Chikwawa


Chikwawa is a town with a population of 6,114 according to the 2018 census located in the Southern Region of Malawi on the west bank of the Shire River. It is the administrative capital of the Chikwawa District. Chikwawa lies almost 30 miles south of Blantyre, the commercial capital of Malawi.
Chikwawa was the first town in Malawi to be seen by European explorers when David Livingstone's Zambezi Expedition steamed up the Shire River in 1859. The surrounding region was ravaged by Portuguese slave traders in the nineteenth century.
The Majete Wildlife Reserve, the Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve and Lengwe National Park lie in the vicinity of Chikwawa. Large numbers of hippopotamus and crocodiles inhabit the Shire River area.
The city has a railway station on the Sena railway, part of the Malawi Railways.