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Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi, which is a country with possibilities to enjoy and explore the magnificent scenery, wildlife, culture and population of Malawi. The country’s largest and most significant cities are the capital Lilongwe and the country’s oldest city, Blantyre.
Lilongwe is the capital that, through most of Malawi’s colonial period, was a smaller village. Since the country’s independence in 1966 a lot has happened, so today you can see fine monuments, Malawi’s parliament and other major institutions in the city’s northern city center. A few kilometers to the south is the old town along the meandering course of the Lilongwe River, where there are markets, shopping and a nice atmosphere. The Lilongwe Wildlife Reserve within the city limits is home to some of the country’s animals.
During a visit to Malawi, beautiful Malawi Lake is also a natural stop on the journey with its many panoramas and activities. The lake is great like a sea in the country, and the natural beauty of the lake has another dimension in the water; it is the lake in the world with the greatest variety of species. Wildlife in abundance can be seen as well in national parks around country.
War Memorial er et klokketårn, der blev rejst på vestsiden af højdedraget Capital Hill som mindemonument over faldne fra Malawi i krige og missioner siden 1. Verdenskrig.
Man kan se metalplader med navnene på de af landets borgere, der kæmpede og faldt i 1. Verdenskrig samt i blandt andet diverse FN-missioner i nyere tid. Monumentet er også dedikeret faldne under 2. Verdenskrig, men disses navne er ikke noteret, men derimod skrevet på et krigsmonument i den tidligere hovedstad Zomba.
War Memorial blev bygget som et klokketårn, og indvendigt går en trappe op til en platform, hvorfra der er en fornem udsigt over dele af hovedstaden.
Foran klokketårnet kan man se en bronzestatue, der forestiller Malawis første præsident, Hastings Kuzuma Banda. Han er vist med sin stok og den løvehale, som han modtog fra Kenyas daværende statsleder Jomo Kenyatta. Statuen blev produceret af en sydafrikansk kunstner.
Lilongwe Wildlife Center was established in 2007 as Malawi’s first center where injured animals or young animals could be cared for. Since opening, the centre’s role has also evolved to include habitat creation, animal welfare and animal protection.
The center is located on a 40-hectare site, which is Lilongwe’s only protected natural area of this size. It is located as an oasis in the city and functions as both a nature area and a zoo with a special purpose.
You can get a tour with information about the centre’s work or walk on your own along paths to areas with, among other things, monkeys and hyenas. You also walk along a stream with a natural population of crocodiles, and in the beautiful surroundings you can often hear baboons and other primates being active.
Kamuzu Mausoleum is the burial place of Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who was the first president of Malawi. The site was built in 2005-2006 and, in addition to Banda’s grave, also contains a library and a research center.
Hastings Banda is believed to have been born in 1898, and for several decades he was abroad to, among other things, take his training as a doctor. He came back to Nyasaland, as Malawi was then called, where he became politically active to make the country independent from British rule.
Banda was appointed Prime Minister on 1 February 1963, and three years later could have assumed office as President of the Republic of Malawi. In 1971, he declared himself president for life. Banda was president until 1994, and he died in 1997.
The beautiful mausoleum was built with two floors. Banda’s grave is on the lower level, and there is no access to it. However, a copy of the grave has been placed for public viewing immediately above the real grave.
The tombstone was erected with many symbols of Hastings Banda and his politics and times. Around the tomb replica are 24 pillars representing the 24 regions Malawi consisted of when Banda became president. These 24 have been supplemented by 4 pillars around the grave, and these symbolize the 4 new regions that have since been established in the country.
There are 4 other and larger columns at the corners of the mausoleum. On these are Hastings Banda’s slogans, which were unit/unity, loyalty/loyalty, obedience/obedience and discipline/discipline. Behind the grave hangs a picture of Hastings Banda, and around the grave you can see lions in the decoration. The lions were Banda’s symbol, and he was then also called the Lion of Malawi.
The Main Market in Lilongwe is a colorful and impressive experience, where you can go on a shopping spree for, among other things, food, clothes and various handicrafts. It is a good place to look at products from Malawi and from other parts of the world.
At first glance, the market is quite chaotic with all the small stalls selling more or less everything. You may choose to stay on the main street, nicknamed Devil’s Street. Down to the south along Devil’s Street is Lilongwe’s bus station, where you can take buses to a large number of cities such as Blantyre to the south and Lusaka in Zambia.
Maula Cathedral is the Roman Catholic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Lilongwe. The church building itself is modern and is located in a closed area as a small oasis in the neighborhood.
By far the largest religion in Malawi is Christianity, but the absence of large central cathedrals and churches is not least due to the fact that there are countless denominations within Christianity, and they operate independently of each other with their own churches scattered throughout the large urban area.
The Lilongwe River meanders through central Lilongwe and at this bridge it divides the Old Town and New Town districts. The bridge is a heavily used traffic artery by vehicles and pedestrians, and there is a lot of life here. At the bridge, on the east side, there is a metal footbridge over the road, and from here there is an interesting look at folk life, which takes place, among other things, in the market north-east of the bridge.
The modern building complex Parliament Building is home to Malawi’s parliament, called the National Assembly. The assembly effectively constitutes the legislative power, although the country’s constitution also includes a senate in a bicameral system. However, the Senate is not active.
The Parliament Building was built in the years 2009-2010 and has a capacity of 288 seats in the Parliament’s assembly hall. The thoroughly modern building marks a new chapter in Malawi’s democracy that can develop within the new framework.
Lake Malawi is Africa’s third largest lake and, together with the country’s national parks, it is Malawi’s greatest natural attraction. Lake Malawi was first discovered by Europeans by Portuguese Candido José da Costa Cardoso, while Scottish David Livingstone came here in 1859, and he named it Lake Nyasa, which is actually just two words for the same thing. Malawi was later called Nyasaland after the lake.
Lake Malawi is the southernmost of the lakes in the East African Rift Valley, and it borders Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is known as the world’s most species-rich lake in terms of fish. The lake is about 570 kilometers in length and up to 75 kilometers in width, while the maximum depth is 706 meters.
A historical curiosity around Lake Malawi was the short naval battle that took place during the First World War. During the battle, the English gunboat SS Gwendolen sank the lone German gunboat Hermann von Wissmann.
Today, Lake Malawi is a colossal recreational area that is easily accessible from, for example, the capital Lilongwe. You can drive east through Salima to Senga Bay, which is like a resort by the lake. Here there is a sandy beach and the possibility of many activities such as a swim or a boat trip. In the lake there is also snorkelling, diving, water skiing and much more depending on where you visit it.
The area at Senga Bay also offers good nature experiences for those who just want to enjoy the area in a relaxed way. The waves wash over the beach, which is surrounded by hills, mountains and cliffs. On the horizon you can see islands in the lake and both Malawi and Mozambique on the opposite shore.
Zomba was the first capital of first British Central Africa and then Nyasaland, which Malawi was called before independence in 1964. Zomba was also the capital of independent Malawi in the period from 1964 to 1974, when Lilongwe achieved this status. Parliament also remained in Zomba until 1994.
Compared to Lilongwe and Blantyre, Zomba is a smaller and more manageable city, where you can experience a lot of colonial architecture from the British years. Visitors to Zomba often also use the stay for a trip to the mountain Zomba Plateau.
Blantyre is the largest city to the south in Malawi, and it is among other Malawi’s economic locomotives, and this is also the place to visit the country’s national museum, Museum of Malawi, and Carlsberg’s brewery in Africa. Blantyre is named after the city in Scotland where David Livingstone was born. The city’s cathedral stands as a monument from that era.
A trip to Blantyre and thereby Malawi is a fantastic encounter with unforgettable scenery, culture and population. The country’s most significant and interesting cities to visit is the capital Lilongwe and the older and other large city of Blantyre.
Sharrar Street
Sharrar Street
Queen’s Road/M1
Queen’s Road/M1
Presidential Way
Sreets around the Lilongwe River Bridge incl. markets, M1, Kamuzu Procession Road
Lilongwe Wildlife Center
Kenyatta Road, Lilongwe
lilongwewildlife.org
War Memorial, Capital Hill
Senga Bay
Salima, Lake Malawi
The name Lilongwe comes from the river that cuts through the capital and the word comes from the language of the Nyanja people. Already in the 9th century, Bantu tribes settled in present-day Malawi, and centuries before the European colonization of the country, a smaller fishing village had emerged on the winding lakes of the Lilongwe River, and relatively few people lived here compared to today’s growing capital. Elsewhere in the lush country, there were settlements; as there had been through thousands of years.
Today is Lilongwe Malawi’s capital, but it was southern Malawi that was the focus of most of the development in the country’s early colonial history.
In 1876, the town of Blantyre was founded and named after a town in Scotland from which the missionaries who established themselves in today’s Malawi came. In addition, Blantyre in Scotland was the city in which David Livingstone was born. The new Blantyre gained higher British status in 1883, and in 1895 the city gained the status of an actual market town, making it the oldest modern city in Malawi.
By 1891, the British had also come to the area of Lake Malawi and colonized it under the name British Central Africa Protectorate. It was still not the center of Lilongwe, as the British expanded its governance and economic center in Blantyre to the south. One of the major commodities through Blantyre at that time was ivory.
In the first decades of the 20th century, only a few thousand inhabitants lived in Lilongwe, while Blantyre, on the other hand, grew rapidly. However, that would soon change for Lilongwe due to various factors.
Most important of all was Lilongwe’s location. It was located on the intersection of Lusaka and Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi) in an east-west direction and between the country’s then two most important cities, Mzuzu and Blantyre to the north and south respectively. It was also possible to navigate the waterway to Lake Nyasa, and the area was also good for the important tobacco cultivation.
It was thus a small but strategically well-chosen city, which the British, after a few decades, chose to put in their colony administration when they chose Lilongwe. It had until the 1930s became a few thousand inhabitants.
The decades of the mid-20th century stood for signs of independence in the British colony called Nyasaland. One of the key people on the path to freedom was Dr. Hastings Banda, who after a few years abroad returned to Nyasaland and became politically active with the goal of making the country independent of British rule.
Banda was appointed prime minister on February 1, 1963, and three years later he was able to take office as president of the Republic of Malawi; a position he contested for 1994, whereby his policy came to define the foundations of the new country.
Malawi became an independent country in 1966, and since then the development has gone strong with Lilongwe’s population. In 1977, there were still less than 100,000 people living here, and that is a figure that has doubled in three decades thereafter.
Population growth is not least due to the urbanization seen all over the world. In Malawi too, the younger generations are affected by fewer economic, job and educational opportunities in rural areas, and this increases the migration to the capital, which has also benefited from, for example, South African investments and the development of the tobacco industry.
Among the newer investments in the cityscape is the large new parliament, whose buildings were inaugurated in 2010 after just one year of construction.
Lilongwe is Malawi’s capital, political center, while one of the country’s major economic engines is the city of Blantyre to the south of the country. Blantyre is historically the most significant in Malawi, and thus there are some institutions located here rather than in the capital. This applies, for example, to the Supreme Court, polytechnic and the country’s home ground at international football matches, which are also located in Blantyre.
There are thus two centers in the country today. Both Blantyre and Lilongwe, both experiencing population growth and economic development. As a political capital, Lilongwe’s development is steady, while Blantyre, with the country’s largest white population among others, remains the locomotive of much trade, production and education.
Overview of Lilongwe
A trip to Malawi is a fantastic encounter with Africa and the continent’s magnificent scenery, wildlife, culture and population. The country’s largest and most significant cities are the capital Lilongwe and the country’s oldest city, Blantyre.
Lilongwe is the capital that, through most of Malawi’s colonial period, was a smaller village. Since the country’s independence in 1966 a lot has happened, so today you can see fine monuments, Malawi’s parliament and other major institutions in the city’s northern city center. A few kilometers to the south is the old town along the meandering course of the Lilongwe River, where there are markets, shopping and a nice atmosphere. The Lilongwe Wildlife Reserve within the city limits is home to some of the country’s animals.
About the upcoming Lilongwe travel guide
About the travel guide
The Lilongwe travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the Malawian city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
Lilongwe is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about Lilongwe and Malawi
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to Lilongwe you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
Hastings Banda • Lake Malawi • Fine Monuments • Fascinating Fauna
Overview of Lilongwe
A trip to Malawi is a fantastic encounter with Africa and the continent’s magnificent scenery, wildlife, culture and population. The country’s largest and most significant cities are the capital Lilongwe and the country’s oldest city, Blantyre.
Lilongwe is the capital that, through most of Malawi’s colonial period, was a smaller village. Since the country’s independence in 1966 a lot has happened, so today you can see fine monuments, Malawi’s parliament and other major institutions in the city’s northern city center. A few kilometers to the south is the old town along the meandering course of the Lilongwe River, where there are markets, shopping and a nice atmosphere. The Lilongwe Wildlife Reserve within the city limits is home to some of the country’s animals.
About the upcoming Lilongwe travel guide
About the travel guide
The Lilongwe travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the Malawian city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
Lilongwe is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about Lilongwe and Malawi
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to Lilongwe you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
The Main Market in Lilongwe is a colorful and impressive experience, where you can go on a shopping spree for, among other things, food, clothes and various handicrafts. It is a good place to look at products from Malawi and from other parts of the world.
At first glance, the market is quite chaotic with all the small stalls selling more or less everything. You may choose to stay on the main street, nicknamed Devil’s Street. Down to the south along Devil’s Street is Lilongwe’s bus station, where you can take buses to a large number of cities such as Blantyre to the south and Lusaka in Zambia.
Maula Cathedral is the Roman Catholic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Lilongwe. The church building itself is modern and is located in a closed area as a small oasis in the neighborhood.
By far the largest religion in Malawi is Christianity, but the absence of large central cathedrals and churches is not least due to the fact that there are countless denominations within Christianity, and they operate independently of each other with their own churches scattered throughout the large urban area.
The Lilongwe River meanders through central Lilongwe and at this bridge it divides the Old Town and New Town districts. The bridge is a heavily used traffic artery by vehicles and pedestrians, and there is a lot of life here. At the bridge, on the east side, there is a metal footbridge over the road, and from here there is an interesting look at folk life, which takes place, among other things, in the market north-east of the bridge.
The modern building complex Parliament Building is home to Malawi’s parliament, called the National Assembly. The assembly effectively constitutes the legislative power, although the country’s constitution also includes a senate in a bicameral system. However, the Senate is not active.
The Parliament Building was built in the years 2009-2010 and has a capacity of 288 seats in the Parliament’s assembly hall. The thoroughly modern building marks a new chapter in Malawi’s democracy that can develop within the new framework.
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