With an area of 135km² Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve is

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 ...

’s smallest

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

, and its least accessible. Nevertheless, it has a wide variety of habitats, including

Mopane ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern A ...

Combretum ''Combretum'', the bushwillows or combretums, make up the type genus of the family Combretaceae. The genus comprises about 272 species of trees and shrubs, most of which are native to tropical and southern Africa, about 5 to Madagascar, but ther ...

and

brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezian ...

woodland, as well as open

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

dambo A dambo is a class of complex shallow wetlands in central, southern and eastern Africa, particularly in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. They are generally found in higher rainfall flat plateau areas and have river-like branching forms which in themsel ...

, and

riverine A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

areas. Mwabvi was the last natural home to

Black Rhino The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania ...

population, but both wildlife and woodland have been poached over recent years. However many species of

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...

, including

kudu The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus ''Tragelaphus'': * Lesser kudu, ''Tragelaphus imberbis'', of eastern Africa * Greater kudu, ''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'', of eastern and southern Africa The two species look similar, thou ...

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...

impala The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Germa ...

and

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 ...

, are present, and even

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

and

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...

have been seen. Buffalo still bathe in the Mwabvi river, and, although the number of human tourists is low,

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

s from neighbouring

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

are regular visitors. The scenery is spectacular, with views over the

Shire River The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...

and the

Zambesi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

river, and the magnificent sandstone outcrops give an almost lunar feel to the landscape. Mwabvi is located in

Nsanje District Nsanje is a district in the Southern Region of Malawi. The capital is Nsanje. The district covers an area of and has a population of 194,924. In addition to the city of Nsanje, it has the important cities of Bangula, Marka, Tengani, and Fat ...

, at the very southernmost point of

, right against the border with

. It includes a portion of the

Matundwe Range The Matundwe Range is a range of mountains in southernmost Malawi and adjacent Tete Province of Mozambique. The range is located between the Zambezi and Shire rivers just north of their confluence, and the Malawi-Mozambique border runs along the d ...

, which form the border with Mozambique, and the adjacent Shire River lowlands. The park lies at a low elevation and summer temperatures are extreme. The best time for game viewing is during Malawi's cooler winter months. Mwabvi is not far from

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 ...

and the

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 ...

. Travel through the park is only possible on foot or with a robust 4x4, but the park is manned and thanks to PAW's extensive road building programme both game walks and game drives are available and can be arranged with the game scouts or via Chipembere Camp, the base for Project African Wilderness. Project African Wilderness, a not for profit organisation, was formed in 2004 with the express purpose of protecting and restoring the Mwabvi reserve, working with the local communities and improving their livelihoods as a result. In February 2007 Project African Wilderness signed a management agreement with the

Government's Department of National Parks and Wildlife to take over the conservation and development of the park. Because of poaching, the park has seen a substantial depletion of its larger animal population, although efforts are underway to restore the park's infrastructure and diversity. In 2010, as a result of the work done by project African Wilderness and their Malawian sister company th
Mwabvi Wildlife and Community Trust (MWCT)
Mwabvi opened Njate Lodge, with six en-suite chalets, and, for the more adventurous traveller, Migudu campsite, which has plots for 6 tents and provides washing and camp fire facilities. {{National Parks of Malawi

External links

Protected areas of Malawi Protected areas established in 1953 Geography of Southern Region, Malawi