Afrinkong
Nature & Landscapes
The Rift and the Massif
The Rift Valley floor with the lake in it, and Mulanje standing three thousand metres above the tea.
Southern Africa · Afrinkong
Malawi
A lake with more fish species than any other.
Lake Malawi holds more freshwater fish species than any lake on earth, Liwonde and Majete have been restocked to the point of holding all the big five, and the Mulanje massif rises three thousand metres straight off the plain.
Where it is
Africa · Southern Africa · Malawi
The land in brief
- Spans
- 330 km E–W, 860 km N–S
- Latitude
- 9°S to 17°S
- Borders
- 3 countries
- Sea
- Landlocked
- Best time
- May to October. The lake is clearest from September, and the game is best at the end of the dry season.
Also in Southern Africa
AngolaThe Kalandula falls, and a coast nobody has seenBotswanaA delta that never reaches the seaEswatiniSmall, and full of everythingLesothoThe kingdom in the skyMozambiqueTwo thousand kilometres of coast
Compare Malawi with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
May to October. The lake is clearest from September, and the game is best at the end of the dry season.
01Highlights
What Malawi is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Nature & Landscapes
Wildlife
Cichlids, and the Big Five
Hundreds of endemic cichlids in the lake, and the big five back in the parks on shore.
Mulanje
3,002 metres at Sapitwa, a granite massif with huts, paths and a week of walking on it.
Freshwater Beaches
Landlocked, and it does not matter: Cape Maclear, Nkhata Bay and Likoma have sand and clear water.
Forests & Rainforest
Nyika and Zomba
Montane grassland on Nyika at two thousand metres, and cedar forest on the Zomba plateau.
The Warm Heart
The reputation for friendliness is real, and it is the first thing every visitor mentions.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Malawi with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The Rift and the MassifThe Rift Valley floor with the lake in it, and Mulanje standing three thousand metres above the tea.
- Mulanje3,002 metres at Sapitwa, a granite massif with huts, paths and a week of walking on it.
- MancheweOff the Nyika escarpment near Livingstonia, with a cave behind the water.
- The ShireThe lake's only outlet, running south through Liwonde to the Zambezi.
- Freshwater BeachesLandlocked, and it does not matter: Cape Maclear, Nkhata Bay and Likoma have sand and clear water.
- Nyika and ZombaMontane grassland on Nyika at two thousand metres, and cedar forest on the Zomba plateau.
Wildlife
- Cichlids, and the Big FiveHundreds of endemic cichlids in the lake, and the big five back in the parks on shore.
- Liwonde and MajeteBoth restocked from near-empty — Majete had nothing in 2003 and has the big five now.
- Majete's RecoveryAfrican Parks took on an empty park in 2003 and it has the big five and no poaching now.
- Mulanje for a WeekHut to hut across the massif, with porters, and paths that have been there a century.
People and culture
- The Warm HeartThe reputation for friendliness is real, and it is the first thing every visitor mentions.
- Chewa, Yao, Tumbuka, LomweThe Chewa Gule Wamkulu masquerade is on the UNESCO list and is danced still.
- The Lake of StarsA music festival on the shore, and Gule Wamkulu in the villages all year.
- Carving and ChitenjeBlackwood carving, basketry, and the printed chitenje cloth worn everywhere.
- Nsima and ChamboNsima with relish, and chambo — a lake cichlid — grilled whole on the shore.
- Easy, and WarmShort distances, no malaria-free claim but a very manageable country with children.
- The Beach at Cape MaclearFishermen, boats, children and visitors on the same strip of sand all day.
Places
- Lilongwe and BlantyreA quiet capital, and an older commercial city with the country's first church in it.
- Mission Stone and Lakeshore BrickScottish mission churches in stone, and fired brick along the lake.
- LivingstoniaA mission on the escarpment built in 1894, with the manse, the church and the view intact.
- Lake Malawi National ParkThe first freshwater national park in the world, listed for its cichlids.
Ways to travel
- Diving, Kayak and the MassifFreshwater diving on the cichlid reefs, kayaking the lake shore, and Mulanje for a week.
- Small and Well RunLakeshore lodges, Mkulumadzi at Majete, and Kaya Mawa on Likoma island.
- Clear Water and GraniteThe lake in September, when the water is at its clearest and the boulders go down twenty metres.
- Likoma IslandA Malawian island inside Mozambican water, with a cathedral the size of Winchester's.
03Why go
The case for Malawi.
Why Visit This Country
Why Malawi
A lake with more fish species than any other on earth, and parks brought back from nothing.
Hidden Gems
Likoma Island
A Malawian island inside Mozambican water, with a cathedral the size of Winchester's.
Eco Tourism
Majete's Recovery
African Parks took on an empty park in 2003 and it has the big five and no poaching now.
Heritage
Lake Malawi National Park
The first freshwater national park in the world, listed for its cichlids.
04Go deeper
All of Malawi, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
Plan your journey →
Begin
Your Malawi starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.