Visit & explore Karonga Malawi

Visit & explore Karonga Malawi -Best of Malawi tourism

Visit & explore Karonga Malawi – Set on the shores of Lake Malawi, Karonga is one of Malawi’s most northern townships and a place of growing interest. It has an interesting but turbulent history as a centre for the notorious nineteenth century slave trade and, later, as the site of a First World War battle between German-ruled Tanzania (known as Tanganyika at the time) and British-ruled Malawi (Nyasaland at the time). The town’s cemetery has a number of military graves from the battle.

Karonga is the largest town before reaching the Tanzania border and so a useful place to re-stock and re-fuel for those on a multi-country itinerary. It also has few simple lodges

The town is also now home to the interesting ‘Cultural & Museum Centre Karonga’ (CMCK) which covers cultural history and the recent archeological finds of dinosaur and homind bones. It’s very easy to spend an hour or two looking round its modern and informative exhibits.  The main exhibition of ‘Malawi from Dinosaurs to Democracy’ includes a remarkable life-sized replica of the 12m long and 3 m high 120 million year old Malawisaurus skeleton found in the Karonga district nearly 100 years ago. And a replica of the world’s oldest known fossil from mankind’s very own Homo genus – a jawbone of Homo rudolfensis, found slightly to the south near Chilumba. The museum has an internet café as well as a traditional café and is well worth a visit.  Discover Lake Malawi.

Visit & explore Karonga Malawi – When it comes to small boats, the Lake is best known for its kayaking and sailing options with kayaks & canoes available at most beach lodges and even the option to take on longer expeditions along the lakeshore. A few lodges have small sailing boats for personal use or larger ones for a leisurely cruise. The crystal clear water of Lake Malawi make it an ideal location for snorkelling and donning a mask will give immediate access to the colourful kaleidoscope of tropical fish that live in the Lake and feed from the rocks along the shore. For those who wish to go that little bit deeper, there are a number of PADI registered dive schools along the lakeshore who offer great value scuba diving, including full courses to learn how to dive. One or two lodges even offer water skiing and sailboards and paddle boards are to be found at others. For the less energetic, Boat trips range from the famous Mv Llala lake ferry to sailing in an ocean-going yacht. Cruises into the upper reaches of the great Shire River are also possible.