Malawi lies landlocked in the eastern part of central Africa, with Lake Malawi taking up about a fifth of the landscape. In southern Malawi, the Mulanje massif rises to 3,000 meters (9,842 feet), the highest mountain in central Africa. The climate is subtropical, with seasonal rainfall. Most Malawians are rural and live in the country's southern region. The Chewa people, Malawi's largest ethnic group, inhabit central and southern Malawi. An estimated 57 percent of Malawians speak Chichewa (the Chewa language). David Livingstone and other missionaries introduced Christianity to Malawians in 1859, and today more than three-quarters of the population is Christian. Livingstone's church and mission sites are major tourist attractions. Independent from Britain since 1964, Malawi endured the autocratic rule of President Hastings Banda for more than 30 years. Democratic elections in 1994 ushered in new leadership for this country. Transportation costs for exports skyrocketed as a result of civil war in next-door Mozambique, which disrupted rail links to the sea from 1977 to 1992. Malawi is a poor country, with most of the working population engaged in subsistence farming. Tobacco generates most of the export earnings, with smaller contributions from sugar, tea, and coffee. However, recent uranium mining near the northern town of Karonga, promises significant employment and earnings for Malawi.

19% of Malawian(s) live in urban centers, and 63% can read and write one of the many languages such as Chichewa, English, Chiyao, Chitumbuka. Malawian(s) have an average life expectancy rate of 46 years and most follow the Christian, Muslim religions. 90% Agriculture of Malawian(s) work in the agriculture industry which produces , and 10% Industry & Services work in the industry producing tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods. Another work in the services sector such as tourism and retail environments. tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, groundnuts (peanuts), wood products, apparel are regularly exported to other countries in the world from Malawi. The Gross Domestic Product per capita is $900 with 5.90% annual growth.

Malawi uses the telephone country code of 265 and internet hosts use the .mw suffix. Malawi uses the Kwacha (MWK).

The kwacha (ISO 4217: MWK) is the currency of Malawi as of 1971, replacing the Malawian pound. It is divided into 100 tambala. The kwacha replaced other types of currency, namely the UK pound sterling, the South African rand and the Rhodesian dollar, that had previously circulated through the Malawian economy. In May 2012, the Reserve Bank of Malawi devalued the kwacha by 34% and unpegged it from the United States dollar.

The name kwacha derives from both the Nyanja and Bemba word for "dawn", while tambala translates as "rooster" in Nyanja. The tambala was so named because a rooster appeared on the first one tambala coin.

Unfortunately the currency has gone through many changes in value over time and the highest bill one can receive is a 500 Kwacha Note, resulting in awfully large wads of bills in your market considering they are worth no more than $2 USD at present.

The smallest circulating bill in Malawi at present is the 20 Kwacha note.

According to an article on Nyasa Times dated 9 March 2012, within the next six months the Reserve Bank of Malawi will introduce a whole new series of notes, including a 1,000-kwacha note, twice the largest denomination currently in circulation. The notes were announced in Biantyre on 8 March by Governor Dr. Perks Ligoya. The new notes will be much smaller in size than the current notes, which serves as a cost-cutting measure.

(One Canadian Dollar equals 327.48 MWK)

Road Conditions: Fantastic Tarred roads, some small villages still have dirt roads
Hills: Flat by the lakeside but very steep hills to climb out away from lake from 500metres to higher than 1500m
Weather: Sunny, colder in higher elevations
Best Beer: Kuchi Kuchi

Visa Cost: No cost
Visa Length: 30 days

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