Village Visits

Malawi’s people are its greatest asset – friendly, welcoming, colourful and vibrant. It is impossible to visit the country and not to become engaged with the Malawians and most visitors to the country remember those engagements and interactions as the highlight of their trip.  As well as the natural encounters on a daily basis, there are widespread opportunities to spend time in real villages (including staying overnight) for a first-hand experience of the cultures, traditions and daily life. This is an option pretty much everywhere in Malawi, and one well worth taking. Whether they are in a National Park, up on a highland or alongside Lake Malawi, most of Malawi’s lodges and hotels have close links with their local communities, to whom they are very supportive. They have engaged with local villages and chiefs to sensitise them to the interests of visiting tourists, and paved the way for genuine and truly interactive village visits for any guest interested in learning more about daily life in Malawi. Although there may be some demonstrations of cooking techniques or agricultural practises, these visits will be about experiencing day-to-day life in a real village, and not about being performed to in a newly created, non-genuine ‘cultural village’.

One of the longest established and best organised village experiences is the popular Njobvu Village close to Liwonde National Park. But almost any lodge around the country can arrange a village visit, even if they may not advertise the fact. For some of the best genuine community experiences, it is worth contacting The Responsible Safari Company, a local operator that has long been organising engaging and two-way interactive visits.