Kasungu is a town in the Kasungu District of the Central Region of Malawi. The population of Kasungu was 58,653 according to the 2018 census. Kasungu is approximately north-west of the capital of Malawi,

Lilongwe Lilongwe (, , ) is the capital and most populated city of the African country of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020 that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in th ...

, and is east of Kasungu National Park. The main industry in Kasungu is tobacco-growing.

History

A farm close to Kasungu was the birthplace of the first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda.

Geography and climate

Kasungu is in central Malawi, lying at an elevation of . It has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

( Köppen: ''Cwa'') and a rainy season that lasts from November–December to March–April. The dry season lasts from May to October. The town receives, on average, between rainfall each year.

Demographics

Language

Chichewa Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for la ...

is the main language spoken in Kasungu.

Facilities

Transport

Kasungu is served by buses and minibuses that travel to

and Mzuzu. In June 2008, Central East Africa Railways announced plans to extend the rail line from Lilongwe to Kasungu.

Amenities

There are guesthouses, bars, restaurants, and four petrol stations in Kasungu; according to '' Lonely Planet'', there are "no major attractions" in Kasungu. Kasungu National Park is an hour's drive to the west, and

Kamuzu Academy Kamuzu Academy is a private boarding school in Malawi that was founded by, and named after, the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the former President of Malawi. It is described by its proponents as "The Eton College, Eton of Africa". In 1987, it was ...

is 25 minutes by road to the east.

Emergency services

Kasungu has a police station. The town is also home to a 179-bed government-funded district hospital. The hospital is often overcrowded, and suffers from a lack of nurses and anti-retroviral drugs. The hospital's 13-bed paediatric department can receive over 100 patients, leaving some patients on the floor. UNICEF- Hamburg has sent over US$6000 to train care-workers in Kasungu.

Land and economy

The land in Kasungu lacks nutrients and water, and is mostly "sand veld"; the Kasungu area is suffering from depleted forests. A tribal chief stated in 2004 that over 250,000 people in Kasungu own no land. Tobacco is the only

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...

grown in Kasungu district, and the area has been described as a "tobacco heartland" by Xinhua News Agency. The opening of Kasungu National Park in 1970 has increased tourism in the area. Due to their poverty, most residents of Kasungu live in houses made of hand-made mud bricks, covered by roofs of straw or corrugated iron. According to AllAfrica, Kasungu is a "

child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

hotspot."

Politics

Kasungu is a "stronghold" of the Malawi Congress Party. The Member of the Malawian Parliament for Kasungu Central is Allan Kabuluzi. The MP for Kasungu North North West is Rodger Sithole, and the MP for Kasungu North West is Gerald Jere.

Foreign links

Kaluluma School in Kasungu has formed a relationship with

Greenford High School Greenford High School (abbreviated as GHS) is a mixed 11-19 secondary school with a comprehensive intake located in the London Borough of Ealing. History When it was built, in 1939, the then Greenford County School was a grammar school for boy ...

, Southall, England. A church in Kasungu also formed a relationship with two churches near Peterborough, England, in 2001. Parishioners from the two churches have travelled to Kasungu several times and have built a new church and a fish farm. In February 2008, the church group built a maize mill in Kasungu.

Notable events

Famine and disease

Over 100 people died in a famine in 2002, according to official estimates; Kasungu was the worst affected area in Malawi. In 2005 a famine occurred in Malawi, affecting 4.2 million Malawians. The efforts to distribute food to the needy were concentrated in Kasungu. During 2004 and 2005, there was an outbreak of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

, with eight people recorded to have suffered the disease.

June 2003 riots

In June 2003, Kasungu

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s rioted with police, after five Malawians, suspected of being

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

operatives, were arrested and taken into United States custody. One demonstrator was treated for "serious gunshot wounds".

Chess championships

In January 2008, the African Junior Chess Championships were held at

near Kasungu. The academy, which ''The Nyasa Times'' describes as "highly regarded" and " Eton in the bush", was founded by the first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Central Region, Malawi