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Welcome to Malawi
Malawi is a great country to visit on your holidays. Although some people have the opinion that Malawi doesn't have the great safari options that East and southern Africa have, travellers may be pleasantly surprised and many stay a lot longer than expected or wish they could. For such a thin sliver of a country (no bigger in size than England), Malawi offers a variety of attractions: lakes, mountains, forests, game parks and villages, most of which are well off the tourist trail. The main feature of the country and its primary attraction is Lake Malawi, an enormous freshwater inland sea. |
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The Lake Malawi National Park is the world's first freshwater park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are over 550 species of fish, most of them unique to these waters. A number of tourist resorts and hotels have been established on the lakeshore. The more luxurious can be found on the southern lakeshore while on the northern lakeshore are a number of rustic resorts close to the traditional villages. They are great places to enjoy watersports, such as diving and snorkelling in the lake, or simply relaxing in a hammock on the beach.
There are five national parks in Malawi with some wildlife, such as elephants, zebra, hippo and crocodile. Safaris in Malawi are a fledgling industry and the parks are not yet geared up for major game viewing. In fact, few Malawians have ever had the chance to visit their national parks and many have never seen some of the animals for which East Africa is famous. There is, however, good hiking and trekking in some of the parks, such as the Nyika Plateau National Park in the north, where you can also go horse riding on the grassy plains. Mount Mulanje, on Malawi's south-eastern border with Mozambique, offers challenging treks to the summit.
Malawi is a good place to buy African curios at reasonable prices and the craftsmen are very inventive. They are known for their basketwork and there can be few other places in the world where you can pick up a grass helicopter complete with rotating blades or a Land Rover with a spare wheel made out of grass. Malawi is best known for its wood carvings. This is where the famous Malawi chair is made, a very popular souvenir of Africa. A good place to buy one is at the curio market in Lilongwe, the country's capital.
Describing themselves as 'the friendliest people in Africa', all of the Malawian ethnic groups live harmoniously together. Some Malawian elders attribute this to the 19th century Scottish missionary, Dr. David Livingstone. He arrived in Malawi in 1859 and encouraged tribal chiefs to work together to end the slave trade. Today Malawi is a warm and welcoming country that offers visitors great scenery, and some of the friendliest villagers in all of Africa. There is also a refreshingly relaxed and laid-back atmosphere as most people spend their time working on the land or fishing in the lake. The pace of life in Malawi is timeless. The cries of fish eagles, the fishermen in dugouts silhouetted against the evening skies, and the warm, sleepy atmosphere make it impossible not to relax. If you get the chance to sit on the beach and watch the sun sink into Lake Malawi as fisherman return to shore with the day's catch, you'll understand what we mean. Malawi makes a great stand-alone destination but also combines with Zambia to which it is well connected. Zambia, with its vast parks and wild nature, makes a wonderful contrast to the more gentle Malawi.
What does Malawi look like?
Malawi is a landlocked country bordered by Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, but it's not short of water thanks to Lake Malawi - the world's ninth largest lake. Lake Malawi dominates the whole country. It is the county's centrepiece. It's like an inland sea with endless beaches, enclosed by sheer mountains - undeniably the focal point for travellers to this country.
Malawi is a small, long, skinny country approximately 850km long and 160km wide. It lies at the southern end of the Great Rift Valley. Lake Malawi is the southernmost lake in the series of lakes marking the valley's route south from the Red Sea. The entire country covers an area of just 118.000 sq km, making it slightly smaller than England. Malawi has a thickly forested high central plateau with a mountainous spine rising to 2600 metres. The highest point is Mount Mulanje in the south east, which rises to over 3200 metres. The countryside is mainly rough scrub with a surprising lack of trees. A lot have been chopped down for firewood and to make charcoal, and they haven't been replaced. Some, such as the indigenous ebony trees, are chopped down to make wooden souvenirs - worth thinking about when you're buying a Malawian chair.
What is Malawi's history?
Malawi was once called Maravi, meaning 'reflected light'. Perhaps this referred to the brilliant glitter on Lake Malawi as the sun shines on it. Throughout history, people have been attracted to the region by its stable climate, regular rainfall and the ample supply of fish in the lake. People lived undisturbed in kingdoms governed by chiefs, before Arab and Portuguese slave traders penetrated central Africa and caused havoc in the 18th century. Dr David Livingstone first set eyes on the great lake in 1859. By 1875 the Scottish Presbyterian Church had founded its first mission at Cape MaClear, followed by more European settlers who began to farm the land. With the growth of commerce and expanding plantations, Malawians migrated towards the settlers' farms in search of work, and towns and villages were established. Colonial domination became inevitable, and in 1891 the British declared the country the British Protectorate of Nyasaland.
In 1953 the British federated Nyasaland with Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe). Nyasaland seceded in 1963, following elections won by Dr Hastings Banda's Malawi Congress Party. Nyasaland became independent from Britain in 1964 and was renamed Malawi. Two years later Dr Banda declared it a republic and a one-party state. His regime was harsh and by 1971 he had declared himself President for Life. Any opponents of his government were thrown in jail or out of the country. His policies were off the wall: it was against the law for men to have long hair and for women to wear anything but skirts. Banda's foreign policy also attracted widespread criticism: he supported the apartheid regime in South Africa - the only black-ruled African state to do so. This cosy relationship with South Africa funded the construction of the new capital, Lilongwe (the capital had previously been at Blantyre), which opened for business in 1975.
In 1992 Malawi experienced acute shortages of food because of poor harvests affected by drought and the need to provide food for some one million refugees who had fled the war in Mozambique. People demanded change, and by 1993, the ailing Banda was forced to concede. A referendum in June endorsed the transition to a multi-party democracy with a new constitution. Elections were held in 1994. They were won by Dr Bakili Muluzi while Banda was recovering from brain surgery in South Africa. When he returned to Malawi, the ageing Banda and his chief henchman, the much-hated and feared John Tembo, were put on trial for their alleged role in the 1983 murders of four opposition politicians. But the trial was inconclusive upon Banda's death in 1997. Muluzi won a second term in office in the 1999 election. In 2004 Bingu Wa Mutharika was announced the successor of Muluzi and he won the Elections held that same year.
Malawi is one of the poorest counties on earth, and most of the ten million people rely on subsistence farming or fishing to survive. Drought and poor harvests in recent years have led to shortages in maize, the country's staple food. Malawi often has to look south to the richer nations for food aid. Despite this Malawi is doing the best can to improve their situation under the new government and the Malawian people are generally happy and friendly, and any traveller to Malawi will be made to feel most welcome to taste an unforgettable Africa Experience. |
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