Malawi Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

Most people visit tiny Malawi on their way somewhere else. Squeezed between southern and eastern Africa, this poor, densely populated little country makes a convenient stopover for those en route from, say, Mozambique to Tanzania.

Those who do make the stop may be surprised. For such a thin sliver of a country, Malawi offers a variety of attractions: lakes, rivers, mountains, game parks and villages. Its people are also a big attraction, and they are often referred to as some of the friendliest people in Africa.

We think Malawi has a subtle appeal; if you get the chance to perch on a mountain cliff above Cape Maclear and watch the sun sink into Lake Malawi as fishermen return to shore with the day's catch, you'll understand what we mean. The pace of life in Malawi is timeless, and the warm, sleepy atmosphere makes it impossible not to relax.

Geography

Landlocked Malawi is dominated by Lake Malawi and the Great Rift Valley, which cuts through the country north to south (on either side of the valley are plateaus 3,000-4,000 ft/900-1,200 m high). In the north, the Nyika Uplands reach 8,500 ft/2,600 m, and in the south, mountains climb to 9,848 ft/3,002 m.

Lake Malawi is the ninth-largest lake in the world. It is roughly 350 mi/560 km long, 50 mi/80 km wide and 2,300 ft/700 m deep, and forms most of the eastern border between Malawi and Mozambique. For such a large body of water, only one river, the Shire, drains from it, which eventually joins the Zambezi River farther south in Mozambique.

History

Malawi enjoyed relative calm and isolation from the outside world until the 1820s, when Arab slave traders marched into the area from the coast and carried away many of its residents to sell in the slave markets of Kilwa Kivinje and Zanzibar. Europeans—except for some wandering Portuguese merchants—didn't pay much attention to Malawi until 1859. That was the year the explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone (of "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" fame) laid eyes on Lake Malawi, which he described as a "lake of stars," referring to its glittering surface. He reported that the residents called the lake Nyasa, though it is actually just a local word meaning "lake." Nyasaland was colonized by Great Britain in 1883 and remained under British control until 1964, when it gained its independence. The country's name was changed to Malawi, which means "reflected light of bright haze."

For the first three decades of its existence, Malawi was ruled by the aged despot Dr. Hastings Banda, best known for intransigent and idiosyncratic policies such as banning short skirts on women and hair below the collar on men, and recognizing apartheid South Africa. A referendum in 1993 ended one-party rule, and in elections the following year, Banda was voted out of office. His death in 1997 (at age 99) marked the end of an era.

Malawi is a poor and crowded country that relishes political freedom but is struggling to recover from economic mismanagement and rising crime. Most of the population relies on subsistence farming and fishing to survive. The country has suffered from drought and poor harvests in and has often had to look south to the richer African nations for food aid.

Snapshot

The foremost attractions in Malawi are spectacular mountain and lake scenery, tea plantations, traditional villages, wild game and history.

Malawi will appeal to travelers who are in the area and enjoy cool mountain scenery or lounging on lake beaches. Don't go expecting to see a wide variety of animals (any other country in southeastern Africa—except Mozambique—is better), and don't expect good shopping or active nightlife.

Potpourri

Lake Malawi National Park near Cape Maclear at the southern tip of the lake is a World Heritage Site and was the world's first freshwater national park.

Lake Malawi, Africa's third-largest lake, covers 20% of the country. The lake's fish provide the main source of protein for most Malawians, and an estimated 500-1,000 fish species are thought to be unique to Lake Malawi. The variety of fish there is greater than any found in all the lakes of both Europe and North America.

Lilongwe, Malawi's capital city, was custom-built using apartheid funds. It replaced Zomba as the capital in 1975. However, Zomba remained the seat of parliament and site of the president's residence until 1994.

The mushroom-shaped straw roofs in Malawi are designed to protect the mud walls of huts during heavy rains.

The three major ethnic groups in the country are the Chewa (central), the Nyanja (south) and the Tumbuka (north). Other peoples represented include the Ngoni (a Zulu offshoot), Tonga and Yao. Though there are clear differences, there is little feuding between the groups.

Courtesy and cooperation are highly valued in Malawi, and most visitors are impressed with the residents' warmth and politeness. Although the country is densely populated and the people are relatively poor, they welcomed, housed and fed close to 1 million refugees from the civil war in Mozambique. Most of those refugees returned to Mozambique after the civil war ended in 1994.

Malawi fishermen use canoes (bwatos) made from hollow tree trunks to fish on the lake.