270 miles north of Lilongwe and rising to a height of 3,00 metres above Lake Malawi sits the Livingstonia Plateau. Located in the north of Malawi and looking across to the Nyika Plateau, Livinstonia is a historical mission stations established by the mission of David Livingstone. The town of Livingstonia sits on top of the plateau and was founded in 1894 by missionaries from the Free Church of Scotland. The missionaries had first established a mission in 1875 at Cape Maclear, which they named Livingstonia after David Livingstone, who died in 1873. By 1881 Cape Maclear was prone to malaria outbreaks and the mission moved north to Bandawe, just north of Kande. This site also proved unhealthy and the Livingstonia Mission moved once again to the higher grounds between Lake Malawi and Nyika Plateau. This new site proved highly successful because Livingstonia is located in the mountains and therefore not prone to mosquitoes carrying malaria. The mission station gradually developed into a small town and many of the buildings you see today exist from that time.
One of the main visitor features on the Plateau is the Manchewe Falls. This waterfall is the highest in Malawi at 125m high and is located about 4km from the town of Livingstonia towards Lake Malawi along the Gorode Road. To look out from the falls is to look down a ravine to Lake Malawi. The shade of the lush vegetation around the falls makes was great shade on the warmest of days. It is possible to go behind the falls into caves that run into the plateau.
I have visited these falls on three occasions, the most recent in 2010. The journey from Mzuzu takes about 3 hours, but is worth the trip to see the beauty of God’s creation in this place.
Monday Malawi Memories recaptures memories from over 20 years in Malawi. Photos won’t be in chronological order and can be on the Lilongwe Letters blog, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can also find them using the hashtag #mondaymalawimemories.
