Chia Lagoon

Chia is a shallow lagoon of around eleven square kilometres just inland from Lake Malawi north of Nkhotakota, joined to it by a narrow channel that the lakeshore road crosses on a bridge. The shallow warm water and the reed margins make it an important nursery for lake fish, and fishing communities work it intensively with traps and nets. Birds use the margins in numbers, and the channel is the place to watch the boats working.

The landscape

• The channel - the narrow link to the lake, crossed by the road bridge.
• The fish nursery - the shallow water young lake fish grow in.
• The fishing - the traps and nets worked by the shore communities.
• The reed margins - the vegetation the birds and young fish use.

When to go

May to October is the dry season. Fishing activity is heaviest in the mornings. The lagoon level varies with the lake.

Good to know

There is no visitor infrastructure and the site is a roadside stop. Overfishing of the lagoon is a documented problem. Bilharzia is present.

Nearby

Nkhotakota is north, and the lakeshore road runs past.

Key facts