Itinerary
Ten Days Through the South of Malawi, from the Lake to the Mountain
The south of Malawi holds the three things most visitors come for within a few hours' drive of one another: the lake, the wildlife parks of the Shire valley and the mountains, and about ten days join them in one loop by road from Lilongwe. The stages are short, so each day leaves room for the place itself: a morning on the water, an afternoon drive among elephants, a night in a mountain hut. Most visitors travel with a car and a driver hired for the whole trip, with every drive between towns made by daylight. The far north, with its plateau and the islands of the northern lake, is a journey of its own.
Updated 2026-10-07
Days 1 to 3: Lilongwe and the lake at Cape Maclear
The trip begins at the airport north of Lilongwe, where the driver for the loop can meet the flight, and the first afternoon goes to the capital: the Old Town market, the craft stalls and the wildlife centre on the river, and the kwacha for the days ahead, drawn in the city because the lake villages and the parks have few cash machines or none. Day 2 is the drive to the southern lakeshore, about three to four hours, over the hills of the peninsula to Chembe, the fishing village on the bay at Cape Maclear. Day 3 belongs to the water: the rock fish watched from the surface at Otter Point, a kayak or a boat out to the islands of the national park, and chambo grilled on the beach in the evening.
Days 4 and 5: Liwonde and the boat on the Shire
From Cape Maclear the road runs back past Monkey Bay and down the eastern arm of the lake to Mangochi, where the Shire river leaves the lake, and follows the river south to Liwonde National Park, a morning's drive. The afternoon of day 4 is the first boat trip on the Shire, past hippos in the shallows and elephants at the water; day 5 gives a game drive at first light, a walk with a park guide and a second outing on the river at the end of the afternoon. Two nights in or beside the park make the days unhurried.
Day 6: the Zomba plateau
Zomba lies a short drive south of Liwonde, and day 6 climbs from the town to the plateau straight above it: the walks to Williams Falls and the Mulunguzi dam, and the viewpoints at the plateau's edge over the plains far below. A night on the plateau is cool even in the hot months, and the old capital below has the banks, shops and fuel for the days on the mountain.
Days 7 and 8: Mount Mulanje
Day 7 crosses the tea country of Thyolo, rows of clipped bushes over the hills, to the foot of Mount Mulanje at Likhubula, about half a day's drive, with the afternoon for the rock pools and waterfalls on the streams below the massif and for meeting the guide who has been booked for the climb. Day 8 is the climb to a hut on the plateau with the guide and a porter, a night on top with the fire lit, and the walk down on the morning of day 9; a walker who would rather not climb spends day 8 on the paths at the foot and in the tea estates instead.
Days 9 and 10: Blantyre and Majete
Down from the mountain, the road through the tea reaches Blantyre, the city of the south, within about two hours, for the cash machines, the supermarkets and a tank of fuel, and then drops down the escarpment into the hot lower Shire valley to Majete Wildlife Reserve for the night. Day 10 starts at first light with a game drive in the woodland, among the Big Five, and ends back in Blantyre for the flight home from Chileka airport or the drive north to Lilongwe, about four to five hours on the main road, with an early start so that it ends by daylight.
The north as a journey of its own
The far north does not fit into the loop through the south; it is a second trip of about a week from Lilongwe, by the main road north to Mzuzu in about five hours. From Mzuzu it takes in the high grassland of the Nyika plateau and the old mission of Livingstonia on the escarpment, and Nkhata Bay and the islands of the northern lake, with the lakeshore road as the way back south along the water.