Malawi Magic
Please install Flash® and turn on Javascript.
( Share this page on Facebook, MySpace, Digg or Del.icio.us )
Trip Highlights
• Volunteering with AIDS sufferers, orphans and other disadvantaged people
• Luxury accommodation
• Sailing on Lake Malawi
• Likoma Island
• Liwonde National Park
• Mumbo Island
Your ''Taste of Volunteering'' Project
Teaching, Village-based Projects, Building, Environmental, Repairs and Renovations. You will assist a charity in villages around Lilongwe; the ways in which you can help are:
• Orphan and other vulnerable children care (OVC) - help feed children under six, as well as give them basic education. You can help cook for the children and serve them
• Home Based Care (HBC) – our Volunteer Project partner takes care of patients and people living with AIDS. You can go into the communities and help care for the patients, such as cleaning their homes, fetching water, and generally making their lives easier
• Community Development Construction – you can help build Community Child Care Centres provided your stay coincides with the timing of building work
• Other teaching opportunities at all levels, including academic level
• Gardening, planting and maintaining vegetable gardens and trees
• Maintenance and renovation in the school buildings and sometimes in the huts of elderly or vulnerable people who can’t do the repairs themselves
Trip Summary
Upon your arrival at Lilongwe International Airport, you are met by a Hands Up Holidays representative and transferred to Senga Bay in Salima. Here you board the yacht Mufasa for your charter to Likoma Island on Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi is Africa’s third largest lake and has no serious contenders as its most beautiful. Your transport for the trip and your base for much of it will be the 38 foot ocean going catamaran “Mufasa” which has four double cabins, two bathrooms, a galley, saloon and cockpit under shade. Your stay on board Mufasa is for 2 nights.
On Day 3, you arrive into Kaya Mawa where you will stay for two nights. Often appearing in the top 10 list of the world’s most romantic destinations is the remarkable Kaya Mawa lodge – a place of truly unique character on the southern tip of Likoma Island. Likoma Island, situated in the far north of Lake Malawi, is the larger of two small islands very close to the Mozambique coastline. Just 17 sq km with one small dirt road and six vehicles, the local population survives largely by fishing, rice and cassava farming. The island has hundreds of huge baobab trees and a number of glorious sandy beaches and rocky coves.
Kaya Mawa is situated at the head of a crescent shaped bay, surrounded by mango trees and ancient baobabs. Kaya Mawa uses the stunning natural surroundings of beach, rock and lake creating a lodge of distinctive character, imagination and special ambience.
Activities at Kaya Mawa are plentiful and varied for you to enjoy. Walking or biking around the island are two of the activities that one cannot miss. You can stop off to swim en route, engage the locals in conversation and visit the cathedral and the lively market nearby. The waters are crystal clear throughout the year and the snorkelling is among the best in Lake Malawi. The beaches are beautifully sandy and swimming is safe. Alternatively there is a rock swimming pool right by the bar. Other water sports on the island include: diving, motorised water sports such as water-skiing, tube riding and wake snaking, sailing safaris and kayaking.
On Day 5, you depart Kaya Mawa and take a scenic flight over Lake Malawi to Lilongwe. You are then driven to Heuglin’s Lodge where you will stay for five nights. Heuglin’s Lodge is situated in the quiet garden suburbs of Lilongwe’s residential area. The guesthouse offers six spacious and tastefully furnished bedrooms, a lounge, an extensive library, a dining room and a swimming pool. Set in attractive gardens, bird life is plentiful.
The following day, your volunteering begins and will continue for four days in total! You will be picked up from Heuglins Lodge each morning and transferred to your chosen volunteer site.
On Day 10, you are driven from Heuglins to Mvuu Lodge in Liwonde National Park, where you will spend three nights. Liwonde National Park is considered to be the finest park in the whole of Malawi for game and accommodation. It is also said to be one of the top birding locations in Southern Africa. The park offers some of the most scenic game viewing, beautiful riverine surroundings and varied bird watching you could wish to find. A great deal of the terrain is floodplains, much loved by the healthy population of elephants in this park. They are best viewed during your boat safari on the Shire River, one of the many highlights of a stay at Mvuu Lodge.
Mvuu Wilderness Lodge is situated along the banks of a quiet lagoon flowing off the Shire River. The lodge offers comfortable tented accommodation in five spacious ‘Hemingway’-styled safari tents, with own en suite facilities for a maximum of ten guests.
As well as the boat safaris, the game drives enable you to experience a wide range of game, including large numbers of sable antelope, hippo, impala, and waterbuck. Huge crocodiles and servals are also fairly common. Birds are prolific, especially along the Shire River.
On Day 13, you are transferred by road and by boat to Mumbo Island. You will stay there for two nights. Mumbo Island is an exclusive camp situated on a pristine and otherwise-deserted tropical island floating on the clear waters of Lake Malawi. The camp comprises five large twin bedded safari tents and a four bed family tent, each fully furnished with its own shaded view-deck and hammock, and blending seamlessly into the lush foliage. The island lies within an exclusive concession area, in turn part of the Lake Malawi National Park, the first freshwater marine reserve in the world. With waters that are so crystal clear, the diving and snorkelling are among the best in Lake Malawi.
You can relax in tranquil surroundings with delicious cuisine, lying in hammocks or gently floating in the waters; but for the more energetic there is a variety of activities: excellent sea kayaking, snorkelling and scuba facilities enable the active guest to interact with an impressive piece of nature: exploring the granitic islands in a freshwater Rift Valley lake. Bird-lovers will enjoy the abundant Fish Eagles, and snorkelers can view enormous numbers of the Cichlid fish species; these small, colourful fish have adapted to so many variations that they are considered of comparable importance to the Galapagos finches in the study of evolution.
On your final day, you are transferred by boat and by road to Lilongwe Airport in time for your onward flight.
** Note on Comfort Level:
You will spend 2 nights aboard a luxury yacht, 2 nights in a luxury eco lodge, 5 nights in a luxury guesthouse and 5 nights in luxury lodges (comfortable tented accommodation).
For a detailed itinerary in PDF format, click here (you will need Adobe Acrobate Reader).
If you like this trip, you may also be interested in:
Kenya - Safari Explorer
Malawi - Malawi Parks and Falls
Mozambique - Bush and Reef
Namibia - Simply Namibia
South Africa - Cape Classic
South Africa - Southern Hospitality in Style
