‘It’s all about trusting yourself, pushing your limits’: Malawi’s first climbers take their sport to new heights

From a wall in a back garden to their first international contest, a dedicated community of young climbers is attracting new recruits in the south African country

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mmanuel Jekete was at secondary school in 2019 when his mother’s Canadian boss invited him to try out a climbing wall in his garden in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. Jekete found it easy to pull himself up the plastic holds when the wooden board was vertical. But, once it jutted out at a 25-degree overhang, he struggled – and was hooked.

Now, Jekete is part of a growing group of young Malawians who love climbing and the community they have created, and who want to see the sport thrive in the southern African nation.

“I was one of the first Malawian climbers to do indoor and outdoor [climbing], so I thought, ‘I’m going to be one of the pioneers, you know, I’m definitely going to dominate in this sport’,” the 23-year-old says in an interview at the Climb Centre, an outdoor gym run by Climb Malawi in Lilongwe.