Nkhotakota
Nkhotakota is a town and one of the districts in the Central Region of Malawi. It is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi; as of 2008, Nkhotakota had a population estimated at 33,150. The district had a population of 301.000. Nkhotakota was a group of villages in the 19th century which served as a market for Swahili-Arabian slave traders. David Livingstone convinced Chief Jumbe to stop trading slaves under a tree in Nkhotakota in the 19th century, in existence under a mission. Malawi president Hastings Banda gave speeches under another tree in Nkhotakota during the 1960s, this one known as the Livingstone Tree; this town was hit by the 2001 floods, was the worst hit area of Malawi's Central region. Today, Nkhotakota is the largest traditional African town in Malawi and bears a strong Swahili-Arab influence. Nkhotakota lies at an elevation of 1,548 feet on the shore of Lake Malawi, it is located on a rocky ridge overlooking a natural harbour overlooking Nkhotakota Bay, formed by a sandbar. In addition, Nkhotakota is 200 kilometres from Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, 378 kilometres from Blantyre, Malawi's largest city.
Nkhotakota is home to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, according to Lonely Planet, one has a good chance of seeing elephants. The reserve is home to several antelope species and leopards. Several large rivers cross the largest in Malawi. 24 kilometres south of Nkhotakota is the Chia Lagoon, a large bay linked to Lake Malawi by a narrow channel, crossed by a bridge near Nkhotakota's one major road. The biggest formal'private' employer in the districts is a sugar manufacturing company "Dwangwa Sugar corporation". Most Locals are small holder farmers of Rice and maize, while many others are small scale fishermen, who fish along Lake Malawi, Chia Lagoon and many other rivers including Bua, Dwangwa and Chilua, using triangular nets on poles, etc. Another notable antiquity in Nkhotakota is the Mawira hot springs, an area of about 3km2 of hot water that continuously gushes from the ground since time immemorial. Mawira hot springs is situated at the central area of the district, 5 km + – from the Ntchisi/Kasungu road junction.
Sungu Island is another fascinating place to visit in Nkhotakota central. This Island is situated inside the Lake Malawi, 1.5 km from the shores, 2 km from Kaliba station, where passenger boats cruising along the lake Malawi picks or drops passengers and small scale traders. Chichewa is the main language spoken in this town. A Swahili settlement was established in Nkhotakota. Several Chewa speakers live to the south of Nkhotakota, Tonga is spoken in its north. There are two hospitals in Nkhotakota: St. Anne's Mission Hospital. However, in the whole district there are 23 health facilities including 1 district hospital, 1 mission hospital, 1 government rural hospital, 1 mission rural hospital, 11 health centres, 10 private clinics and 2 dispensaries. In its efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Society for Women Against AIDS in Malawi implemented a two-year project in Nkhotakota. Nkhotakota is a regional hub for the – a UK-based medical charity, whose rural outreach services provide the region's villages with basic medical care including anti-retrovirals, anti-malarial treatment and infectious disease management.
Branches of the Malawi Savings Bank Commercial Bank of Malawi and Opportunity Bank Malawi are located at the central point of the town, on the junction of Salima/Lilongwe and Ntchisi/Kasungu. While Standard Bank is situated 50 km away at Illovo sugar company's premises in Dwangwa, where another branch of Opportunity Bank Malawi is situated; these commercial Banks provide other financial services including. There is a BP petrol station in Nkhotakota. Nkhotakota is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi, it is served by the ferry MV Ilala that weekly crosses Lake Malawi; the nearest airport is at Kasungu, 48 miles away. Buses run from Salima for two hours daily. In addition, minibuses run from here to Nkhata Bay along the main road which connects these towns
Waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary between maritime shipping routes and waterways used by inland water craft. Maritime shipping routes cross oceans and seas, some lakes, where navigability is assumed, no engineering is required, except to provide the draft for deep-sea shipping to approach seaports, or to provide a short cut across an isthmus. Dredged channels in the sea are not described as waterways. There is an exception to this initial distinction for legal purposes, see under international waters. Where seaports are located inland, they are approached through a waterway that could be termed "inland" but in practice is referred to as a "maritime waterway"; the term "inland waterway" refers to navigable rivers and canals designed to be used by inland waterway craft only, implicitly of much smaller dimensions than seagoing ships.
In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria: it must be deep enough to accommodate vessels loading to the design draft. Vessels using waterways vary from small animal-drawn barges to immense ocean tankers and ocean liners, such as cruise ships; the European Conference of Ministers of Transport established in 1953 a classification of waterways, expanded to take into account the development of push-towing. Europe is a continent with a great variety of waterway characteristics, which makes this classification valuable to appreciate the different classes of waterway. There is a remarkable variety of waterway characteristics in many countries of Asia, but there has not been any equivalent international drive for uniformity; this classification is provided by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, Inland Transport Committee, Working Party on Inland Water Transport. A low resolution version of that map is shown here. Media related to Waterways at Wikimedia Commons Blue Book on European inland waterways - access to the Blue Book database.
The objective of the “Blue Book” is to establish an inventory of existing and envisaged standards and parameters of "E-waterways" and ports in Europe and to show, on an internationally comparable basis, the current inland navigation infrastructure parameters prescribed on the Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance Waterscape - Britain's official guide to canals and lakes
Monkey Bay
Monkey Bay or Lusumbwe is a town in Mangochi, in the Mangochi District in the Southern Region of Malawi. The town is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi; the population of Monkey Bay is estimated to be 14,591 as of 2008. Monkey Bay is 206 kilometres from Lilongwe, Malawi's capital city, 253 kilometres from Blantyre. Monkey Bay is a tourist resort and is travelled through on the road to Cape Maclear. Monkey Bay was ruled by the Muslim Yao chief and slave trader, during the 1880s. In the late 19th century, the first Bishop of Likoma, Chauncy Maples, drowned near Monkey Bay in Lake Malawi. In the 1960s, there was a Fisheries Research Laboratory in Monkey Bay, funded by the then-Nyasaland colonial government. Monkey Bay is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi, it is at an elevation of 1,630 feet. Monkey Bay is situated 4 miles away from Chimpamba, 2 miles away from Zambo, 1 mile away from Msumbi and 0.5 miles away from Mbalamanja. In March 2003, the then-Malawian President Bakili Muluzi held a rally in Monkey Bay, promised to help reduce poverty.
The charity Save. According to a German development volunteer working with the Back to School Foundation, the residents of Monkey Bay are not living at the poverty line, but at the existence line. Houses are simple clay cottages, few households can afford electricity, as the connection costs alone are three times the average monthly wage. There is a supermarket and a market in Monkey Bay, although there are bureaux de change or automatic teller machines. On 22 February 2010, a first bank opened its doors. Malawi Savings Bank Agency, operating from the Post Office building moved into their own convenience, a refurbished and spacious building at the trading centre. There is not a functioning internet café. There are several guesthouses; the nearest ATM is in the town of Mangochi. Monkey Bay is connected to Blantyre by bus services; the nearest airport is at Ulongwe, 49 miles away. Two passenger ferries make weekly sailings along Lake Malawi between Monkey Chilumba; the Ilala is 350-passenger steamship that has served the route since 1951.
In March 2003, the European Union funded improvements to the road linking Monkey Bay with Masasa and Golomiti. In February 2006, the Malawian government announced plans to build a road from Monkey Bay to Cape Maclear. In March 2006, there was no road access to Monkey Bay, after the worst floods since 1978 had washed away several miles of road and a bridge; the rainfall measured around 158 millimetres and several thousand people in the Mangochi District were made homeless. The Nankhwala Catholic School is in Monkey Bay. Monkey Bay has a hospital. Monkey Bay has a police station, it is the headquarters of the 220-strong marine force of the Army of Malawi. Monkey Bay has been described as "the country's best known resort" by Agence France-Presse, Factiva refers to Monkey Bay as the "best known resort-area" in Malawi; the area has "sandy beaches and tropical fish", is popular with tourists. There are diving schools in Monkey Bay, according to the Daily Telegraph, the schools are considered poor by tourists.
The town is a transit point to Cape Maclear
Nkhata Bay
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, is one of the main ports on Lake Malawi; the population of Nkhata Bay is estimated to be 14,722 as of 2008. Nkhata Bay is 413 kilometres from Lilongwe, Malawi's capital city, 576 kilometres from Blantyre, Malawi's largest city. Nkhata Bay is the second "busiest resort" on Lake Malawi; the ancestors of Nkhata Bay residents were the Tonga. In the 19th century the area suffered frequent attacks from the Ngoni people, who fled north to escape the rule of the Zulu king Shaka, in South Africa. Chichewa is the preferred language in hospitals, churches and newspapers in Nkhata Bay, although Chitumbuka is the main language spoken in the Northern Region. Tonga is the main language spoken in Nkhata Bay's schools. Nkhata Bay is dependent on fish. Farming cassava, is the main occupation in the area. Rubber plantations exist at Nkhata Bay. In May 2008, the Lweya irrigation scheme in Nkhata Bay was "rehabilitated".
Income from tourism is a major source of income to the Nkhata Bay community. In April 2002, over 1,000 hectares of "corn, rice and cassava" were washed away at Nkhata Bay after heavy rain, causing a worsening of food shortages. In March 2006, Nkhata Bay received over 300 bags of maize from the Feed the Nation Fund, because the area was suffering from food shortages. There were heavy rains in April 2006, causing further damage to Nkhata Bay. Malawi's former minister of agriculture, Uladi Mussa Monday, stated in May 2008 that due to heavy rain and flooding, crops in Nkhata Bay had washed away. Nkhata Bay is a port visited by the MV Ilala steamship, a boat which travels up Lake Malawi from Monkey Bay in southern Malawi, to Chilumba in the north, via Likoma Island and Chizumulu. In July 2006, plans were announced to "rehabilitate" Nkhata Bay port, to re-establish a ferry service between Nkhata Bay and Mbamba Bay in Tanzania; this route is serviced by motorised dhow. There are regular minibuses that travel from Nkhata Bay to Mzuzu, Chintheche and Salima.
Express buses to Blantyre and Karonga depart from the police road block, 3 km from the town. In June 2008, it was announced that the African Development Bank would fund the reconstruction of the road from Nkhata Bay to Mzuzu; as of 20 June 2008, it is expected that the ADB will fund the reconstruction. Nkhata Bay's local football team are the Nkhata Bay Police; the team play in the TNM Super League. There is a ladies' football team in Nkhata Bay, are called the Nkhata Bay United Sisters of Malawi; the club was founded in 2003. Netball is played in Nkhata Bay. In June 2008, the champions of Nkhata Bay were Kawalazi, received a prize of 30,000 Malawian Kwacha; each summer there is a multi-day yacht race which starts at Cape Maclear in the south, ends at Nkhata Bay. The Member of the Malawian Parliament for Nkhata Bay North is Ephraim Mganda Chiume; the MP for Nkhata Bay Central is Symon Vuwa Kaunda. The MP for Nkhata Bay South West is a member of the opposition. Kasambara caused a storm in Parliament in June 2008 when he pledged 10,000 Malawian kwacha to the Malawi national football team, after their 1–0 victory against Egypt, the African champions, in a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier.
There are bars, two grocery stores, a bus station, tailor shops, a taxi rank and a market in Nkhata Bay. There are four banks, NBS, FNB, Malawi Savings and Opportunity Bank, as of early 2013 the automated teller machine will allow withdrawals using most foreign credit or debit cards in the two banks on the top of the hill, NBS and FNB. There is internet access in a few internet cafes, Nkhata Bay Communications Center, Jessie's and others, and free access to internet at Butterfly lodge in South Bay. There are public telephones; the District offices are in town and there is a Post Office. You can pay your ESCOM bill in town, Water Board bill at the top of the hill. Nkhata Bay has a police station. Robberies of tourists are rare. There is a hospital in Nkhata Bay, in October 2006 it received a donation from the National Bank of Malawi. AllAfrica have reported that parts of the Nkhata Bay area are not receiving appropriate AIDS treatment. Nkhata Bay is described by Lonely Planet as "Caribbeanesque" and a "lush tropical indent".
There are several lodges for tourists in Nkhata Bay. In February 2005, the Malawian government announced plans to build ecolodges as a way of increasing ecotourism in the Nkhata Bay area; the diving school in Nkhata Bay offers the "cheapest diving course in the world" according to The Daily Telegraph. Nkhata Bay tourism has a long history, it has been part of the overland backpackers route between east Africa and cape town but the number of backpackers have dropped in recent years. Political issues in Zimbabwe has revised the overland backpacking route so that many people now go through Zambia or the Mozambique coast; the Heart Hotel was a local owned establishment in the local village where low budget backpackers could get a room and breakfast for well under one US dollar. Nkhata Bay became a place where people could rest on a long trip and spend little money. With the opening of Njajay Lodge the scene changed a little; the town along with backpackers culture shifted to catering to a traveller with more money to spend.
While the village now has many places to stay the problem has become attracting people who now travel though other countries or more easier accessed beaches in Mala
Zambia
Zambia the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in south-central Africa. It neighbours the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, Angola to the west; the capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of Zambia. The population is concentrated around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest, the core economic hubs of the country. Inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century, the region became the British protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century; these were merged in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia. For most of the colonial period, Zambia was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.
On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party maintained power from 1964 until 1991. Kaunda played a key role in regional diplomacy, cooperating with the United States in search of solutions to conflicts in Rhodesia and Namibia. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state with the UNIP as the sole legal political party under the motto "One Zambia, One Nation". Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, beginning a period of social-economic growth and government decentralisation. Levy Mwanawasa, Chiluba's chosen successor, presided over Zambia from January 2002 until his death in August 2008, is credited with campaigns to reduce corruption and increase the standard of living. After Mwanawasa's death, Rupiah Banda presided as Acting President before being elected President in 2008. Holding office for only three years, Banda stepped down after his defeat in the 2011 elections by Patriotic Front party leader Michael Sata.
Sata died on 28 October 2014. Guy Scott served as interim president until new elections were held on 20 January 2015, in which Edgar Lungu was elected as the sixth President. In 2010, the World Bank named Zambia one of the world's fastest economically reformed countries; the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa is headquartered in Lusaka. The territory of what is now Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia from 1911, it was renamed Zambia at independence in 1964. The new name of Zambia was derived from the Zambezi river; the area of modern Zambia is known to have been inhabited by the Khoisan until around AD 300, when migrating Bantu began to settle around these areas. These early hunter-gatherer groups were either annihilated or absorbed by subsequent more organised Bantu groups. Archaeological excavation work on the Zambezi Valley and Kalambo Falls show a succession of human cultures. In particular, ancient camping site tools near the Kalambo Falls have been radiocarbon dated to more than 36,000 year ago.
The fossil skull remains of Broken Hill Man, dated between 300,000 and 125,000 years BC, further shows that the area was inhabited by early humans. The early history of the peoples of modern Zambia can only be gleaned from knowledge passed down by generations through word of mouth. In the 12th century, waves of Bantu-speaking immigrants arrived during the Bantu expansion. Among them, the Tonga people were the first to settle in Zambia and are believed to have come from the east near the "big sea"; the Nkoya people arrived early in the expansion, coming from the Luba–Lunda kingdoms in the southern parts of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola, followed by a much larger influx between the late 12th and early 13th centuries To the east, the Maravi Empire spanning the vast areas of Malawi and parts of modern northern Mozambique began to flourish under Kalonga. At the end of the 18th century, some of the Mbunda migrated to Barotseland, Mongu upon the migration of among others, the Ciyengele.
The Aluyi and their leader, the Litunga Mulambwa valued the Mbunda for their fighting ability. In the early 19th century, the Nsokolo people settled in the Mbala district of Northern Province. During the 19th century, the Ngoni and Sotho peoples arrived from the south. By the late 19th century, most of the various peoples of Zambia were established in their current areas; the earliest European to visit the area was the Portuguese explorer Francisco de Lacerda in the late 18th century. Lacerda led an expedition from Mozambique to the Kazembe region in Zambia, died during the expedition in 1798; the expedition was from on led by his friend Francisco Pinto. This territory, located between Portuguese Mozambique and Portuguese Angola, was claimed and explored by Portugal in that period. Other European visitors followed in the 19th century; the most prominent of these was David Livingstone, who had a vision of ending the slave trade through the "3 Cs": Christianity and Civilization. He was the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River in 1855, naming them the Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
He described them thus: "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight". Locally the falls are known as "Mosi-o-Tunya" or "thunder
Malawi
Malawi the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa, known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, Mozambique on the east and west. Malawi is over 118,000 km2 with an estimated population of 18,091,575. Lake Malawi takes up about a third of Malawi's area, its capital is Lilongwe, Malawi's largest city. The name Malawi comes from an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area; the country is nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa" because of the friendliness of the people. The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled by migrating Bantu groups around the 10th century. Centuries in 1891 the area was colonised by the British. In 1953 Malawi known as Nyasaland, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, became a protectorate within the semi-independent Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; the Federation was dissolved in 1963. In 1964 the protectorate over Nyasaland was ended and Nyasaland became an independent country under Queen Elizabeth II with the new name Malawi.
Two years it became a republic. Upon gaining independence it became a totalitarian one-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994. Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government headed by an elected president Arthur Peter Mutharika; the country has a Malawian Defence Force that includes a navy and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is pro-Western and includes positive diplomatic relations with most countries and participation in several international organisations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the African Union. Malawi is among the world's least-developed countries; the economy is based in agriculture, with a rural population. The Malawian government depends on outside aid to meet development needs, although this need has decreased since 2000; the Malawian government faces challenges in building and expanding the economy, improving education, environmental protection, becoming financially independent amidst widespread unemployment.
Since 2005, Malawi has developed several programs that focus on these issues, the country's outlook appears to be improving, with a rise in the economy and healthcare seen in 2007 and 2008. Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality. There is a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, a drain on the labour force and government expenditures. There is a diverse population of native peoples and Europeans, with several languages spoken and an array of religious beliefs. Although there was periodic regional conflict fuelled in part by ethnic divisions in the past, by 2008 it had diminished and the concept of a Malawian nationality had reemerged; the area of Africa now known as Malawi had a small population of hunter-gatherers before waves of Bantu peoples began emigrating from the north around the 10th century. Although most of the Bantu peoples continued south, some remained permanently and founded ethnic groups based on common ancestry. By 1500 AD, the tribes had established the Kingdom of Maravi that reached from north of what is now Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River and from Lake Malawi to the Luangwa River in what is now Zambia.
Soon after 1600, with the area united under one native ruler, native tribesmen began encountering, trading with and making alliances with Portuguese traders and members of the military. By 1700, the empire had broken up into areas controlled by many individual ethnic groups; the Arab slave trade reached its height in the mid- 1800s, when 20,000 people were enslaved and considered to be carried yearly from Nkhotakota to Kilwa where they were sold. Missionary and explorer David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi in 1859 and identified the Shire Highlands south of the lake as an area suitable for European settlement; as the result of Livingstone's visit, several Anglican and Presbyterian missions were established in the area in the 1860s and 1870s, the African Lakes Company Limited was established in 1878 to set up a trade and transport concern working with the missions, a small mission and trading settlement was established at Blantyre in 1876 and a British Consul took up residence there in 1883.
The Portuguese government was interested in the area so, to prevent Portuguese occupation, the British government sent Harry Johnston as British consul with instructions to make treaties with local rulers beyond Portuguese jurisdiction. In 1889, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the Shire Highlands, extended in 1891 to include the whole of present-day Malawi as the British Central Africa Protectorate. In 1907, the protectorate was renamed Nyasaland, a name it retained for the remainder of its time under British rule. In a prime example of what is sometimes called the "Thin White Line" of colonial authority in Africa, the colonial government of Nyasaland was formed in 1891; the administrators were given a budget of £10,000 per year, enough to employ ten European civilians, two military officers, seventy Punjab Sikhs and eighty-five Zanzibar porters. These few employees were expected to administer and police a territory of around 94,000 square kilometres with between one and two million people.
In 1944, the Nyasaland African Congress was formed by the Africans of Nyasaland to promote local interests to the British g
Lilongwe International Airport
Kamuzu International Airport is an international airport serving Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. It is known as Lilongwe International Airport; the airport was built in 1977 by the Nello L. Teer Company, taking over most airliner operations from Old Lilongwe Airport some 6 km west of the city centre. Owned by Airport Developments Limited; the airport is at an elevation of 4,035 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 14/32 with an asphalt surface measuring 3,540 by 45 metres. Current weather for FWKI at NOAA/NWS Accident history for LLW at Aviation Safety Network
