Best Things To Do In Malawi | Warm Heart of Africa

Bordered by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique in southern Africa, Malawi has several unique sites and things to do, with this post highlighting its best.

Visiting Malawi is a bit like taking the road less traveled, offering surprising rewards. It may not be a destination trip, although I know people that have visited as a destination with charity groups, but it’s ideal as part of a visit along with other nearby countries like Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, and/or Namibia.

You can holiday on a supersized freshwater lake that looks and feels like a sea, with golden sandy beaches and colorful aquarium-like fish, hike up lush mountains for stunning vistas, or visit a local village and learn about Malawian life (and how to play Bao). Known as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’, the people here are very engaging and will definitely warm your heart, so you’ll feel welcome at any of the options you choose.

Also, although Malawi is not a wildlife destination, there are parks here restoring wildlife after years of poaching and trafficking, so you can take a safari to see the Big Five.

Best Things To Do In Malawi

Visit Supersized Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is definitely one of the top destinations and best things to do. Bordering Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, it covers over 11,000 square miles (29,000 square km), making it one of the largest lakes in the world. This is crazy big, about the size of the country of Belgium!

With its beautiful, golden sand beaches and a body of water so vast there’s a real tide, it’s like a calm ocean, making it a perfect holiday destination. And with its plentiful fish, it’s a source of livelihood and food for Malawians, also making it great cultural experience.

Note: There have been incidents of bilharzia, or schistosomiasis from parasites in the lake. I realize this sounds scary, however, you’ll find people aware of this and swimming anyway, as it’s considered easy to treat. Talk to your doctor in advance. If you’re reading this after leaving home, it’s good to know that you can also purchase tablets in Malawi.

Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi National Park, an UNESCO World Heritage site, is at the southern end of the lake. This was the world’s first freshwater park and an ideal place for scuba diving or snorkeling to see the thousands of fish here (see the note above on water parasites).

Best Places To Stay at Lake Malawi

There are many places to stay along Lake Malawi. The most popular destinations inside Lake Malawi National Park include Cape Maclear and nearby Mumbo Island.

Cape Maclear

Cape Maclear is one of the busiest holiday spots with water-sports, beach activities, and bars. Visits to the nearby village to learn about the culture are also an option.

Mumbo Island

For something less crowded, Mumbo Island is an uninhabited, unspoiled, off-the-grid island. It’s a short 30-minute boat ride from Cape Maclear, or you can kayak over to explore its secluded beaches.

Kande Beach

I visited Malawi as part of a 49 day overland tour through 7 countries. We spent two nights at Kande Beach, which is halfway up the western side of Lake Malawi. It has both a lodge and a campsite. They offer scuba diving, snorkeling, and water sports equipment, as well as horseback riding.

As Kande Beach is a little more remote than the National Park area, you can find traditional wooden boats, or bwato, strewn along the beaches. And you can meet some of the young fishermen, like the boys below carrying home their nets.

You can also see them fishing!

Chitimba Camp

After Kande Beach, we drove up to Chitimba Camp, near Chilumba, on the northern end of Lake Malawi. This is another camp on a beautiful sandy beach, made even lovelier as it’s framed by mountains. We stayed for one night, before driving up to Tanzania.

Here, you can play beach volleyball or soccer with locals, visit the local village, hike in the nearby Livingstonia mountains, or visit beautiful 3,533’ (1,077 m) high Manchewe Falls, and see the caves behind the falls where locals hid from slave traders.

I was the first in our group to walk to the beach, which was full of a group of young boys. At the time I was using my iPad to take photos and they were fascinated by it. One of the boys indicated he wanted to try it. I decided to trust them and enjoyed watching them pose for photos with each other.

Later we had dinner in a pavilion on the beach and witnessed a beautiful full moon rising over Malawi.

Meeting Locals In Malawi

Learn To Play Bao On The Beach

Several villages around Lake Malawi are open to visits from travelers. Ask at your accommodation for details. In Kande, I met several villagers while walking the beach at dusk on our first night there. I was a little nervous at first, as I was alone with three young men on the beach after dusk, but they quickly chatted my nervousness away.

They wanted to teach me their board game called Bao, which is very popular in a Malawi. The four of us sat on the beach and played into the inky darkness. They were even gracious enough to let me win (at least I really doubt it was beginners luck!).

Visit A Small Village

Our group also had an arranged visit with their village, Tonga, the next day (at least we were told it was Tonga, but I see nothing on the map for this). It was just a few minute walk from our camp on Kande beach.

It was interesting to meet everyone, but also quite overwhelming. First because they were so excited to meet our group, everyone was talking at once. Second as two or three people paired up with each of us to talk about their culture, ambitions, and life. Later, the visit became heartbreaking as we learned more about the poverty here. We also felt a lot of pressure to buy some of artwork, or souvenirs, they had made. As much as I wanted a bao game board, I had no space in my luggage.

As it’s better to donate supplies than to give cash, if you do a village visit it’s best to come prepared. They’re always in need of school supplies like paper and pencils, so buying some in advance. Trust me, you will wish you had. I bought school supplies (paper booklets and pencils) after leaving the camp and our overland company delivered them on their next visit.

I can see why Malawi gets its name, the ‘Warm Heart of Africa‘, as the people here will definitely work their way into your heart.

Visit a Local Market

Visiting a local market in Malawi is full of interesting items and characters. The biggest is the market in Lilongwe Old Town. From fresh produce to live chickens, bicycle parts, to you name it. Blantyre, Zomba, and Mzuzu have smaller markets that are also interesting. Expect to bargain, but in good spirit.

Beyond all this, just driving across the landscape is interesting, with the traditional villages along the road and small, rural shopping areas. You will likely be welcome to stop and chat at any one of them.

Best Places For A Safari In Malawi

Because of the poverty here, there were many years of poaching and trafficking the animals. Almost to extinction! Now, parks here are restoring wildlife so you can now do a safari here. Two of the best places are noted below.

Liwonde National Park

Liwonde National Park is named after chief Liwonde, who advocated for its protection. It’s the most visited park in Malawi. Beautifully situated on the Shire river, it’s common to see many elephant along its banks. The river is also full of hippo and crocodile. A river cruise is one of the highlights of the park. Game drives and walking safaris are also available.

While the Big Five are present, lion, leopard, and rhino are rare due to historical poaching and trafficking. This is the unfortunate result of Malawi being one of the poorest countries in the world.

African Parks assumed management of Liwonde in 2015, building fences and reintroducing lion, rhino, and cheetah. Repopulation, however, will take time. They further protected the rhino, which are rare everywhere, by placing them in a fenced enclosure for visitors. These rhino can be tracked on foot.

Location: About a 4 – 5 hour drive southeast of Lilongwe, the capital, and south of Lake Malawi.

Best Time To Visit: The dry season, July to October. This is when the animals congregate along the Shire River to drink. Note that temperatures can be very hot in October.

Majete Wildlife Reserve

African Parks took over management of the Majete Wildlife Reserve in 2003 and successfully turned it from a park with almost no animals into a destination for the Big Five. This park is known to rival Liwonde for the Big Five, but does not have the same beauty situated on the Shire river.

Over 2,500 animals have been successfully reintroduced including lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo elephant, buffalo, and hippo are the most abundant, while spotting leopard and rhino are rare.

Location: About a 5 1/2 hour drive southeast of Lilongwe, in southwest Malawi.

Best Time To Visit: The dry season, July to October. This is when the animals congregate along the Shire River to drink. Note that temperatures can be very hot in October.

Other Parks

There’s also Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in central Malawi, and Nyika Plateau in the north (although the latter quite a distance unless flying). Nyika holds the honor of making UNESCO’s tentative list in 2020.

Best Places To Trek For a View In Malawi

Zomba Plateau

The Zomba Plateau is a 6,000’ (1,800 m) table-top mountain overlooking the old British colonial town of Zomba. This is a great place to walk the wooded paths to streams, lakes, and waterfalls, or all the way to the summit for spectacular vistas. If you don’t want to do the 6 hour summit walk, a taxi is an alternative. Local guides are recommended to show you the highlights, like Williams Falls.

Location: About an hour south of Liwonde National Park.

Best Time To Visit: April to November. Although the weather is at its hottest in October.

Mulanje Mountain

Another popular mountain to visit is Mulanje, an UNESCO World Heritage site. Mulanje, however, is much taller than Zomba, at 9,849’ (3,002 m). As it’s peak is often above the mist, locals sometimes call it the ‘island in the sky’. More than just a walk, it’s a several day hike to the summit.

There are multiple trails, ranging from moderate to technical scrambles. There are also several huts on the mountain. A local guide is highly recommended. Hiking permits and hut fees are required in advance.

Location: Near southern Malawi, it’s over an hour south of Zomba, or two hours south of Liwonde.

Best Time To Hike: April to September. Note that due to elevation, frost may be present in evenings from May to August.

Want To Learn More About Malawi?

To learn more about Malawi, including how to get around, safety, scams, money matters and more, see my Malawi Travel Guide.