Malawi's Landscapes

Malawi has a massive diversity of beautiful landscapes and scenery. The highest peaks in Malawi touch 10 000ft (3 000m) while the lowest point is barely above sea level. This range of altitudes in a small area help to make the landscape of Malawi one of the moist varied in all Africa. It is generally a green, lush country, with plateaux, highlands, forests, mountains, plains, escarpments and dramatic river valleys.

Outdoor Activities

The variety of scenery is a major attraction to visitors and many of the highland areas and forest reserves have good accommodation options. Malawi’s wonderful landscapes can be enjoyed and experienced through variety of outdoor activities that are available across the country. Most of the highlands have trails available for walking and trekking through areas of amazing unspoilt natural beauty, and it’s possible to do treks lasting a number of days as well as simple, unchallenging walks of an hour or so. For those intend on reaching Malawi’s  higher peaks, there are a few opportunities for climbing (and abseiling)

Cycling and mountain biking and allow more ground to be covered and more to be seen than when exploring on foot. A few lodges have bikes for hire and with Malawi’s modest size, most local tour operators can set up itineraries using on cycling as the main means of transport. Horse riding is also available at a few well run stables dotted around the country and is another way to enjoy the surrounding scenery, that can be both relaxing and thrilling!

Malawi is blessed with a number of rivers that flow throughout the year and those, along with Lake Malawi and a few smaller lakes and dams, provide some opportunities for fishing.

Scenic Places to Visit

Rift Valley

The Great East African Rift Valley System extends into Malawi and provides the vast chasm that Lake Malawi fills. The whole lake is a sight to behold, but the Lake Malawi National Park covers particular waters, shoreline and islands at the southern part of it. On the Mozambican side of the lake, the Manda Wilderness Reserve is a protected area of stunning natural beauty.  The Rift Valley extends to the south of the country following the Shire River that drains the Lake and soon flows through Liwonde National Park. South-west of Blantyre, this mighty river, en route to the Zambezi, descends to the Lower Shire Valley which is home to three protected parks & reserves including the picturesque Majete Wildlife Reserve and Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve, which is little visited but has some unique rock formations. The flatter area at the southern end the Lower Shire Valley is an important wetland, Elephant Marsh.

Central African Plateau

To the west of the Lake and either side of the Shire Valley in the south, is the Central African Plateau. The transition from Rift Valley floor up to the Central African Plateau is characterised by a series of dramatic escarpments, such as at Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, a protected area of rugged, unspoilt wilderness. The Central African Plateau itself is gently undulating land between 1600ft (490m) and 5000ft (1500m), with the occasional lake (such as Lake Chilwa) and punctuated by more dramatic hills and forests.

Highlands

It is the widespread highlands and forests that provide the most impressive of the Malawi’s varied scenery. Up where the air is fresh and cool are clear mountain streams, heaths, rolling montane grassland and evergreen forests.

The southern part of Malawi has the best known highlands – Mulanje Massif and Zomba Plateau. The former is a massive wilderness plateau of syenite granite rising from the Phalombe Plains. It has a number of peaks, including the highest in both the country and the whole of central Africa: Sapitwa, at 3000 metres (10,000 feet). The tea estates that stretch west of Mulanje as far as Thyolo, are also wonderfully scenic, with the privately restored Chimwenya Game Park protecting a beautiful area of indigenous forest even closer to Blantyre. Zomba Plateau is not as high as Mulanje, but none the less impressive. It is slab-like with a gently undulating plateau top which is accessible by road.

The Dedza-Kirk Highlands extend the rise from the Rift Valley on its western edge between Blantyre and Lilongwe. The quaint forestry town of Dedza is overlooked by a mountain of the same name and is nearby the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Chongoni Rock Art. The northern part of these highlands is marked by the Dedza-Salima Forest Reserve and then the Thuma Forest Reserve. South-west of Lilongwe, the Dzalanyama Forest Reserve covers a range of hills at the border with Mozambique. The Dowa Highlands north of Lilongwe have their most notable peaks at Dowa and Ntchisi Forest Reserve.

The Viphya Highlands – undulating hills swathed in evergreen forests – stretch north-south in north Malawi and reach the edge of the Rift Valley. Finally, in north Malawi is the Nyika Plateau, a rolling whaleback grassland plateau unique in Africa. Much of this highest and most extensive high plateau surface in central Africa is gazetted as the Nyika National Park. To the east of the National Park lies the historic Livingstonia Mission in its stunning setting, high on the Khondowe Plateau overlooking Lake Malawi.