There are nine national parks and reserves in Malawi.

National parks

Kasungu National Park Kasungu National Park is a national park in Malawi. It is located west of Kasungu, about 175 km north of Lilongwe, extending along the Zambian border. Kasungu National Park, established in 1970, is the second-largest in Malawi at , with an e ...

— situated approximately 165 km north of the capital city, Lilongwe, this is, at over 2,000 km², the second largest of Malawi's parks *

Lake Malawi National Park Lake Malawi National Park is a national park at the southern end of Lake Malawi in Malawi, Southeast Africa. It is the only national park in Malawi that was created with the purpose of protecting fish and aquatic habitats. Despite this being its m ...

— designated a National Park in 1980 to protect the unique diversity of tropical fish living in Lake Malawi, some not found anywhere else on earth *

Lengwe National Park Lengwe National Park is a national park in Malawi located near the town of Chikwawa and about 40 miles southwest of Blantyre. Lengwe's topography is unusual for Malawi and consists of open deciduous forests and dense thickets. It is the home of th ...

— most famed for the

nyala The lowland nyala or simply nyala (''Tragelaphus angasii'') is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus ''Tragelaphus'', previously placed in genus ''Nyala''. It was first described in ...

antelope, not found in the other northern parks of Malawi * Liwonde National Park — situated 120 km north of Blantyre, on the banks of the Upper Shire River *

Nyika National Park Nyika National Park is Malawi’s largest national park, with an area of 3200 km2 (1250 mile2). Location and road access The park covers practically the whole of the Nyika Plateau in northern Malawi, about 480 km north of Lilongwe and 60 km ...

— the first (certified in 1965), the largest (over 3,000 km²) and the highest (average height 1,800 m)

Game and wildlife reserves

Majete Wildlife Reserve Majete Wildlife Reserve is a nature reserve in southwestern Malawi, established as a protected area in 1955. The reserve's animal populations were decimated during the late 1970s and 1980s due to poaching and other human activities. Majete has been ...

— in the southwest of Malawi, with an area of 691 km² *

Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve With an area of 135km² Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve is Malawi’s smallest national park, and its least accessible. Nevertheless, it has a wide variety of habitats, including Mopane, Combretum and brachystegia woodland, as well as open savanna, dambo, ...

— the smallest of the parks, at 350 km², Mwabvi was adopted by Project African Wilderness in 2007 (PAW is a charitable organisation based in Malawi and the UK) *

Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve (also known as Nkhotakota Game Reserve or Nkhotakota Wildlife Preserve), is the largest and oldest wildlife reserve in Malawi, near Nkhotakota. The park's hilly terrain features dambos and miombo woodlands as the domina ...

— the oldest and largest established reserve in Malawi *

Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve is a national game reserve in Malawi. In contrast to the Nyika National Park on the Nyika Plateau, much of Vwaza is located on low-lying flat ground although the eastern side of the park is hilly. It is located to the s ...

— southwest of the Nyika Plateau, to the north of the South Rukuru River, Vwaza Marsh covers an area of 1,000 km²

Other protected areas

* Lake Chilwa -

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in a ...

wetland of international importance

Forest reserves

Malawi has a system of forest reserves, the first of which were established over a century ago. Grazing and cultivation have encroached on many forest reserves, and many reserve forests have been replaced with exotic plantation trees including pine and eucalyptus.

Northern Region

*Bunganya Forest Reserve 34.7 km² est. 1973 *Chikhang’ombe Forest Reserve 5921 ha. est. 2002 * Chisasira Forest Reserve 3447 ha. est. 1973 *Jembya Forest Reserve 13,764 ha. est. 1981 *Kalwe Forest Reserve 159 ha. est. 1956 *Kamphoyo Forest Reserve 635 ha. *

Kaning’ina Forest Reserve The Viphya Mountains, also known as the Viphya Plateau or Viphya Highlands, are a mountain range in Malawi's Northern Region. Geography The range runs north-northeast along the west shore of Lake Malawi. The range extends approximately 210 km ...

14,007 ha. est. 1935 *Kawiya Forest Reserve 643.9 ha. *Kuwirwe Forest Reserve 661.5 ha. est. 1935 *Litchenya Forest Reserve 316 ha. est. 1948 * Lunyangwa Forest Reserve 374 ha. est. 1935 * Mafinga Hills Forest Reserve 4734 ha. est. 1976 *Mahowe Forest Reserve 59.168 km² est. 2002 * Matipa Forest Reserve 1055 ha. est. 1948 *Mkuwazi Forest Reserve 1608 ha. est. 1927 * Mtangatanga Forest Reserve 8099 ha. est. 1935 * Mughese Forest Reserve 771 ha. est. 1948 *Musisi Forest Reserve 7034 ha. est. 1948 *North Karonga Escarpment Forest Reserve 7907 ha. est. 2002 * Perekezi Forest Reserve 14,482 ha. est. 1935 * Ruvuo Forest Reserve 4792.9 ha. est. 1935 *South Karonga Escarpment Forest Reserve 13,050 ha. est. 2002 *

South Viphya Forest Reserve The Viphya Mountains, also known as the Viphya Plateau or Viphya Highlands, are a mountain range in Malawi's Northern Region. Geography The range runs north-northeast along the west shore of Lake Malawi. The range extends approximately 210 km ...

(Chikangawa Forest Reserve) 157,728 ha. est. 1958 * Uzumara Forest Reserve 754 ha. est. 1948 *Vinthukutu Forest Reserve 1957 ha. est. 1948 * Wilindi Forest Reserve 937 ha. est. 1948

Central Region

*Bunda Forest Reserve 426 ha, est. 1948 *Chimaliro Forest Reserve 15,205 ha, est. 1926 *Chilobwe Forest Reserve 1314 ha, est. 1960 *Chongoni Forest Reserve 12,353 ha, est. 1924 * Dedza Mountain Forest Reserve 2917 ha, est. 1926 *Dedza-Salima Escarpment Forest Reserve 30,965 ha, est. 1974 *Dowa Hills Forest Reserve 3142 ha, est. 1974 *Dwambazi Forest Reserve, 7886.27 km² *Dzalanyama Forest Reserve 98,827 ha, est. 1922 *Dzenza Forest Reserve 779 ha, est. 1948 *Dzonzi Forest Reserve 4494 ha, est. 1924 *Kongwe Forest Reserve 1948 ha, est. 1926 *Mchinji Forest Reserve 20,885 ha, est. 1924 *Msitowalengwe Forest Reserve 98 ha, est. 1974 *Mua-Livulezi Forest Reserve 12,673 ha, est. 1924 *Mua-Tsanya Forest Reserve 933 ha, est. 1924 *Mvai Forest Reserve 4140 ha, est. 1924 *Ngala Forest Reserve 2272 ha, est. 1958 *North Senga Forest Reserve 1207 ha, est. 1958 * Ntchisi Mountain Forest Reserve 8758 ha, est. 1924 *South Senga Forest Reserve 532 ha, est. 1958 *Thuma Forest Reserve 15,767 ha, est. 1956

Southern Region

*Amalika Forest Reserve 370 ha, est. 1959 *Chigumula Forest Reserve 525 ha, est. 1925 * Chiradzulu Forest Reserve 774 ha, est. 1924 *Kalulu Hills Forest Reserve 2892 ha, est. 1958 *Liwonde Forest Reserve 27,407 ha, est. 1924 *Malabvi Forest Reserve 300 ha, est. 1927 *Mangochi Forest Reserve 40,853 ha, est. 1924 *Mangochi Palm Forest Reserve 501 ha, est. 1980 *Masambanjati Forest Reserve 93 ha, est. 1974 *Masenjere Forest Reserve 276 ha, est. 1930 *

Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve is a nature reserve founded in 1927 in Malawi. The reserve covers 56,317 hectares. It is operated by the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust. The reserve was designated a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2000. Geogra ...

(Milange-Michesi) 56,314 ha, est. 1927 * Michiru Forest Reserve 3004 ha, est. 1970 *Milare Forest Reserve 59 ha, est. 1949 *Mudi Forest Reserve 39 ha, est. 1922 *Namizimu Forest Reserve 88,966 ha, est. 1924 *Ndirande Forest Reserve 1433 ha, est. 1922 * Soche Forest Reserve 388 ha, est. 1922 *Thambani Forest Reserve 4680 ha, est. 1927 *Thuchila Forest Reserve 1843 ha, est. 1925 *Thyolo Mountain Forest Reserve 1347 ha, est. 1924 * Matandwe Forest Reserve 31,053 ha, est. 1931 *Tsamba Forest Reserve 32.37 km², est. 1928"Tsamba Forest Reserve". ''Protected Planet'', accessed 1 September 2019

/ref> *Thyolomwani Forest Reserve 965 ha, est. 1930 * Zomba Mountain, Zomba-Malosa Forest Reserve 19,018 ha, est. 1913

References

External links

* {{National Parks of Malawi

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

National parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

List Protected areas