Travel deep dive
The Northern Lake: Nkhata Bay's Coves and the Islands of Likoma and Chizumulu
North of the lakeshore road's long beaches, the escarpment comes down to the water and Lake Malawi changes character: the shore breaks into steep, wooded coves and rocky headlands, and the water is deep and clear a few strokes from the rocks. Nkhata Bay, a small port in one of those coves, is the place to stay on it, and far out on the lake towards the eastern shore lie the islands of Likoma and Chizumulu, Malawian ground close to the Mozambican side. Both are quiet stays of a few days rather than stops on the way, and the lake sets the pace: boats, the steamer and the weather decide when a journey happens.
Updated 2026-10-07
Nkhata Bay on its coves
Nkhata Bay is a small town of steep streets around a harbour, with a market, shops and a bus station, and the lodges lie outside it along the shore to the north and south, on the rocks above their own coves and small beaches. The lake in front of them is the deep, clear water of the northern lake, and the swimming, snorkelling and kayaking start from the lodge's own rocks; dive schools in the town take divers along the drop-offs and teach beginners in water that holds no current and no salt. A swim is taken where the lodge or local people say, as everywhere on the lake. The town is reached from Mzuzu, the main town of the north, by the road down the escarpment, or by the lakeshore road from the south.
Likoma and Chizumulu
Likoma is a small island of baobabs, granite outcrops and sandy coves with fishing villages along its shore, and its landmark is St Peter's Cathedral: a great stone church of the early 20th century built by Anglican missionaries, out of all proportion to the island around it, still in use, with carved choir stalls and stained glass inside. Lodges and guesthouses stand on the island's beaches, and the days there are the lake's: a swim, a walk to a village, a boat to a cove. Chizumulu, the smaller island a short crossing to the west, is quieter still, reached by the boats that cross between the two.
Getting to the islands
The islands lie far out on the lake, close to the Mozambican shore, so there is no short crossing from Nkhata Bay. The lake steamer calls at Likoma on its run up the lake, and the island has an airstrip used by chartered light aircraft; which of the two a stay is built around, and the spare day a return needs, are a matter of the steamer's sailings, confirmed locally. The northern lake is a journey of its own rather than a leg of the trip through the south, and it pairs with the Nyika plateau and Livingstonia, a few hours away by road from Mzuzu.