Albert Thompson
Malawi is a heaven for naturalists, offering a wide array of large mammals in many of its parks and reserves. Most species of big game are now restricted to game reserves and national parks owing to an increase in poaching over the past ten years. There are three types of protected areas in Malawi: national parks, wildlife reserves and nature sanctuaries. They cover an estimated 11 per cent of the country’s total land mass.
Source: http://www.rootsafrikiko.com
Kasungu National Park. Malawi Travel Marketing Consortium offers Tours and Safaris and Lodges & Accomodation. Transport services and Activities available in the North, South and Central Malawi.
Lake Malawi National Park Located at the southern end of the great expanse of Lake Malawi, with its deep, clear waters and mountain backdrop, the national park is home to many hundreds of fish species, nearly all endemic. Its importance for the study of evolution is comparable to that of the finches of the Galapagos Islands.
Lengwe National Park is 887km in size and is about 75km south of the commercial city Blantyre. The park is relatively flat as it is located in the Lower Shire Valley, to the South of the country. One distinguishing feature about Lengwe National park is the beautiful Nyala Antelope which are indigenous only to this park in Malawi.
Located at the southern tip of Lake Malombe in the south of Malawi, Liwonde National Park is truly a national treasure worth experiencing. While Malawi is not as well known for big game as other African countries, Liwonde is brimming with wildlife that literally sits at your doorstep making this national park the most popular in the country.
Nyika Plateau is a beautiful, montane, highland area, lying on the Malawian border, at the eastern-most tip of Zambia. The park is actually an extension of the National Park on the Malawian side, which incorporates the rest of the Plateau. Sitting 2000 meters above sea level, the views from the Plateau are spectacular with dramatic cloud formations on the horizon.
Just an hour from Lilongwe and half an hour from the shores of Lake Malawi lies a little known wildlife reserve called Kuti. This stunning bush retreat is home to all sorts of wildlife like zebra, impala, sable and giraffe. Explore by car, bike, on foot or even horseback - just make sure you're at the deck in time for the best sunset in Malawi!*
Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve is located at the southernmost tip of Malawi. At 135 km 2 it is the smallest of the Malawian reserves, and also the least accessible. Nevertheless it boasts a variety of habitats unequalled by the larger reserves, and, because of its remoteness, a wilderness atmosphere that is redolent of the old Africa of Livingstone and Stanley.
Since its proclamation as a protected area in 1955, Majete had been managed by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). However, due to a lack of resources, scouts were poorly equipped to deal with heavily armed poachers. In 1988 there were estimated to be over 200 elephants in Majete but by 1992 all had been exterminated. together with buffalo, sable antelope, eland, zebra and hartebeest. Other species that inhabited Majete included hippo, warthog, bush pig, zebra, kudu, bushbuck, waterbuck, grey duiker, klipspringer and spotted hyena. By the early 1990s their numbers too had been greatly reduced through poaching. Small numbers of crocodiles still survived in the Shire River.
Located in central Malawi, the scenic Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve is the country’s oldest and least-developed protected area. And at 1,802km², it is also the largest.
Nkhotakota’s rugged terrain stretches from the Great Rift Valley in the west to a few kilometres short of Lake Malawi in the east. Some of Malawi’s main rivers flow through it on their way to the lake and numerous streams and waterfalls cascade into the reserve from the edge of the escarpment.
Most of the reserve is dominated by brachystegia and miombo woodland with little open ground, while tall grasses and areas of both evergreens and rainforest are particularly characteristic of the wetter parts of the plateau.
As a true wilderness area, Nkhotakota is particularly attractive to travellers who wish to enjoy walking safaris, canoeing and fishing.
Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve lies on the watershed between Lake Malawi and the Luangwa valley on 11° 00's and 33" 28'E. It is located on the Central African Plateau, west of northern Malawi and covers and area of986 km'. Its northern boundary coincides with the Malawi -Zambia border.
