The hook
Malawi's finest wildlife park, a conservation success story along a broad river where, thanks to a dramatic rewilding, elephants, lions, and rhinos have returned to a landscape once emptied by poaching.
01Why it's worth it
Liwonde is a heartening story as much as a safari. Along the wide, hippo-and-crocodile-filled Shire River in southern Malawi, the park was once heavily poached and depleted, but over the past decade a partnership with a conservation NGO transformed it: snares were cleared, fences built, and species reintroduced, including cheetahs, lions, and black rhinos, while thousands of surplus animals were translocated to restock other parks. The result is a thriving, compact reserve with excellent viewing, large elephant herds coming to the river, hippos and crocs in abundance, big birdlife, and now the predators too, best experienced on both game drives and gentle boat safaris along the Shire. It is small, accessible, and often combined with Lake Malawi, offering a genuine and improving safari in a country not usually thought of for big game, and a tangible example of African conservation working. For travellers wanting wildlife alongside Malawi's lake and mountains, it is the place.
02How to experience it
Stay at a camp and combine game drives with a boat safari on the Shire River, which is the signature experience, for elephants, hippos, and birds at the water. Go in the dry season for the best concentrations. It pairs naturally with Lake Malawi and Mount Mulanje for a rounded southern-Malawi trip.