Secure, inexpensive and totally pleasing, Malawi – dubbed the Heat Coronary heart of Africa – has lengthy been a favourite chillout vacation spot for vacationers crossing between jap and southern Africa.
It’s technically a landlocked nation, however its hottest attraction and dominant geographic function is Lake Malawi, which runs for an unimaginable 560km (350miles) by the Rift Valley flooring, alongside the border with Mozambique.
Often known as the Lake of Stars, this huge inland ocean is famend for its picturesque palm- and baobab-lined seashores and welcoming waterside villages, the place vacationers can swim, kayak, canoe, snorkel, dive or simply benefit from the lush tropical African surroundings and relaxed firm over a relaxing Carlsberg “Inexperienced.” Listed below are eight of the very best seashores and resort villages in Malawi.
1. Nkhata Bay
It is laborious to think about a extra likable city than Nkhata Bay. The setting alone is magnificent, comprising a pair of sandy bays and a slender woody peninsula hemmed in by the forested slopes of the Rift Valley.
However this laid-back resort village additionally stands out for its built-in backpacker-friendly seashore scene, the place the native Tonga individuals and a cosmopolitan array of globetrotters celebration, play seashore volleyball and customarily hang around. Nkhata Bay additionally has loads of attraction to lively vacationers as a base for strolling, kayaking and diving programs.
YouTube video participant
2. Chembe (Cape Maclear)
Nkhata Bay’s southern counterpart, the smaller village of Chembe is most sometimes called Cape Maclear, the title of the hilly peninsula on whose northwestern tip it stands. A low-rise city enclave inside Lake Malawi Nationwide Park, the village has a ravishing location, strung alongside a palm-lined seashore that’s lapped by translucent green-blue water and faces an archipelago of spectacular boulder-strewn islands.
As with Nkhata Bay, Chembe is a straightforward place to burn up time, whether or not you’re into hanging out on the seashore and within the bars or taking part in additional lively pursuits, corresponding to kayaking and snorkeling. Its western orientation additionally means Chembe is likely one of the few seashore resorts in Malawi the place you possibly can watch the sundown over the lake silhouette these evocatively formed offshore boulders.
Detour: Chembe is surrounded by Lake Malawi Nationwide Park, which is inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Website on account of its variety of endemic cichlids. Snorkeling off Otter Level, a 2km (1.2-mile) stroll southwest of Chembe, you possibly can anticipate to see quite a lot of these colourful fish, and probably additionally spotted-necked otters. Terrestrial wildlife you may encounter on the stroll to Otter Level contains baboons, rock hyraxes and klipspringers.
3. Kande Seaside
Each bit as scrumptious as its title sounds, Kande Seaside has been seducing backpackers and overlanders into staying on for one more day, or week, or month, because it opened in 1993.
Proprietor-managed by the identical relaxed former overland truck driver for all these years, Kande is sort of merely an amazing place to hang around, whether or not it’s for the sun-bleached seashore, the sociable bar, the on-site scuba store or a smorgasbord of different actions that features canoeing, windsurfing and village excursions.
4. Likoma Island
Set inside Mozambican waters, Likoma is territorially a part of Malawi, thanks largely to the historic quirk of getting been chosen as the location of an anti-slaving Anglican mission within the 1860s.
The island boasts a wonderful setting beneath the mountainous Mozambican shore, whereas a handful of idyllic resorts is headed up by Kaya Mawa (actually “Perhaps Tomorrow”), an unique fly-in retreat whose imperiously chilled vibe gives the final phrase in “barefoot luxurious.”
Likoma’s seashores are pretty certainly, however a big a part of this baobab-studded backwater’s attraction lies in a sleepy time-warped ambiance amplified by the remoteness from the remainder of Malawi. The island’s most vital historic landmark is the immense Anglican Cathedral of St Peter, which was inbuilt 1911.
Planning Tip: Except you fly to Likoma, the one strategy to get there from elsewhere in Malawi is on the MV Ilala, a weekly ferry service that stops on the island on each its northbound and southbound legs.
5. Chizumulu Island
If Likoma sounds a bit too hustle-bustle to your tastes, there’s at all times Chizumulu, a smaller and much more unaffected island located 10km (6 miles) to the west.
Right here, a solitary backpacker-friendly lodge combines an idyllic seashore location and soporific time-stood-still really feel with an amazing choice of actions, together with paddling, snorkeling and village walks.
6. Mumbo Island
This small rocky island in Lake Malawi Nationwide Park is occupied by an eponymous lodge that mixes eco-friendly rusticity (it’s constructed and adorned fully with pure or recyclable supplies) with a cultured boutique sensibility.
Kayaking, swimming and snorkeling within the crystal clear waters of Mumbo’s boulder-strewn shores is an utter delight, or you possibly can simply sit back in a hammock, maintaining an eye fixed open for the island’s resident otters as they scamper alongside the rocks or bob within the water.
Planning Tip: For energetic vacationers, a preferred strategy to attain Mumbo Island is to kayak 10km (6 miles) northwest throughout Lake Malawi from Cape Maclear.
7. Chitimba
Considered one of Lake Malawi’s most northerly seashores, Chitimba stands in a slender stretch of the Rift Valley, flanked by imposing escarpments that rise 1km (0.6 miles) above the lakeshore.
Not like established backpacker haunts corresponding to Cape Maclear and Nkhata Bay, there is no journey scene at Chitimba, simply a few laid-back resorts set on a blissful white seashore that runs south from the Manchewe River mouth. Excellent for individuals who need to get pleasure from a number of days of peace and quiet, Chitimba can also be a helpful springboard for journey elsewhere within the comparatively undeveloped far north of Malawi.
Detour: Perched on the precipitous escarpment above Chitimba, Livingstonia was based in 1894 as a Scottish mission that Hastings Banda, the primary president of unbiased Malawi, would later describe because the “seedbed” of his liberation celebration.
The highway to Livingstonia, traversing 20 tight hairpin bends because it beneficial properties 700m (2296ft) in altitude, is likely one of the most spectacular on this a part of Africa, whether or not you choose to hike there from Chitimba or look forward to erratic public transport. En route, you possibly can divert to the forest-fringed Manchewe Falls, which plummet over the escarpment in a single 125m (410ft) drop.
8. Senga Bay
Because the closest seashore resort to the capital Lilongwe, Senga Bay has emerged as a preferred weekend retreat and convention venue. Lodging right here tends to be comparatively upmarket and formal, and it’s too scattered to have coalesced into the type of journey neighborhood related to Nkhata Bay or Cape Maclear.
Regardless of this, Senga Bay’s lengthy, sandy seashore seldom disappoints, and there’s at all times loads of exercise happening across the native fishing villages. An excellent place to begin or finish a fly-in journey to Malawi, or for enterprise vacationers in search of an in a single day break from Lilongwe.
Detour: If you wish to see wildlife within the neighborhood of Senga Bay, there are two choices. Giraffes, zebras and numerous antelope inhabit the well-organized Kuti Wildlife Reserve, a rehabilitated ranch that may be explored alongside a community of drivable tracks and bikeable footpaths. Thuma Forest Reserve is much less developed, however guided walks can be found and resident wildlife contains leopards, elephants and buffalo.
