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 ...
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 ...
valley has formed an extensive urbanized zone that runs from the city of Bangula, further north, passing through the city of Nsanje, in the center, and arriving in the city of Marka, in the south, even crossing the Mozambican border, covering the town of Vila Nova de Fronteira.
Transport
The city has a railway station on the
Sena railway
Sena railway, also called Shire Highlands railway, Dondo-Malawi railway and North-South Malawi railway, is a railway that connects Dondo, Mozambique, to Chipata, in Zambia. It is 1000 km long, in a 1067 mm gauge.Central East African Railways. The railway through Nsanje that connects
Blantyre
Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...
with Beira, Mozambique was severely disrupted by the Mozambique Civil War and remains closed. The main road north connecting the city to the rest of Malawi is being upgraded.
Shipping
A project is currently underway to dredge part of 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 ...
in order to make sea transport to Malawi viable. The Shire merges with the Zambezi River, near Caia, Mozambique, and the Zambezi then flows into the Indian Ocean. As of September, 2010, some of the main concrete work on the jetty was complete and the port was officially declared open in a ceremony attended by President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. However, by August 2016 the port was still incomplete and unused, despite a feasibility study with positive results concluded a few months earlier, and talks were being held on restarting the project.Nyasa Times, August 15, 2016 /ref>
Climate
Nsanje lies only about 46 meters above sea level. During the summer months, daytime highs can exceed 120° Fahrenheit (49° Celsius).