Mangochi

Mangochi (formerly Fort Johnston) is a town at the southern end of Lake Malawi, on the Shire River, and the jumping-off point for resorts and lodges along the coast towards Cape Maclear. It was founded in the 1890s by colonial administrator Sir Harry Johnston as a British military outpost, part of the campaign against the Yao-controlled slave trade routes along the lake, and served as an anti-slaving and later colonial administrative center under the name Fort Johnston before independence. It has a hot climate and a lively market.

By Car / Road

Mangochi is on the M3 road from Blantyre to Lake Malawi, about 2 hours north of Blantyre. Buses run from Blantyre and Lilongwe.

• Lake Malawi Museum — Housed in the old Gymkhana Club near the Bakili Muluzi Bridge, run by the Society of Malawi since 1971. Exhibits include ethnic, environmental, and historical displays, notably the Hotchkiss gun from HMS Gwendolen's 1914 defeat of the German gunboat Hermann von Wissmann on the lake, and a marine steam engine built in 1898 that once powered the mission steamer SS Chauncy Maples.

• Cape Maclear (30 minutes north) — Best beaches on Lake Malawi.
• Monkey Bay (nearby) — Lake port and resort.
• Blantyre (2 hours south) — Commercial capital.