Highlights of Malawi: Liwonde Safari & Lake Malawi

This morning you travel south to Liwonde National Park, the jewel of Malawi's conservation revival, arriving in time for lunch at your riverside lodge. After settling in, you head out for your first taste of the Shire River by boat as the day begins to cool. Gliding along the water, you drift close to snorting hippos, watch crocodiles basking on the sandbanks, and see elephants and antelope come down to drink at the water's edge, while fish eagles wheel overhead and kingfishers flash between the reeds. As the sun lowers and the river turns to gold, you pause for a sundowner, taking in the peace of the wild. You return to the lodge after dark to the sounds of the bush, ready for dinner and your first night under the African sky.

Today is devoted to exploring Liwonde in full, rising early for a game drive in the fresh light of dawn when the bush is most active. Through mopane woodland and along open floodplains you search for large herds of elephants and buffalo, elegant sable and waterbuck, and the black rhino, lions and cheetahs that African Parks has reintroduced to this thriving wilderness. Your expert guide reads the tracks, points out birds and smaller creatures, and shares the remarkable story of the park's recovery from near-empty land to teeming reserve. After a relaxed lunch and siesta through the heat of midday, you head out again in the afternoon, perhaps by vehicle or by boat, ending with a sundowner as the light softens. Dinner tonight is enjoyed under a canopy of brilliant stars.

After a final morning activity in Liwonde, you leave the river behind and travel to the cool, forested heights of the Zomba Plateau, rising steeply above the historic old town of Zomba. Winding up the escarpment, the air grows fresh and the scenery changes to pine and evergreen forest, tumbling streams and flower-filled meadows. You settle into your lodge on the plateau, then set out to explore its viewpoints, where the land falls away to reveal the Shire valley, Lake Chilwa and, on a clear day, the distant blue mass of Mount Mulanje. You might walk a forest trail, pause beside a trout dam, or simply breathe in the scent of pine after the heat of the lowveld. This evening, enjoy the cool mountain air and the quiet beauty of the highlands.

This morning you descend from the plateau and travel to the shores of Lake Malawi, the vast, shimmering Lake of Stars, reaching Cape Maclear within Lake Malawi National Park in time to settle into your lakeside lodge. The change is complete: from cool mountain forest to golden sand, warm clear water and the gentle rhythm of the lake. After lunch you have time to unwind, swim in the astonishingly clear water, or take a first snorkel among the granite boulders just offshore, where jewel-like cichlid fish dart in every colour. Fishermen paddle their dugout canoes past, and children wave from the villages along the shore. As the sun sinks, the lake turns to molten gold and the first stars appear. Enjoy dinner by the water and the peaceful lakeside atmosphere that makes Cape Maclear so beloved.

Today the lake is yours to enjoy at leisure. A highlight is a boat trip out to the rocky islands offshore, where the water is clearest and the snorkelling superb; slipping on a mask, you enter a freshwater world alive with hundreds of species of cichlid, tiny fish of electric blue, gold and orange found nowhere else on earth. Your boatman may call in a fish eagle to swoop dramatically for a fish, and you can picnic on a quiet island beach. Back at the lodge you might kayak across mirror-calm bays, swim in water clear as glass, or simply relax on the warm sand with a book. The pace is entirely your own. As evening falls, the Lake of Stars lives up to its name, the sky blazing with stars above the darkened water. Dinner is served lakeside.

Enjoy a full, unhurried day on the shores of Lake Malawi, doing as much or as little as you please. You might take a sunset dhow cruise, kayak to a hidden cove, snorkel again among the cichlids, or visit a nearby fishing village to glimpse everyday lakeside life and its gentle, friendly rhythm. Keen visitors can take a guided walk in the wooded hills of the national park behind the beach, watching for baobabs, birds and rock hyrax, while others simply stretch out on the golden sand. This is time to slow down, to swim in the warm, clear water, and to soak up the peace and beauty of the lake that has enchanted travellers for generations. As the sun sets over the water one last time, savour a farewell dinner beneath the brilliant Malawian stars.

After a final leisurely morning beside Lake Malawi, perhaps a last swim in the clear water or a quiet walk along the golden sand, you bid farewell to Cape Maclear and transfer by light aircraft or road back to Lilongwe for your onward international flight. You leave having experienced the very best of Malawi in a single, richly varied journey: elephants and hippos along the Shire River, the inspiring wildlife recovery of Liwonde, the cool forested heights of Zomba Plateau, and the crystal-clear water and jewel-like fish of the Lake of Stars. Above all, you carry with you the genuine warmth of the Malawian people that gives this beautiful country its famous name. The images stay vivid long after you land, and you depart already dreaming of a return to the Warm Heart of Africa.