Malawi Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

You don’t need to login to read the below reviews. But do sign up or login to share your solo travel experiences, country safety rating and comments.

Malawi Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Malawi and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Republic of Malawi.

Etymology: Named for the East African Maravi Kingdom of the 16th century. The word "maravi" means "fire flames".

Capital: Lilongwe.

Independence / foundation: British missionary and trading activity increased in the area around Lake Nyasa in the mid-1800s, and Britain declared a protectorate, called British Central Africa, over what is now Malawi in 1891 and eliminated various political entities that sought to retain their autonomy over the subsequent decade.

The British renamed the territory Nyasaland in 1907 and it was part of the colonial Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, including present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe, from 1953 to 1963 before gaining independence as Malawi in 1964.

Population: 21 million.

Currency: Malawian Kwacha (MWK)
1 USD = 1,683 - 1,743 MWK
1 EUR = 1,825 - 1,892 MWK

Time zone: UTC+2

Languages spoken: English (official), Chewa (common), Lambya, Lomwe, Ngoni, Nkhonde, Nyakyusa, Nyanja, Sena, Tonga, Tumbuka, Yao.

Religions: Protestant 33% (includes Church of Central Africa Presbyterian 14%, Seventh Day Adventist/Baptist 9%, Pentecostal 8%, Anglican 2%), Roman Catholic 17%, other Christian 27%, Muslim 14%, traditionalist 1%, other 6%, none 2%.

Climate: Sub-tropical climat with a rainy season from November to May, and a dry season from May to November.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $29.9 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $1,500.

Main airports: Lilongwe International Airport, Chileka International Airport.

World heritage sites in Malawi

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 2.

Top world heritage sites:

- Chongoni Rock-Art Area.
- Lake Malawi National Park.

Interesting facts about Malawi

- Malawi is the second producer of tea in Africa and the first to grow it commercial from when it arrived in seed form from Scotland to Blantyre by the hand of missionaries.

- David Livingstone, a Scottish explorer, first traveled through the region during the 19th century. He paved the way for further European influence. Blantyre is Malawi’s second-largest city and is named after David Livingstone’s Scottish birthplace. It was founded in 1876.

- Malawi's former name is Nyasaland. Nyasaland gained independence in 1964 and changed its name to Malawi. The name Malawi means “flaming waters” and makes reference to the sun setting over Lake Malawi.

- Lake Malawi National Park is home to hundreds of species, nearly all endemic. Its importance for the study of evolution is comparable to that of the Galapagos Islands.

Further reading: N/A.

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Malawi Travel tips

More about Malawi on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️