Lake Malawi luxury ecolodge
| country: | Malawi |
| location: | Lake Malawi |
| price: | From £180 per person per night, full board, including all gov taxes, snorkelling and unmotorised watersports. |
the amazing things you'll be doing
This outstanding lodge accommodation consists of seven exclusive cottages hewn out of the granite headland, together with a honeymoon suite located on its own private island in Lake Malawi.
The honeymoon island is connected by a walkway, and is totally private, hidden from view from the rest of the lodge accommodation by a giant pod mahogany tree growing from its mount. A pair of Fish Eagles hunt for the tree, and from October to January we have a resident pair of yellow billed kites nesting in it. The private and exclusive holiday cottage blends into the rocks, with the whole back wall made up of a huge slab of granite.
With the sights and sounds of Lake Malawi lapping all around you, you get a real sense of being tucked away from the world on your own exclusive private island.
Walking: Likoma Island's small size, 8km x 4kms (its the same size as Guernsey), friendly people, panoramic views and car-free roads make it a walkers' paradise. You can also take mountain bikes from the lodge and explore. The "town" is a 45-minute walk from the ecolodge accommodation, taking you through traditional fishing villages, across the baobab plains to where the steamer stops twice a week. This is the only transport to and from mainland Malawi and most of the population turn up to help with the unloading. It's a great opportunity to watch the hustle and bustle of Island life. From the port it's a short stroll to the heart of the Island - the Magnificent Cathedral - over 100 years old and still one of the largest buildings in the Country.
The Cathedral is built on the site where the first missionaries witnessed witches being burnt at the stake. Hence the name Chipyela - "The Place of Burning". A visit to the town beach is a must. Watch the Mozambican dhows arriving with maize, cassava and firewood to trade with the Islanders. The cobbled market is set in a charming square, with traders selling all manner of provisions. The Banana Sellers store their goods in a hollowed out tree in the middle of the market.
Diving: Likoma and Chizumulu Islands are widely regarded as having the best diving in Lake Malawi. 80% of the world's aquarium fish come from here and over 800 species, many endemic to the lake, have been discovered to date. With no tides, no currents and freshwater, it is the ideal place for someone to learn with PADI Open Water Diving Courses on offer - not only that but all year round it is lovely warm water. 
The beds in most rooms are mahogany 4 poster, 8 foot long and 7 foot wide, from the bed you get a view of water, with the mountains of Mozambique 7 kms away to the east, and amazing sunsets over the Malawi mainland to the west. The honeymoon island has an open air bath, loo with a view, 2 sun decks, and a handheld radio for room service. All rooms have decks / verandahs you can walk straight into the water from. The bar area is raised above the lake with stunning views and a deep swimming pool. Dining takes place usually al fresco on one of the restaurant / bar decks.
Activities include: Snorkelling, Windsurfing, Walking, Water Skiing and Wakeboarding, Laser Sailing, Fishing and Canoeing
The honeymoon island is connected by a walkway, and is totally private, hidden from view from the rest of the lodge accommodation by a giant pod mahogany tree growing from its mount. A pair of Fish Eagles hunt for the tree, and from October to January we have a resident pair of yellow billed kites nesting in it. The private and exclusive holiday cottage blends into the rocks, with the whole back wall made up of a huge slab of granite.
With the sights and sounds of Lake Malawi lapping all around you, you get a real sense of being tucked away from the world on your own exclusive private island.
Walking: Likoma Island's small size, 8km x 4kms (its the same size as Guernsey), friendly people, panoramic views and car-free roads make it a walkers' paradise. You can also take mountain bikes from the lodge and explore. The "town" is a 45-minute walk from the ecolodge accommodation, taking you through traditional fishing villages, across the baobab plains to where the steamer stops twice a week. This is the only transport to and from mainland Malawi and most of the population turn up to help with the unloading. It's a great opportunity to watch the hustle and bustle of Island life. From the port it's a short stroll to the heart of the Island - the Magnificent Cathedral - over 100 years old and still one of the largest buildings in the Country.
The Cathedral is built on the site where the first missionaries witnessed witches being burnt at the stake. Hence the name Chipyela - "The Place of Burning". A visit to the town beach is a must. Watch the Mozambican dhows arriving with maize, cassava and firewood to trade with the Islanders. The cobbled market is set in a charming square, with traders selling all manner of provisions. The Banana Sellers store their goods in a hollowed out tree in the middle of the market.
Diving: Likoma and Chizumulu Islands are widely regarded as having the best diving in Lake Malawi. 80% of the world's aquarium fish come from here and over 800 species, many endemic to the lake, have been discovered to date. With no tides, no currents and freshwater, it is the ideal place for someone to learn with PADI Open Water Diving Courses on offer - not only that but all year round it is lovely warm water. facilities
The beds in most rooms are mahogany 4 poster, 8 foot long and 7 foot wide, from the bed you get a view of water, with the mountains of Mozambique 7 kms away to the east, and amazing sunsets over the Malawi mainland to the west. The honeymoon island has an open air bath, loo with a view, 2 sun decks, and a handheld radio for room service. All rooms have decks / verandahs you can walk straight into the water from. The bar area is raised above the lake with stunning views and a deep swimming pool. Dining takes place usually al fresco on one of the restaurant / bar decks.Activities include: Snorkelling, Windsurfing, Walking, Water Skiing and Wakeboarding, Laser Sailing, Fishing and Canoeing
tailor made holidays
As this trip can be tailormade to your requirements it would be helpful if you could you provide the following information: Rough budget per person (stating with or without flights), your address and postcode, contact phone number, preferred date of travel, length of trip, number of passengers, preferred countries and areas within those countries, specific interests & type of accommodation.highly commended
This tourism business was Highly Commended in our 2007 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - the largest awards of their kind in the world, and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society.Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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From the owners: From the beginning we agreed to stick to certain fundamental principles and discussed each stage of the development with the village headman and the 10 families which live on our boundaries. It became apparent that whilst everyone was keen to sell the land and were pro-development, few of the villagers had a grasp of the bigger picture. I think part of our success was that from the beginning we agreed that if the village would have the faith to sell their land to us we would return that trust by making it a community project, in the sense that they would be totally involved in the construction and running of the lodge.
From the beginning we have employed exclusively from the village, builders, carpenters, you name it, up to 80 people, all from the island, who all benefit. Once we had finished the building we then retrained these same workers so that the cement mixer is now the barman and the kitchen girls are ex-sand carriers. We now employ 35 people full time, and have tried to make sure that at least one person from each hut in the village works for us, so that cash is going directly into every household every month. Saying that, we also have 5 father/son mother/daughter combinations working for us, 3 sisters in the kitchen and in one family we have 3 generations, with the 4th occasionally coming in on her mothers back. We have also never denied access to the lake by the local community, which created major headaches at the beginning but as the novelty of having a few mzungus on the beach wore off, so things returned to normal. We also refused to put up a fence around our boundary, although it was encouraged as a security measure by the chief, instead we planted trees along it so there is a physical line which the village is aware of, and respects. Having seen the impact of enclave tourism in the Caribbean, we have successfully managed to create an amazing sense of pride and collective responsibility, to the extent that villagers look out for us and will challenge strangers who are lingering around the village. In 8 years, with no fences, no locks on any of the rooms, we have never been robbed... this speaks for itself. We are also genuinely proud of the fact that we are the only totally solar/ wind powered lodge in the whole country. We have 3 X 500watt wind turbines, 50 solar panels, and 48 deep cycle solar batteries which powers the whole lodge including 3 deep freezers, office, computer, hf radio, sat phone, music, lights and fans in all the rooms. We also pump all our water by solar, and have installed a tap in the village which provides 10,000litres of free water and saves the women a 1/2 km walk with a 20 kg bucket on their heads 3 times a day. Our latest project is that we have set up a community trust account called "island child" which aims to sponsor aids orphans through school. To date we have 20 kids being sponsored and our target is to reach 300 by next December. Despite all this "worthiness", the bottom line when it comes to the continued growth and prosperity of the village as a whole is the success of the lodge as a resort. We have struggled to raise the profile of our ecolodge, as it was an unheard of destination until we arrived, but slowly this is changing. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |