Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
What's more, some visitors with large bags have been violently robbed, so travel light
here to avoid unwanted attention and don't bring any valuables, such as a camera, with
you. Dozens of little stores blast out Malawian music and sell counterfeit CDs.
GALLERY
Tobacco Auction Floors
( 01-710377; admission free)
For a view of Malawi's economic heart, go to the public
gallery overlooking the auction floors at the vast Auction Holdings warehouse about 7km
north of the city centre, east of the main road towards Kasungu and Mzuzu. This is best
reached by taxi, but local minibuses serve the industrial area. The auction season is April/
May to September.
TOBACCO
Tobacco is Malawi's most important cash crop, accounting for more than 60% of the country's export earnings,
and Lilongwe is the centre of this vital industry. Most activity takes place in the Kenengo Industrial Area on the
northern side of Lilongwe, the site of several tobacco-processing factories and the huge and impressive tobacco
auction rooms.
Large-scale tobacco farming started in the area around Lilongwe in the 1920s and has grown steadily in import-
ance ever since. Two types of tobacco are produced in Malawi: 'flue', which is a standard quality leaf, and 'bur-
ley', which is of a higher quality and is in demand by cigarette manufacturers around the world.
Tobacco is grown on large plantations or by individual farmers on small farms. The leaves are harvested and
dried, either naturally in the sun or in a heated drying room, and then brought to Lilongwe for sale (in southern
Malawi the crops go to auction in Limbe).
In the auction rooms (called auction 'floors'), auctioneers sell tobacco on behalf of the growers. It's purchased
by dealers who resell to the tobacco processors. The tobacco comes onto the floors in large bales and is displayed
in long lines. Moisture content determines the value of the leaves: if the tobacco is too dry, the flavour is im-
paired; if it's too wet, mould will set in and the bale is worthless.
A small proportion of tobacco is made into cigarettes for the local market, but most gets processed in Malawi
before being exported to be made into cigarettes abroad. Most processed tobacco goes by road to Durban, South
Africa, to be shipped around the world.
Lilongwe Wildlife Centre
( 01-757120;
www.lilongwewildlife.org
; Kenyatta Rd; admission MK1500;
8am-4pm Mon-Fri, to noon Sat)
In between City Centre and Old Town and alongside the
WILDLIFE RESERVE
