Malawi : Liwonde National Park

Liwonde National Park is Malawi's prime game viewing area, cut by the Shire River and with mountains to the south and Lake Malombe, a tributary lake to Lake Malawi to the north; it is a diverse and very pretty park. A good deal of the game was poached in the past but with careful management and conscientious game guards and scouts the game is returning in larger numbers than ever.

Mvuu Wilderness Lodge
You can either charter a plane into Liwonde or preferably drive, when you leave the main road you drive through local villages until you reach the Shire River, where you are met by a boatman and taken across by boat to the luxury Mvuu Wilderness Lodge. This is the only lodge in the park and has five luxury tented rooms overlooking the lagoon. They are very comfortable and you can lie in your hammock and watch the birds and game drinking below you. The honeymoon suite has a large bathroom with a huge sunken bath big enough for two.

There is a covered dining area but you will usually eat out under the stars, beside the fire and in the moonlight you can see the hippo and resident waterbuck grazing below. There are three activities a day, an early start at 5am and you will meet your guide Jim to take you on a walk, he is an excellent birder and will teach you the bird calls and about the flora and fauna and game in the National Park, after a full breakfast you will join Angel on a boat trip watching the game come down to the rivers edge to drink and learn about the ecology and bird life on the river. Then after a siesta in the afternoon you can go for a game drive or walk. The guiding is excellent, up to the usual Wilderness Safaris standards but they are some of the best African guides I have met. There is a small swimming pool to cool down in the heat of the day.

In addition to the main activities the lodge can organise bicycle trips from the boundary of Liwonde to the local villages outside the park, giving you a superb cultural experience. They can also organise the experience of a night in Ligwangwa, a typical rural Malawian village.

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honeymoon suite bathroom	Mvuu from the river	deck	lion