Lake Malawi (or Lake Nyasa or Livingstone's Lake)
It is the 9th largest lake of the world and Africa's 3rd largest lake. It is 560
Km long and 70 Km wide with a total surface area of over 29000 square km. It was
inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. This whole area is known as
Lake Malawi National Park. It is extremely famous for its large variety of
tropical fish. Lake Malawi boasts of over 1000 species of tropical fish, 350 of
which are unique to the lake. Scuba Cichlids are unique to these waters and form
about a third of all fish. The bright colored rock fish 'mbuna' is also of great
interest. These waters also have catfish, snails, crocodiles and fish eagles.
Average depth of the lake is 292 meters with Max depth of 706 meters. Lake Malawi is a
popular destination for travel and tourism and attractions.
Apart from its striking beauty and scenery, this place is also important for the study of evolution. The partition of the lake area between Malawi and Tanzania is disputed. David Livingstone was the first European to discover the lake and called it as 'Lake of Stars' due to its glittering surface. This astonishing and beautiful forms the western part of Rift Valley and encompasses a few offshore islands. There are no civilian settlements in this park boundaries but the shore of lake is heavily populated who depend on fishing which is the only biggest industry here, some people also grow cassava, bananas and mangos. The area in and around the park is famous for hippos, baboons, bush pigs, leopards and elephants. Large-scale transport between settlements along the shores of the lake and between the Malawi shore and Likoma and Chizumulu islands is provided by steamers.
Today, Malawi is a wonderful, warm, friendly and welcoming country that offers visitors great scenery, interesting parks and some of the friendliest villagers in all of Africa. Lakeshore areas have a low rainfall and a warm relaxing climate with mean daily temperatures ranging from 29°C in January to 21°C in July. The dry season is between May and October, with rain during the remaining months but particularly between December and March.
How to Reach:
By Air: Direct flights several times a week from most European Capitals to Lilongwe International Airport.
By Car: From Lilongwe Airport it is about four hours by car to Lake Malawi.
