Nestled between Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia, Malawi is one of those places in Africa that hides its un-paralleled beauty behind a modest reputation. Most people would be hard pushed to point it out on a map, even more so to tell you anything about the place. But it is truly a hidden gem and most travellers who visit the country fall madly in love with the place and its people.
It does have a well deserved reputation for being an incredibly friendly country and it ranks as one of the safest and most hospitable countries in the whole of Africa. The local culture is very laid back and although it is an undeniably poor country it has such charm and stunning scenery that it often doesn’t feel that way. With a population of a little more than 14 million and a relatively small area, Malawi is one of the more densely peopled countries of this part of Africa. The vast majority of the population live rurally in small villages as they have done for centuries and the main ethnic group is Bantu.
Malawi has a massive diversity of beautiful landscapes. The highest peaks in Malawi reach as high as 10,000ft whilst the lowest point is barely above sea level. This range of altitudes in a small area help to make the landscape of Malawi one of the most varied across the whole of the African continent. It is a green, lush country, with plateaux, highlands, forests, mountains, plains, escarpments and dramatic river valleys. The variety of scenery is a major attraction to visitors and many of the highland areas and forest reserves have good accommodation options, and plenty of outdoor activities available.
However the true centre piece of the country’s stunning scenery has got to be Lake Malawi. Discovered 150 years ago by Dr David Livingstone it is really more of an inland sea than a lake. It is approximately 365 miles long from north to south and 52 miles broad. It is also extraordinarily deep – down to 2300 ft. which is well below sea level. The lake is located in the Rift Valley which stretches down the eastern side of Africa through Kenya and Tanzania into Malawi and beyond. It is surrounded by impressive mountain scenery and verdant slopes and the lake itself is home to many islands – some populated and some untouched. With its pristine sandy beaches, crystal clear warm water and stunning scenery it really does resemble paradise!
Lake Malawi is now protected as a world heritage site and also as a national park and rightly so as the jewel in the crown of Malawi’s tourism industry. It attracts many different kinds of visitors and offers a range of accommodation from basic beach shacks to luxury boutique hotels and self catering luxury villas. The lake also offers a wide range of leisure activities from scuba diving amongst the tropical fish to sailing, kayaking, water skiing and cruising. For a gentler past time both fishing and bird watching on the shores are very popular too.
But it would be a shame to ignore the rest of Malawi when it has so much to offer the visitor. Malawi has a total of nine National Parks to explore on a traidtional safari. To the south you can find Lengwe National Park, Majete wildlife reserves, Mwabvi, Lake Malawi and Cape Maclear. To the north are Nyika Plateau and Vwaza Wildlife Reserve and more centrally you can visit the Kasungu National Park and Nkhotakota Reserves. The widespread highlands and forests provide the most impressive of the Malawi’s varied scenery. Up where the air is fresh and cool are clear mountain streams, heaths, rolling montane grassland and evergreen forests.
In terms of specific places of cultural and historical interest, Malawi has a few, including original mission stations and centres of excellence for handicrafts. The main towns are Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba, Mzuzu and Mangochi which have a number of historical buildings, monuments and museums. There are also some bustling ports on the lake shore and there are also still traces of the missionaries in this area with old mission buildings and even the magnificent missionary-built Cathedral on Likoma Island which is the same size as Winchester Cathedral!
The best time to visit is during our summer months from May to October which are also the dry season in Malawi. The spring is also a good time to go as the landscape is very verdant after the winter rains. If you want to see plenty of game on safari or make the most of the beautiful beaches on Lake Malawi then we would recommend the summer months for a trip.
