Malawi's scenery is gorgeous and varied and Malawians tend to be extremely friendly toward travellers. It's a real nature-lover's destination: lots of national parks and game reserves, mountain hiking and plateau trekking and the massive Lake Malawi, great for diving, boating or lazing about. The country's reliable transport and compact size make getting about a snap. A broad range of accommodation and activities makes it possible to have a great time whether you're pinching pennies or blowing the bank.

Nearly created whole in the late 1960s and early 1970s to become the country’s new capital in 1975, Lilongwe is a sprawling place with limited interest for travellers. This means there are an awful lot of awful modern administrative buildings in what’s referred to variously as the New City or City Centre. This is the area where you’ll find the ministries, embassies, airline offices, travel agents and a collection of office buildings and mini-malls called Capital City Shopping Centre.

Far more inspiring is Old Town, a few kilometres to the southwest, where you’ll find the market, several restaurants and cafes, the bus station and a good range of accommodation. The heart of Old Town is the market, which is jammed with stalls selling everything from pots and pans, car and bike parts, empty plastic containers, fruit, vegetables, toothpaste, live chickens and dried fish. It’s worth poking around even if you don’t buy anything.

Situated between Old Town and New City is the Nature Sanctuary, which covers 150ha (370 acres) of indigenous woodland that escaped development. There’s a wildlife information centre and several walking trails through the woods. The Lingadzi River flows through the reserve bearing crocodiles. Birders prize the sanctuary highly for its ornithological variety. They?re also several mammals roaming about, as well as a few hyenas, leopards and tigers in cages.

The public gallery at the tobacco auction floors at the vast Auction Holdings warehouse overlooks a space the size of several aircraft hangars, crammed with buyers, sellers and hundreds of bales of the weed displayed in long lines stretching across the floor. Groups of buyers move down the line talking rapidly to an auctioneer, snapping up a bale every six seconds. About 15,000 bales a day get moved in this fashion, making for an exhilarating scene. The sign on the wall of the main auction hall reads, ‘Thank you for smoking.’ The auction floors are located 7km (4mi) north of New Town and are reached most easily by car, although private tours and taxis can also get you there.

Nkhata Bay is Malawi’s most scenic lakeside town, though it doesn’t quite rate the ‘Caribbeanesque’ tag some travellers have given it. It’s gotten to be something of a budget destination, though it’s kept its Malawian feel despite the influx of foreigners.

Liwonde is the best national park in the country, well-managed with a good stock of game and beautiful scenery. Lying south of Lake Malawi, it includes part of Lake Malombe and the Shire River. Thousands of hippos and crocodiles live in the Shire, and hundreds of elephants can be found in the park. There are several species of antelope and a pair of re-introduced rhinos. Most of the game can be seen in the northern part of the park. There’s also great birdlife.

Stunning scenery, easy access, clear paths and well-maintained huts make Mt Mulanje a fine hiking and trekking area. The mountain rises steeply and suddenly from the undulating plain to the highlands, surrounded by near-vertical cliffs of bare rock, many over 1000m (3280ft) high. Mulanje’s peaks (including the highest in the country, Sapitwa, at just over 3000m/9840ft) often jut above the mist that frequently surrounds the upper slopes, giving the mountain one of its local names, ‘Island in the Sky.’ You can reach most of the peaks without resorting to technical climbing. If you’re thinking of visiting, be prepared for sudden downward shifts in temperature, rain and poor visibility at any time of year.

Tag: Malawi