Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi is a Great Rift Valley Lake and UNESCO World Heritage site – it’s the ninth largest, and one of the deepest lakes in the world, at 700m. It’s often referred to as the ‘Lake of Stars’.

The national park sits at the far southern tip of Lake Malawi and includes Cape Maclear at its furthest reaches, and the Nankumba Peninsular. This area is incredibly beautiful with deep fresh water, sandy beaches, rugged granite islands and a superb mountain backdrop – a perfect setting for a wonderful holiday. Lakeshore lodges can be reached via road from Lilongwe in around 4 hours, or you can fly and transfer. A stay here combines well with a safari in nearby Liwonde, or Majete. You can do a circular route to combine all three.

Remote and beautiful Likoma Island is in the north-eastern sector of the lake surrounded by Mozambican waters, and best accessed by air from Lilongwe. It’s about an hour’s flight. You’ll find bustling small fishing communities, secluded coves and …the magnificent St Peter’s Cathedral!

Lake Malawi is home to endemic species, including hundreds of cichlid fish, known locally as ‘mbuna’. Lake Malawi is globally important for biodiversity conservation due to its outstanding diversity of fresh water fishes, along with a great variety of other flora and fauna.

Mammals include bushbuck, klipspringer, monkeys and baboons. There are also hippo and crocodile in some areas of the park.

Fishing villages and local communities can be found scattered along the lake shore.