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In 1980 the Lake Malawi National Park became the first fresh-water marine reserve to be proclaimed on earth, and was declared a Natural World Heritage Site in 1984.

Lake Malawi contains the largest number of fish species of any lake in the world, probably well over five hundred with perhaps half occurring in the National Park area. The cichlid fish population specifically is of comparable importance in the study of evolution to the finches of the Galapagos Islands, with adaptive radiation and speciation (the actual process of evolution) taking place continuously even to this day!

Lake Malawi is unique and forms a separate bio-geographical province. It is estimated to be between three and twenty million years old. The lake is 600km long, 80km wide and over 700m deep; and is the southern extremity of the African Rift Valley.

Cape Maclear is an enclave within the terrestrial portion of the Lake Malawi National Park. It is – at the same time – a traditional African fishing village and Malawi’s premier lakeshore recreational destination. Not to mention the best beach on the shores of Lake Malawi!

A variety of lodges, bars and restaurants overlook the beach and water from between the residences of the local inhabitants. In front of the beach the waters of Lake Malawi stretch away for hundreds of kilometers, dotted in the foreground by the islands of the Lake Malawi National Park. Behind lie vegetable gardens and fields. All around rise the wooded hills that form the rim of the African Rift Valley.

Cape Maclear has a long history of hosting visitors from far away. In the late 1940’s Sunderland Flying Boats landed here as one of the overnight stops on the route between London and South Africa (other stops included the Nile River in Cairo, Kampala on Lake Victoria, the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls and the Vaal Dam near Johannesburg). Well-heeled passengers overnighted in a fancy hotel of which only ruins remain today.

In the 1980’s a local entrepreneur Earnest Stephano Simeji opened Mr. Steven’s Resthouse to cater for the first backpackers to venture through Malawi. This iconic establishment was the only such facility at Cape Maclear for nearly 15 years, and Mr. Steven’s battered but reliable Datsun 1200 pickup the only transport between Cape Maclear and the nearest town of Monkey Bay.

Today approximately 15 establishments dot the shoreline and offer visitors accommodation, food and drink and activities such as snorkelling trips and sunset cruises.

Despite the many changes that have evolved over the years Cape Maclear remains a place of peace and fun. Your alarm clock is the timeless rhythm of gentle waves lapping the shoreline, interspersed by the haunting cry of fish eagles gliding above.