| About Kayak Africa |
Malawi's first SCUBA Instructor [go back]
 Kayak Africa is very proud to announce that our well-known Dive Master, Patrick Phiri, 40, has become the first Malawian to qualify as PADI SCUBA Diving Instructor. He has just returned form Johannesburg where he sat his final exams, having attained over 85% in all subjects. Although Patrick could now work anywhere in the world, he loves his life in Malawi and is very happy to stay right here at Cape Maclear with his wife and five children, all of whom are keen to follow in their dad’s footsteps and start their dive training as soon as they are old enough! Patrick aims to introduce as many Malawians and travellers as possible to the wonders of the underwater world of Lake Malawi which, because of its cichlid tropical fish, is amongst the most famous freshwater dive sites in the world.
The story of how Patrick got to this point is a long one. He got his lucky break in 1999, when he took a job as a night watchman at what was then Cape Maclear’s only dive school, the Scuba Shack. When the owners learned that Patrick could read and write in English, they offered him the opportunity to complete the entry-level PADI Open Water Diver course. Patrick took to diving like the proverbial fish to water. From then on he went diving whenever he could, and slowly over the years, while still a general worker and boatman at the Scuba Shack, he studied for and passed the examinations for his Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver and Dive Master certification.
Patrick outlasted the Scuba Shack, and upon its demise he joined Kayak Africa as a Dive Master, where he continued his training and education under Rob Assad, the resident Kayak Africa Instructor. In 2008 Patrick and Rob both felt that he was ready for the big step up to Instructor. Intensive study for the final exams began in March, culminating in this fantastic achievement in November.
One of Patrick’s greatest experiences to date has been to dive in the ocean at Rocktail Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal coastline of South Africa. A guest of Kayak Africa, Mr Lynton Farr, was so inspired by diving with Patrick at Mumbo Island, that he kept the pressure on Kayak Africa and Wilderness Safaris and made this happen.
So if you are keen to discover the underwater wonders of Lake Malawi with Malawi’s first qualified Instructor, contact us at Kayak Africa. All you need is to be able to swim 100 metres, to tread water and to float, and Patrick will teach you the rest! |
