared among all who helped.
Aryan, Simon and Franco made their first short reconnaissance trip to the country in February. Then they came back in April, already with the film crew to make a movie. They have arrived in Lilongwe, the local capital, where traffic chaos reigns. The next big thing: jeeps, dust everywhere, and a mission to find the purest weed in Africa!
This time the journey was a road trip of those that make your heart beat! In Lilongwe they had an acclimatization, meetings with local guides who know all the paths. Then the group moved north to the Nkhotakota District, where Lake Malawi shines like a sapphire and the hills hide secret plantations of excellent ganja. The guys were cheering in the villages by the lake, talking to grandmothers who smoke this stuff since childhood, and climbing steep slopes looking for wild bushes.
Malawi growers usually sow the field with seeds, not seedlings. At the same time, they do not remove the seed from the buds. On the one hand, this allows to stock up on seed material for the next year; on the other hand — seeds are the heaviest part of the plant, so farmers get more money.
Aryan was able to obtain seeds from different regions of Malawi, represented by different phenotypes of the local variety. Interestingly, each phenotype went through a long process of inbreeding in the same area. The fact is that in Malawi seeds are usually put into the soil in piles of 30-40 pieces, so that 2-3 of the strongest sprouts grow out of the others, weaker ones, which are then pulled out. In addition, the plants here are quite far from each other, so different inbreds cross internally for decades without receiving a genetic load from outside, not mixing with other phenotypes.
The culmination of the trip is an expedition deep into the rural wilderness, where the roads end and the real jungle vibe begins. Hiking trails through the mountains, overnight stays in huts and a rendezvous with «golden» fields of Malawi Gold. Total mileage was about 1,000 km off-road, with stops in Mzuzu (northern hub) for refuelling and rest. The whole quest lasted a couple of weeks — from landing to collecting seeds and feedback with farmers. Like, «we are not tourists, we are plant rescuers»!
Aryana was able to obtain seeds from different regions of Malawi, represented by different phenotypes of the local variety. Interestingly, each phenotype went through a long process of inbreeding in the same area. The fact is that in Malawi seeds are usually put into the soil in piles of 30-40 pieces, so that 2-3 of the strongest sprouts grow out of the others, weaker ones, which are then pulled out. In addition, the plantings here are quite far from each other, so different inbreds cross internally for decades without receiving a genetic load from outside, not mixing with other genotypes.
The culmination of the trip is an expedition deep into the rural wilderness, where the roads end and the real jungle vibe begins. Hiking trails through the mountains, overnight stays in huts and a rendezvous with «golden» fields of Malawi Gold. Total mileage was about 1,000 km off-road, with stops in Mzuzu (northern hub) for refuelling and rest. The whole quest lasted a couple of weeks — from landing to collecting seeds and fidbeks with farmers. Like, «we are not tourists, we are plant world rescuers»!
According to local legend, cannabis appeared in Malawi almost 1500 years ago. The first seeds arrived here along with nomadic tribes from the Congo. Then they were brought by Arab merchants from Asia. Today, Malawi is home to many different phenotypes of the local seed variety Cannabis Sativa, known worldwide as Golden Malawi and Black Malawi. The names were invented in the 1970s, and come from different methods of processing and transporting grass. The cones that are fermented are wrapped in corn leaves and transported like this, after which they acquire a dark, almost black color. Non-fermented cones remain brown, with a golden tint — respectively, «Gold». In addition, this grass is also called gold because here it is the only type of farming that brings good earnings.
Cannabis in Malawi is tall, the bush looks like a typical Sativa. However, the difference between phenotypes that have been found in the country is very noticeable. On the taste they vary very widely, from strawberry-woody bitter flavors, to fruity-sweet, where mango and pineapple aromas predominate. It’s a delicacy! At the same time, the fruit bushes are increasingly branched, sprawling, while the saplings have a very long flexible stem, almost without branches. Most of the fields are covered with ash from old trees that have been burned.
The effect of smoking Gold Malawi is incredibly pure, intense and long, and yet very complex. During the trip, Franco was almost 24 hours a day awake by local grass — so much so that sometimes he missed lunch!
More fermented, Black grass, known here as «cornpot», has a very earthy, almost moldy flavor, and the inflow from it is more «gruesome», bodily. Sometimes it can be useful to compensate for the extreme inflow from non-fermented cones. Usually the crew smoked black cones in the evening, when the shooting day is over and you can relax after work.
What about the complexity? Damn, it’s not a picnic! It helped a lot that Malawi is a poor country and it’s easy to muddy there. Tobacco is expensive for the population and locals smoke cannabis like cigarettes to scare off mosquitoes. The guys were struggling with thirst, because there was water — gold, killer mosquitoes, corrupt cops. It was very difficult to convince the farmer to share the seeds without offending. Plus, logistics are complicated, the trucks break down, the cameras are wet with sweat, and Aryan and Franco are arguing over which one is cooler. But they broke through, collected a ton of seeds of the purest Malawi Gold, powerful satire with citrus flavor and the effect of take-off into orbit. According to World Bank reports, it is one of the top African varieties, and Strain Hunters have kept it for posterity!
Now about expenses — the most intriguing point! Officially budget is not advertised. But we can count ten guys for two weeks: flights from Europe to Lilongwe — 1-1.5K euros, total 15K. Jeeps and gasoline on African roads — 2-3K, and yes, off-road fuel eat very much. Accommodation — a mix of hostels for 20 euros/ night to the huts. Sure, huts are free of charge if you share stories, so total will be about 3K on all. Food and water — 2500€, there is a mango, nsima and local weed. Cameras, drones is a fat piece, lets say 15-20K . Plus bribes, guides and unexpected, like repair of the car — another 3-5K, payment to the film group exactly ten or two. Add unforeseen expenses, bribes, rental cars, drivers and other small things. The total is about 60-100K euros for the whole adventure. Not millions, like Hollywood blockbusters, but solid! It’s an investment in genes that then paid off, producing hundreds of thousands of families that now grow all over the world.
In short, Strain Hunters in Malawi is not just an expedition, but a legend: a mixture of «Indiana Jones» and «Doc on the grass». If you are an adventure fan, check out their film on YouTube — there is a mixture of grass, laughter and pure freedom vibe. Who knows, maybe the next hunt will be in your country?