Malawi

Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa) is the third-largest lake in Africa and ninth-largest in the world, with around 1,000 endemic cichlid fish species — the largest known concentration of vertebrate species in any single lake on the planet — UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. Cape Maclear (Chembe) at the southern end is the long-established lake hub, with snorkelling and scuba diving over kaleidoscopic cichlid reefs around Domwe, Mumbo and Thumbi West islands; Likoma Island in Mozambican waters but Malawian territory holds the carved sandstone St Peter's Anglican cathedral (1903–1911) and the high-end Kaya Mawa lodge; Nkhata Bay is the diving base for the deeper northern lake. The MV Ilala lake ferry (1951, still in service) runs the full 580 km Monkey Bay–Nkhata Bay–Karonga route weekly.

Liwonde National Park, on the Shire River south-east of Lilongwe, has been managed by African Parks since 2015 and now holds rhino, lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and re-introduced cheetah and African wild dog — Mvuu Camp on the river and Kuthengo Camp on the floodplain are the standard stays. Majete Wildlife Reserve, further south on the Shire, was the first park African Parks restored in 2003 (the original conservation-by-relocation success story in southern Africa) and now holds the full Big Five — the only park in Malawi where you can see all five — with Mkulumadzi and Thawale Lodge as bases. Both parks are accessible by road from Lilongwe (3–5 hours) or by charter flight to the in-park airstrips.

Mount Mulanje (3,002 m Sapitwa Peak) in the south-east is southern Africa's third-highest massif and one of the great multi-day trekking destinations of the region — a granite-and-quartzite massif rising abruptly from the Phalombe plain, with a network of mountain huts spaced one day's walk apart that lets travellers cross the massif in 3–6 days. Tea-estate lodges around the foot (Likhubula, Satemwa) and the Mountain Club of Malawi-managed huts (Chambe, Lichenya, Madzeka, Sombani) anchor the route. Best months May to October (cool dry season). Mulanje's slopes are also the only home of the endemic Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei), the country's national tree.

Nyika Plateau, in the far north, is the largest mountain plateau in southern Africa and Africa's only highland savanna ecosystem at this scale — 3,200 km² of rolling grasslands, granite outcrops, montane forest pockets and seasonal wildflower meadows at 2,500–2,600 m altitude. Wildlife includes roan antelope, eland, zebra, leopard, hyena and over 400 bird species; Chelinda Lodge and Camp (the only accommodations in the park) sit at the centre, served by 4x4 transfer from Mzuzu (4 hours) or charter flight to Chelinda airstrip. The park feels closer to a Scottish highland or Lesotho's Sehlabathebe than to a typical African savanna and is a serious birding and horse-riding destination. Best November to April when the wildflowers peak.

Lilongwe (the capital, established in the 1970s as a planned city) and Blantyre (the older commercial centre, founded in 1876 as a Scottish missionary station) are the two main cities; both have small but lively cultural scenes and serve as gateways to the surrounding country. Zomba Plateau, between the two, is mountain-resort country with the historic Ku Chawe Inn (1936), forest-walk trails, the Williams Falls and the Mulunguzi Dam. Zomba town below the plateau was the country's capital until 1974 and retains the State House, the Old Government Buildings (Parliament until 2002) and the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens. The Tongole Wilderness Lodge area in Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve and the Tea Routes around Thyolo and Mulanje add further depth.

Malawi's tourism slogan — 'The Warm Heart of Africa' — is a real-world impression most repeat visitors confirm; the country has unusually low violent-crime rates by regional standards and a famously hospitable population. Cuisine — nsima (the maize-meal staple eaten with relish/ndiwo and chambo fish), chambo (Lake Malawi tilapia, the national fish, sold lakeside fresh-grilled), kachumbari salad, mbatata (sweet potato cookies), mandasi fritters and the famously good Malawi Gin (distilled by Carlsberg Malawi since 1965) — anchors the food side. An emerging specialty-coffee scene from the Misuku Hills (north of Karonga) and the Mzuzu Coffee Cooperative growers around Mzuzu makes Malawi a small but interesting origin for travellers interested in single-estate East African coffee.