Area: 118,484 sq km
Population: 10.8 million
Official languages: English $ Chichewa
Time: GMT/UTC +2
Currency: Kwacha
Capital: Lilongwe
MALAWI GENERAL INFORMATION
Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964. After three decades of one-party rule under President Hastings Kamuzu BANDA the country held multiparty elections in 1994, under a provisional constitution which came into full effect the following year. Current President Bingu wa MUTHARIKA, elected in May 2004 after a failed attempt by the previous president to amend the constitution to permit another term, has struggled to assert his authority against his predecessor, who still leads their shared political party. MUTHARIKA's anti-corruption efforts have led to several high-level arrests and one prominent conviction. Increasing corruption, population growth, increasing pressure on agricultural lands, and the spread of HIV/AIDS pose major problems for the country.
Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's least developed countries. The economy is predominately agricultural, with about 90% of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture accounted for nearly 36% of GDP and 80% of export revenues in 2005. The performance of the tobacco sector is key to short-term growth as tobacco accounts for over 60% of exports. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. In late 2000, Malawi was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program. The government faces strong challenges, including developing a market economy, improving educational facilities, facing up to environmental problems, dealing with the rapidly growing problem of HIV/AIDS, and satisfying foreign donors that fiscal discipline is being tightened. In 2005, President MUTHARIKA championed an anticorruption campaign. Malawi's recent fiscal policy performance has been very strong, but a serious drought in 2005 and 2006 will heighten pressure on the government to increase spending.
GEOGRAPHY
Malawi is about 118,484 sq km. About 20% of this are the waters of Lake Malawi. The neighboring countries of Tanzania and Mozambique also have sovereignty over parts of the lake. Escarpments rise from the shores of the lake to a high plateau, and there are some spectacular mountain areas, including Nyika National Park and Mt Mulanje.
HISTORY
The horrors of slavery in Africa: At the height of slavery in the mid 19th century, the Swahili Arabs together with other tribes are believed to have either killed or sold into slavery 80,000 to 100,000 Africans per year!
Slavery had existed in Africa for many years, but as demand from outside Africa increased, the Swahili Arabs began to push into the interior to increase their supply.
Between1842 and 1856 David Livingstone had been exploring in Africa and on his return to Britain spoke at meetings about the undiscovered interior of Africa and the horrors of the slave trade. He returned to Africa in 1858 and traveled to Malawi in September 1859 finally reaching Lake Malawi - which he named Lake Nyassa. Throughout his journey he came across major slave routes - one that passed through today's town of Mangochi. Through the rest of the 1860's missionaries came to Malawi to build missions. They suffered terribly from malaria and conflict with the local people.
LAKE MALAWI MARINE PARK
Lake Malawi National Park was only designated a National Park in 1980 and was established at the southern end of the Lake to protect the unique diversity of tropical fish living there, some not found anywhere else on earth. The National Park is the most important freshwater fish sanctuary in Africa and it was the first park in the world to give protection to the marine life of a tropical deep water Rift Valley Lake.
The Nankhumba Peninsula, forms the centerpiece of a miniature archipelago of twelve islands, and encompasses Cape Maclear, where scuba diving and snorkeling are popular activities. The underwater game viewing experience matches anything that the land has to offer. The natural habitats has resulted in an extraordinary concentration of different species of plants, animals and birds, quite asides from the hundreds of species of fish that can be found in the region, the most famous of which is the Mbuna Chichlids.
LAKE MALAWI
Lake Malawi has always attracted more than its share of reminiscent travelers. From the time of the Victorian missionaries and traders, whose little steamers ploughed its waters in the cause of Christianity and hard cash, the accounts of visitors to the Lake are distinguished by an attempt to pin down an essential mysteriousness, part of its unchanging quality, which has always managed to elude final definition.
Nature has endowed Lake Malawi with the richest variety of tropical fish of any freshwater lake in the world. Up to 550 species of cichlids are unique to these waters. Fresh lake Chambo is a famous and delicious Malawi dish. In 1980 an area of the southern part of this huge inland sea, which is Africa's third largest lake, was proclaimed a world Heritage Site.
The area encompasses the Nankumba Peninsula and also several of the offshore islands. This is the magnificent Cape Maclear where a succession of sandy bays is interspersed with hills and rocky outcrops, which rise steeply from crystal, clear waters.
From Makanjira on the east coast a lonely Arab dhow sets out on its periodic trip towards Salima, the last of a whole race of dhows which in the 19th century, linked the pre colonial interior with the ivory and slave markets of the Indian Ocean.
The cries of fish eagles, fishermen in dugouts silhouetted against the evening skies, and the warm, sleepy atmosphere, make it impossible not to relax.
Watching the graceful dip and swoop of a passing dugout canoe, or perhaps walking along a beach to find thousands of fish drying on wooden trestles, it is tempting to make romantic assumptions that here is a way of life as timeless as the beauty of the Lake. In fact, the dugout canoes have seen a transformation in the fishing industry which has made them part of an active contemporary economy. The arrival of the bicycle started the fish on their way to the markets of Blantyre and Zomba.
Today tons of dried utaka and matemba provide a staple diet for villages far into the interior. Traditional village fishing techniques include seine netting, ring netting, gill netting and traps. Many canoes are still used but plank boats are favored when affordable, because they carry bigger loads. Sun drying preserves some of the huge harvest but mostly it is smoked in the lakeside villages. Much employment is generated, not only for those who fish, but also for those who build and repair boats, make nests and travel long distances to sell the shining harvest of the Lake.
The lakeshore craftsmen are very inventive. Stands of hats, row after row of them in a vast variety of shapes and styles, compete with rows of toys also made from basket work but with ingenious detail-car bonnets that open, helicopters with rotors that turn and Land Rovers with spare wheels. Baskets of great variety provide an overwhelming choice while skilled wood carvers produce prized artifacts that will always conjure up happy memories of time spent at the Lake
Malawi has an incredible variety of stunning landscapes. The unique rolling hills of orchid clad Nyika; the cool forested plateau of Zomba; the 10,000 feet climbers' paradise of Mulanje Massif; the broad and fertile Shire Valley. From rugged highlands to lowland plains - the scene is ever changing.
Hundreds of miles of tropical golden sand beaches line Africa's third largest lake. Lake Malawi is a true inland sea - and is tide less. Relax in the sun on un crowded beaches, hand-feed tropical fish at the world's first freshwater National Park or enjoy the many water sports such as windsurfing, scuba diving, snorkeling and canoeing.
LIVINGSTONES LAST JOURNEY
In 1866 Livingstone made his final expedition to Lake Malawi. During this time he was abandoned by several African followers he had recruited who claimed that he had been killed! Meanwhile Livingstone was in the area now called Northern Zambia only intending to be gone for a few months - but was not seen or heard of for over 2 years! Livingstone was found by Henry Stanley on the banks of Lake Tanganyika in 1871 where he uttered the famous words 'Dr. Livingstone I presume' Stanley was unable to persuade him to go with him and Livingstone finally died at the village of Chitambo in Zambia in 1873.
Modern day Malawi is still very rural and poor. The people are fantastically friendly which is why it is known as the warm heart of Africa - and it is a land of mountains, plateaus and an enormous lake. Essentially a rural subsistence life, thousands of Malawians lively hoods are derived from the lake and fishing related activities. In big and small markets throughout Malawi shining silver piles of dried fish 'usipa' are sold. Closer to the lake fresh fish is available. 'Chambo' is the most delicious!
Children receive wonderful names: Happiness, Brightness, Love, Gift, Rejoice or Last (which is quite common!) - also look out for the quirky names of establishments - some of our favorites being Top Hits bottle store, Mind your own business Restaurant and The Hang Over clinic! Malawi does not have a large volume of tourists, and this provides a good part of its charm.
CULTURE
The main ethnic groups are the Chewa, dominant in the centre and south; the Yao, also in the south; and the Tumbuka in the north. Other groups include the Ngoni, who inhabit parts of the centre and north, and the Tonga, who are found mostly along the lakeshore.
CLIMATE
In the higher areas, the climate is pleasant, with temperatures averaging around 20o C between November and April, and 27o C from May to October. The rainy season lasts from October to April.
TRAVEL TIPS
- Avoid buying uncut 'precious stones'. These are generally fakes
- Although the dress code in Malawi is now more relaxed than in the past, visitors should take care not to offend local sensitivities. Women should wear long skirts or dresses, and keep the bikinis to the beaches only.
- Local foods can be bought from road side stores and restaurants and are generally delicious - look out for the ingenious chip fryers made from half a steel drum.
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