Lake Malawi National Park is located at the southern end of Lake Malawi in Malawi, Southeast Africa. It is the only national park in Malawi created specifically to protect fish and underwater habitats. Although its main goal is to protect aquatic life, the park also includes land areas such as a headland, the shoreline, and several small rocky islands within Lake Malawi.
Lake Malawi National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984 because it is important for protecting global biodiversity, especially its variety of fish. The mbuna, a type of cichlid fish found there, show how evolution happens over time. The park is also known for its natural beauty, with rocky hills contrasting with the clear waters of the lake.
The site
Lake Malawi is located in the Great Rift Valley. The lake is 500 meters (1,640 feet) above sea level and has areas that are 700 meters (2,300 feet) deep, making it one of the deepest lakes in the world. Lake Malawi National Park covers about 95 kilometers (37 miles) of land and water at the southern end of the lake. The park includes most of the Nankumbu Peninsula, a mountainous area that extends northward into the lake and ends at Cape Maclear. It also includes the surrounding water area near the shore, which is only 100 meters (330 feet) wide and covers 0.02% of the lake’s total area, as well as the Mwenya Hills, Nkhudzi Hills, Nkhudzi Spit, and 13 islands: Otter, Domwe, Thumbi West, Mumbo, Zimbabwe, Thumbi East, Mpanda, Boadzulu, Chinyankhwazi Rock, Chinyamwezi Rock, Nankoma, Maleri, and Nakantenga. The peninsula rises sharply from the shoreline to Nkhunguni Peak, which is 1,143 meters (3,750 feet) high in the west, and Dzimwe Peak, which is 963 meters (3,160 feet) high in the east. The slopes of the peninsula are covered with thick forests. Few people live on the mountainous parts of the peninsula, but there are several fishing villages on the flatter areas near the shore. The largest village, Chembe, is near Cape Maclear. These villages are located within the park but are not part of the park itself.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Lake Malawi National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984. It meets three important criteria: Criterion (vii), which recognizes the lake's natural beauty located under the escarpment of the Great African Rift Valley; Criterion (ix), which highlights the lake's significance due to the many fish species, especially cichlids, that have evolved uniquely there. Over 350 cichlid species live in the park, and nearly all are found only in this area. Criterion (x) emphasizes the park's global importance for protecting biodiversity, including its freshwater fish population, which may include up to 1,000 species, as well as a wide range of other animals such as birds, mammals, and reptiles.
Fauna
Lake Malawi was formed millions of years ago, and the water level has changed a lot over time. These changes created many different areas for cichlids (called mbuna in local languages) and other fish to live in. These fish adapted to different environments and developed different ways of living, similar to how finches on the Galápagos Islands changed over time, as observed by Charles Darwin. Scientists have counted many cichlid species in Lake Malawi, and about 700 is a common number. Nearly all of these species are found only in Lake Malawi, and some live in very small areas, such as a bay, a rocky island, or a short stretch of shoreline. Many species have not yet been discovered by scientists and are still waiting to be described.
The park is also home to many mammals, including chacma baboons, vervet monkeys, hippos, leopards, common duikers, bushbucks, greater kudus, and klipspringers. Visitors may also see crocodiles, African fish eagles, white-breasted cormorants, wading birds, kingfishers, hornbills, nightjars, kestrels, swallow-tailed bee-eaters, and many other bird species.
History
Dr. David Livingstone was the first European to see Lake Nyassa, as it was then called, in 1859. By 1875, the Scottish Presbyterian Church had established a mission on Cape Maclear. A large baobab tree, believed to be over 800 years old, was a favorite place for Livingstone to give sermons and meet with other missionaries. The park also contains the graves of five early missionaries.