Lake Malawi activity holiday, Malawi
| country: | Malawi |
| location: | Lake Malawi |
| departures: | This trip can be arranged at any time and can be tailored to fit your own unique requirements, interests and budget. |
| price: | From £1835 (9 days) excluding flights. Price includes accommodation on full board basis, all water based activities including scuba diving, kayaking, non-motorised water sports, tubing, snorkelling and sailing and transfers |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
You will divide your time between the Cape Maclear headland and the private Mumbo Island. Both locations are exclusive and personal with only 6 rooms available. At both locations all water sports (except motorised boat activity) are included. You will have the opportunity to scuba dive or snorkel in the lake itself – home to mbuna, thousands of freshwater fish unique to Lake Malawi which produce a kaleidoscopic display of colour.
Danforth Lodge has stylish, nautically decorated en-suite rooms which are all lake facing and air conditioned. There is a large thatched dining area for guests and swimming pool and games room. As well as the many water sports activities the lodge offers mountain biking and nature walks in the national park as well as village excursions.
Mumbo Island is the jewel of the Lake Malawi National Park. It lies 10 km off the mainland and has private tastefully furnished safari tents set up in shaded decks. Each room has a unique viewpoint from its sundeck.. The island is all about freedom and quality time to either relax in total serenity or kayak or dive the surroundings. A guided kayak tour around the whole island takes aprox 1 – 1.5 hrs depending on how often you stop. You are sure to see colourful fish beneath you and fish eagles and cormorants soaring overhead.
This trip can be tailor made to suit your interests, budget and requirements. Please see below for a sample itinerary.
Danforth Lodge has stylish, nautically decorated en-suite rooms which are all lake facing and air conditioned. There is a large thatched dining area for guests and swimming pool and games room. As well as the many water sports activities the lodge offers mountain biking and nature walks in the national park as well as village excursions.
Mumbo Island is the jewel of the Lake Malawi National Park. It lies 10 km off the mainland and has private tastefully furnished safari tents set up in shaded decks. Each room has a unique viewpoint from its sundeck.. The island is all about freedom and quality time to either relax in total serenity or kayak or dive the surroundings. A guided kayak tour around the whole island takes aprox 1 – 1.5 hrs depending on how often you stop. You are sure to see colourful fish beneath you and fish eagles and cormorants soaring overhead.
This trip can be tailor made to suit your interests, budget and requirements. Please see below for a sample itinerary.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival at Lilongwe International airport and transfer to Cape Maclear (aprox 4 hrs) in a fully air conditioned vehicle with bottled water. You will check into Danforth and can begin enjoying the water sports immediately. Overnight Danforth Lodge (full board basis and all non motorised water sports). |
| Day 2-4: | All day for water sports at Danforth or relaxing on their green lawns and beach front. Overnight Danforth Lodge (full board basis and all non motorised water sports). |
| Day 5: | A short transfer (5 mins) to Kayak Africa’s ferry to Mumbo Island. The ferry takes aprox 1 hr to reach the island but for the more adventurous it is possible to kayak across whilst your luggage goes by ferry. Overnight Mumbo Island (full board basis & bar). |
| Day 6-8: | Choose between activity, exploration and leisure each day. Overnight Mumbo Island (full board basis) |
| Day 9: | You will be driven back to Lilongwe on time for your international flight back home. |
how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment
Mumbo Island’s tiny camp is tucked away amongst the rocks of the island. It is set up with bucket showers and dry composting loo’s to minimise environmental impact and has adhered to strict principles of eco-architecture. For lighting guests are encouraged to use low technology solar lanterns and wind up torches to ensure no hazard battery waste is produced as this is particularly difficult to dispose of safely in such a location. This green tourism ethos was recognised in September 2008 when Mumbo was recognised by the Malawian government and was presented with an award for “striving to sustain a tourist environment”. Mumbo was particularly praised for maximising its use of local produce and practicing ‘green procurement’. All waste produced on the island is now segregated before being transported back to the mainland for recycling, used as compost or reused by community uplift programmes. Further projects scheduled to come online in 2009 include solar cooking and water heating. For all of our tours we provide customers with an itinerary specific responsible travel guide aprox 4 weeks before they depart. This includes a generic travellers code of conduct which emphasises basic responsible travel advice – e.g. reduction of waste and consumption of natural resources, purchase local produce where possible etc. Community Our holidays are specifically designed to bring guests into direct contact with locals from a range of different tribes and cultures across Africa. We also therefore provide destination specific guidance including advice on local customs and some key phrases in certain languages (e.g. Swahili). We also offer guidance on how to barter responsibly for local curios and what curios should be avoided (e.g. certain wildlife artefacts such as coral, turtle shells etc.). As all of our guides and groundhandlers are local we also give guidance on what a fair and reasonable level of tipping would be at the end of the holiday. We support the work of Tourism Concern both in distributing their advice to customers and as an active participant in the Ethical Tour Operators Group. Our managing director sits on this group and is a regular attendee of meetings contributing to work towards developing industry wide fair trade standards. We also distribute materials to customers and make periodic donations for the following charities: Tree Aid; International Fund for Wildlife and Survival International Trust. In Southern Africa we support the Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative and forward their guidance to all customers on which seafood is sustainable when offered a choice at restaurants. |
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. |