Your Exclusive Safari in Liwonde National Park, Malawi

Liwonde National Park is a four hour drive from the Malawi capital, Lilongwe where we have our rental RV depot. We recommend you hire a 4 x 4, because you may want to follow minor roads on your exclusive game safari. Old Lilongwe hosts hotels, embassies, and government / commercial offices. While New Lilongwe has lively markets, cafes, restaurants, overloaded buses and hooting taxis.

First Impressions of Liwonde National Park, Malawi

We recommend you head for the peace and quiet of Liwonde National Park instead. The 548 square kilometre / 212 square mile reserve is in the southern part of the country near the border with Mozambique. It has over 10,000 large animals.

These include african buffalo, antelope – including common eland, the endangered sable antelope, and waterbuck – baboons, black rhinoceros, bushbuck, elephants, hippopotamus, impala, kudu, monkeys, and warthogs.

Liwonde National Park has over 500 elephants grazing under trees and on savannah. It is developing a black rhino herd in a 4,000 hectare / 15 square mile sanctuary. The program also includes several other large mammals hunted to extinction, such as african buffalo, lichtenstein’s hartebeest, zebra, roan and eland.

Settling In at the Shire River Campsite

A 30-kilometre / 19 mile section of Shire River runs through the park, ensuring abundant water during dry seasons. It is the largest river in the country, and conveys water from Lake Malawi to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Large groups of hippo congregate in the Liwonde section.

There are several luxurious game lodges in a park that some say offers the best year-round bird watching in Central and Southern Africa. The most popular are Livingstone’s flycatcher, pel’s fishing-owl, spur-winged lapwing, lillian’s lovebird and the rare brown-breasted barbet.

There is also a traditional camp site on the Shire river bank with basic facilities. A simple ferry is available for crossing the river, and there is airstrip for the rich and famous. Our clients often use the campsite as their base, and then head out in the direction that suits them best or takes their fancy.

You could fight poaching by visiting Liwonde

Malawi is a small, landlocked country with scant mineral resources compared to its wealthier neighbours. The Liwonde National Park is a brave initiative in a country where the people are generally poor. You could contribute to its future by visiting this peaceful game reserve. It relies on tourism for 97% of its income, and much of this must go to fight the evil scourge of poaching.