Nov 29. 2014. II. Lake Malawi

It’s about time to feel the real nature of Malawi. I went to Lake Malawi, one-hour and 40 minutes distance from the capital city, Lilongwe. I was supposed to go at noon, the departure was delayed to 3pm. I was there about only one hour, but it was good amount of time to take a picture and enjoyed the scenery. 

Lake Malawi is 560-580 km length with maximum width of 75km. It is pretty long and clean lake, and looks just like the ocean. It is interesting to know there was name dispute to say “Lake Malawi,” because other countries also border on the lake. Tanzania and Mozambique claimed that the name should be “Lake Nysasa.” There is still ongoing Tanzania-Malawi dispute for the partition of the lake’s surface area; Tanzania wanted the international border should run through the middle of the lake whereas Malawi wanted the whole surface of the lake. In 1954, the British and the Portuguese signed an agreement of “making the middle of the lake their boundary,” but there is conflict occasionally between Malawi and Tanzania. 

The nickname of Lake Malawi is “the Lake of Starts” because there is the lantern lights rom the distance looks starts in the sky. It is also called “the Lake of Storms” because there are unpredictable gales that can sweep the area. There are many kinds of fish, invertebrates, and even hippos, and the beautiful beaches and islands attract local and international tourists to visit this place. If I would have more time to spend in Lake Malawi next time, I would swim and take a boat!