Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Nearby Vwaza Marsh is known for its hippos as well as elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks
and other antelopes, but is currently in poor shape.
Lake Malawi has more fish species than any other inland body of water in the world,
with a total of over 600, of which more than 350 are endemic. The largest family of fish in
the lake is the
Cichlidae
(cichlids). Other fish families in the lake include
usipa
, or lake
whitebait,
mpasa
(lake salmon) and
kampango
(catfish), which you'll see on quite a few
menus.
Malawi is rewarding for birdwatchers: over 600 species have been recorded and birds
rarely spotted elsewhere in Southern Africa are easily seen here, including the African
skimmer, Böhm's bee-eater and the wattled crane.
THE MANE STORY
At around the same time (mid-2012) as Joyce Banda was making her first seismic changes to the fortunes of the
economy, a buzz was building in the West about the reintroduction of lions into Malawi's Majete Wildlife
Reserve. It may sound insignificant, but for a country with such abundant natural beauty so long overlooked in fa-
vour of neighbouring countries with greater wildlife stocks, a lion injection was just what was needed to bring it
back to the fore. As we write, major magazines and newspapers - from
Wanderlust
to
The Sunday Times
- are
covering this story, reintroducing Malawi to the world as Africa's next big thing.
Plants
Miombo
woodland is the dominant vegetation in Malawi. The dominant trees of the open-
canopy
miombo
are
Julbernadia globiflora
and several types of
Brachystegia
. Mopane
woodland occurs in hot lowland areas that have relatively low rainfall, including the Shire
Valley, the plains along the southern shores of Lake Malawi and some of the smaller
lakes. The iconic baobab tree, which favours the same dry conditions, frequently occurs in
mopane woodland areas. There isn't much forest left in Malawi (most has been cleared),
but areas do exist that are thought to be remnants of the extensive evergreen forests that
once grew all over the country, as well as in southern Tanzania, northern Zambia, and
Mozambique. There are two main types - montane evergreen forest and semi-evergreen
forest. Montane grassland occurs above 1800m and is predominantly found on the Nyika
Plateau in northern Malawi, where the rolling hills are covered in grass.
