Livingstonia

Livingstonia was founded in 1894 by Scottish missionaries who moved up from the lakeshore to escape malaria, settling on the escarpment at around nine hundred metres, and the settlement they built is still there: a stone church of 1916 with a stained glass window showing Livingstone at the lake, a hospital, a university, and the mission house that is now a museum. The road up climbs twenty hairpins from the lakeshore.

History

Missionaries of the Free Church of Scotland first set up a mission in 1875 at Cape Maclear, naming it after David Livingstone, and founded Livingstonia here in 1894. Robert Laws led it for 52 years and founded the best school in the region, and in 2003 the Synod of Livingstonia started the University of Livingstonia, as Laws had hoped (Wikipedia, Livingstonia, Malawi).

What to look for

• The stone church - the 1916 building with its Livingstone stained glass window.
• The mission house museum - the collection on the mission and its founders.
• The escarpment position - the settlement at nine hundred metres above the lake.
• The hairpin road - the twenty bends climbing from the lakeshore.

When to go

May to October is the dry season and the only reliable window for the road. The rains make the hairpins impassable. Nights on the escarpment are cool.

What to expect

The road up is genuinely rough and needs four-wheel drive; many people walk it, which takes several hours. Facilities are basic. The mission's history includes the paternalism of its period and the museum does not entirely confront it.

Nearby

Manchewe Falls are nearby, and Chitimba is below.

Key facts