Lake Malawi

Nkhata Bay

Lake Malawi is lovely. It’s the most biologically diverse lake in the world, with hundreds of species of fish in crystal water, surrounded by villages of wonderful people. In Nkhata Bay we pitched our tent at a hostel called Mayoka and hardly left the premises for a week. We hung our hammock by the water, enjoyed meals on their deck, shared drinks with other travelers and the friendly staff at their bar. They offered free use of kayaks and snorkel gear. How could we leave? They even let us move from our tent to a private room for no extra cost, just because we were “nice guests”.

An American, a Canadian, an Australian, and a Japanese guy jumping into an African lake.

Mayoka took a bunch of us on a free boat trip to jump off cliffs, snorkel, see fish eagles, and play football with some locals.

Kande Beach

We eventually felt the need to move on with our trip, and pried ourselves away from Mayoka. We went south to Kande Beach, where the waves and white sand looked just like the ocean.

These two kids approached me on Kande Beach, asking something so quietly I couldn’t hear at first. I thought for sure they wanted money but they were just asking if I could take their picture, so they could see it on the camera screen.

On the southern tip of Lake Malawi we stayed at Cape Maclear. Cape Maclear is less popular than other spots; you might say not as nice, but we enjoyed being somewhere where locals outnumbered tourists.

Cape Maclear

The lake gets used for washing everything – clothes, dishes, hair, babies.

One of the perks of travelling in low season: getting this whole dorm room to ourselves for a week. Not bad for $4 a night.

A couple of fishermen took us out to a nearby island to fish and snorkel.

They showed us how to catch a fish with bare hands.

We were less successful.