Set on the shores of Lake Malawi, Karonga is one of Malawi’s most northern townships and a place of growing interest. It has an interesting but turbulent history as a centre for the notorious nineteenth century slave trade and, later, as the site of a First World War battle between German-ruled Tanzania (known as Tanganyika at the time) and British-ruled Malawi (Nyasaland at the time). The town’s cemetery has a number of military graves from the battle.
Karonga is the largest town before reaching the Tanzania border and so a useful place to re-stock and re-fuel for those on a multi-country itinerary. It also has a fee simple lodges.
The town is also now home to the interesting ‘Cultural & Museum Centre Karonga’ (CMCK) which covers cultural history and the recent archeological finds of dinosaur and homind bones. It’s very easy to spend an hour or two looking round its modern and informative exhibits. The main exhibition of ‘Malawi from Dinosaurs to Democracy’ includes a remarkable life-sized replica of the 12m long and 3 m high 120 million year old Malawisaurus skeleton found in the Karonga district nearly 100 years ago. And a replica of the world’s oldest known fossil from mankind’s very own Homo genus – a jawbone of Homo rudolfensis, found slightly to the south near Chilumba. The museum has an internet café as well as a traditional café and is well worth a visit.
