Malawi, one of the most stunning countries on the continent of Africa, is located in between Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique and home to the Bornwild Project. The countries population consists of around 13 million people, and is one of the poorest regions in the world. Around 85% of the population is rural, largely living in fascinating traditional villages.

About Malawi
Malawi is a captivating land of excitement and serenity situated along the Great Rift Valley in east Africa, where communities and the environment co-exist to create a rich African experience.

Malawi is one of Africa's smaller countries, a little over 45,000 square miles (117 000 sq km), of which about 20 per cent is occupied by Lake Malawi - Africa's third biggest lake. Much of the country lies within the great Rift Valley of eastern Africa, with Tanzania to the north, Zambia to the west and Mozambique to the east and south. Malawi's northern boundary comes within nine degrees of the equator. The country stretches southwards to 17°S.

The Rift Valley floor at the lakeshore is almost at sea level but the bordering plateau rises to between 1600ft (490m) and 5000ft (1500m). The highest peaks in Malawi touch 10,000ft (3000m) while the Lower Shire Valley (pronounced Shiray) in the south is at a meagre 500 ft (150m). These great contrasts help to make the landscape of Malawi one the most varied in all Africa. The scenery, including its cloak of vegetation, presents an ever-changing vista.

Such is the great size of Lake Malawi and the narrowness of the Rift Valley, that there is little space for lakeshore plains. In north Malawi, between Nkhata Bay and Livingstonia, the Ruarwe Scarp marks the very edge of the Rift Valley, plunging over 5000ft (1500m) from the Viphya Highlands straight into the lake. Further south, in central Malawi, there are plains but rarely do these extend more than 15 miles (25 km) from the shoreline. Here and there are floodplains, often farmed but occasionally flooded in the rainy season. Shallow depressions, called dambos, characterise some of the lowlands.

The Lake itself is a great inland sea, some 360 miles (580 km) north to south and up to 50 miles (80 km) wide. Much of the time this tideless, freshwater lake gently laps the golden beaches which surround it. But on rare occasions it can show its anger in a fierce storm. Its fish-rich waters are home to the mbuna, colourful tropical fish in greater abundance here than anywhere else in the world.

To the south, Lake Malawi drains into the River Shire which flows over 300 miles along the Rift Valley floor. On its way to join the Zambezi, the Shire tumbles over rapids and falls as well as flowing quietly across broad plains.

Away from the Lake and the Shire Lowlands, much of Malawi is part of the Central Africa Plateau. This gently undulating land, where not farmed, has a natural vegetation of deciduous woodland - brachystegia, acacia or combretum.

Rising to even greater heights are Malawi's true mountains: the whaleback plateau of Nyika and the mountainous Viphya in the north, the Dowa Highlands in the centre and, in the south, the two great massifs of Zomba and, highest of all, Mulanje, Central Africa's grandest peak reaching over 10,000ft.

The Climate
Malawi's tropical climate is moderated across much of the country by altitude. Two seasons can be recognised; the dry season lasts from April through to November while the wet season lasts some four months, December to March. Squeezed in between these two seasons is a hot and rather humid period which generally characterises November and early December. Over the last decade or so, the wet season has often been delayed. Rains which used to start in early December now, quite regularly, don't occur until the New Year.

Even in the so-called wet season, the rains are usually short-lived storms, as is typical of the tropics, and at no time does the climate seriously inhibit the traveller.

Although the period May to October is often described as the ideal time to travel in Malawi, the rainy season is attractive for the displays of orchids on Nyika Plateau, for birdwatching in some of the Reserves and for seeing Malawi's vegetation at its most lush. The main drawback of a visit in the wet season is in driving the dirt roads including those within the game parks. It also has to be borne in mind that, as everywhere, game viewing is best towards the end of the dry season.

Temperatures vary from below freezing (at night on the high plateaux in winter - July) to 38°C/100°F (in the Lower Shire Valley in summer - December). To generalise is difficult but through much of the year, and in regions visited by travellers, temperatures during the day are usually in the mid-20sC/mid-70sF. In the short hot season, November-December, maximum temperatures may rise to the lower 30sC/upper 80sF. Lake Malawi's surface temperatures vary from about 24°C/75°F to 28°C/82°F.

The People
With a population of approximately 12 million, Malawi is one of the more densely peopled countries of this part of Africa. Most of the population is rural (85 per cent), living largely in fascinating traditional villages. The largest town is the conurbation Blantyre-Limbe (the commercial "capital") in the south followed by the capital city of Lilongwe in the central region. Mzuzu is the only large town in the north. Zomba, once the capital, has, until recently, been the seat of the parliament.

The Great East African Rift Valley, of which Malawi is a part, has been home to man from the earliest days of Homo sapiens. Many of today's Malawians are descendants of the Bantu people who moved across Africa and into Malawi for hundreds of years up to the fifteenth century.

The people of Malawi are accurately described as the friendliest on the continent. It is they who make this country the Warm Heart of Africa.