Collecting Firewood on Zomba Mountain

Women from villages surrounding Zomba spend hours each day walking for miles to collect firewood from the top of the mountain. Here a group of women are making the journey back down the mountain with heavy bundles of firewood on their heads. Cutting firewood from the mountain is illegal, so if they see a camera, they will dart into the forest or off the road, down the steep mountainside. If they only knew how for them I am, they would stop to talk with me.