Nkhata Bay or just Nkhata is the capital of the Nkhata Bay District in Malawi. It is on the shore of Lake Malawi, east of Mzuzu, and is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi. The population of Nkhata Bay was 14,274 according to the 2018 census. Nkhata Bay is 413 kilometres (257 mi) from Lilongwe, Malawi's capital city, and 576 kilometres (358 mi) from Blantyre, Malawi's second-largest city. Nkhata Bay is the second "busiest resort" on Lake Malawi.

MV Ilala, formally Ilala II, is a motor ferry that has plied Lake Malawi in East Africa since 1951. Every week she crosses the lake all the way north to Chilumba, Malawi, near Tanzania and then returns to Monkey Bay. She carries both passengers and freight, and calls at major towns on both the Malawian and Mozambican coast, as well as at two islands of the lake.