Field FAQs with Holly Morris Diving Africa’s Fishbowl

Holly Morris is a TV host (

Treks in a Wild World

A friend told me that the diving in Lake Malawi is incredible. Is it worth the flight around the world?

A. Lake Malawi, the third largest lake in Africa, barely gets a blip on the diving world’s radar—but it should. The 9,000-square-mile glittering gem of the Great Rift Valley that borders Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania is one of the planet’s first freshwater national park and home to a colorful spectacle of aquarium fish. When I dove there last year, zoologist Ken McKaye, a scientific advisor to WWF, explained why Lake Malawi is ideal for those with a passion for the Darwinian. “If you want to see evolution in action, you go diving in Lake Malawi,” he said. “Over a thousand fish species have been generated here, more than any other place in the world.” However, if you want to see barracudas or sharks—or anything much bigger than a silver dollar pancake, for that matter—or if you explore with Hemingway’s gusto rather than, say, a bird-watcher’s delight, Lake Malawi might not be for you.

Still, perhaps because of the sub-Saharan region’s struggles with poverty and a high AIDS rate, the way of life around what explorer David Livingstone called the “lake of the stars” nearly 150 years ago remains largely unchanged. Men paddle dugouts along boulder-strewn beaches and lush shores; village women carry laundry piled high on their heads; fishermen hawk the day’s catch. After exploring Malawi’s underwater world, we decompressed at a locally operated ecolodge, Kaya Mawa, which is tucked away on the blissfully remote, five-mile-long Likoma Island (kayamawa.com). Each of the ten rooms and chalets has its own luxe-rustic design, such as a private deck leading straight from a bed with zillion-thread-count sheets to a Lake Malawi morning dip. Getting there requires flying in by single-engine plane or taking the Ilala ferry, which offers a taste of the refugee experience but brings you to spots well worth the strenuous transit.

Illustration by Olaf Hajek