Lake Chilwa

Lake Chilwa is shallow, has no outlet and sits in a basin that loses water only to evaporation, so its level swings enormously and it has dried out completely more than once in the last century. When full it is the country's second largest lake and supports an enormous fishery, with communities living on floating reed platforms out in the water. It is a Ramsar site and a very significant place for migratory birds.

Background

The lake is approximately 60 km in length and 40 km in width, ringed by extensive wetlands, with Chisi Island in the middle. In 1968 it vanished altogether during an exceptionally dry spell. When David Livingstone came here in 1859, he described its southern edge reaching the Mulanje Massif, which would have made it at least 32 kilometres longer than now. Around 1.5 million waterbirds of about 160 species use it, and for twelve species the count is over 1% of their flyway population. Fishing occupies about 335 villages, home to over 60,000 inhabitants, which land over 17,000 metric tons a year, 20% of Malawi's total catch.

Source: Wikipedia, "Lake Chilwa"

The landscape

• The floating villages - reed platforms fishing communities live on out in the water.
• The fishery - the enormous catch the shallow lake supports when full.
• The migratory birds - the wader and wildfowl numbers the wetland draws.
• The changing level - a lake that has dried out entirely more than once.

When to go

May to October is the dry season and best for the roads. The lake level varies enormously between years. Bird numbers peak in the northern winter.

Practical notes

The lake can be very low or effectively dry depending on the year. There is no visitor infrastructure at all. Mosquitoes and malaria risk around the lake are high.

Nearby

Zomba is west, and the Mozambican border is east.

Key facts